Andrew Blackhall (1535-1609): Scottish composer for flute.
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Juan del Encina (1468-1529): Spanish composer, playwright and courtier. He entered the Duke of Alba's service at Toledo in 1492 as master of ceremonies, writing both text and music for plays that were performed at the court. When in 1498 he failed to get a musical post at Salamanca cathedral he went to Rome to seek the aid of the Spanish Pope Alexander VI, who gave him a benefice there; he became a priest in 1519 and was archdeacon in Málaga and prior in León. Encina was the principal contributor to the Cancionero de Palacio,a songbook of c.1500 containing courtly love-songs in villancico form. Some of his pieces were for occasional use, and some intended to be sung at theatrical productions; indeed, by uniting popular and artistic elements, he broke new ground in the field of Spanish secular drama.

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Giovanni Gastoldi (1550-1622)
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Henry VIII (1491–1547): King of England from 1509, when he succeeded his father Henry VII and married Catherine of Aragón, the widow of his brother. He was succeeded by his son Edward VI.

During the period 1513–29 Henry pursued an active foreign policy, largely under the guidance of his Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Wolsey, who shared Henry's desire to make England stronger. Wolsey was replaced by Thomas More in 1529 for failing to persuade the pope to grant Henry a divorce. After 1532 Henry broke with papal authority, proclaimed himself head of the church in England, dissolved the monasteries, and divorced Catherine. His subsequent wives were Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr.

Henry divorced Catherine of Aragón in 1533 because she was too old to give him an heir, and married Anne Boleyn, who was beheaded in 1536, on dubious charges for adultery. Henry's third wife, Jane Seymour, died in 1537. He married Anne of Cleves in 1540 in pursuance of Thomas Cromwell's policy of allying with the German Protestants, but rapidly abandoned this policy, divorced Anne, and beheaded Cromwell. His fifth wife, Catherine Howard, was beheaded in 1542, and the following year he married Catherine Parr, who survived him. Henry never completely lost his popularity, but wars with France and Scotland towards the end of his reign sapped the economy, and in religion he not only executed Roman Catholics, including Thomas More, for refusing to acknowledge his supremacy in the church, but also Protestants who maintained his changes had not gone far enough.

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John Playford (1623-2686) is widely known as the publisher/author of the acclaimed dance manual The English Dancing Master. Playford was born in Norwich in 1623, and died in London in 1686. His father was a mercer, also named John. Local records show that he was one of a large family, many of whom were scriveners or stationers. While his brother Matthew was recorded at a grammar school, there is no record that John did so. It is likely that his education came from the almonry, or choir-school, which was attached to the cathedral, and it was here he probably acquired a knowledge of music and the "love of Divine Service".

After his father's death in 1639, Playford was apprenticed to John Benson, a London publisher of St. Dunstan's Churchyard on Fleet Street. After seven years, he earned his freedom and became a member of the Yeomanry of the Stationer's Company in 1647, which enabled him to trade as a publisher. Playford secured the tenancy of a shop in the porch of the Temple Church, the place from where all his publications were issued until his retirement in 1684. His publications included political tracts, miscellaneous non-musical works, music theory, lessons for various instruments, collections of songs, and psalms. His books had a ready market with the law students of the Inns of Court, or Law School, that passed his shop each day. http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/lod/vol3/playford_bib.html

Richard the Lion Heart (1157–1199) >King of England from 1189. He spent all but six months of his reign abroad. He was the third son of Henry II, against whom he twice rebelled. In the third Crusade 1191–92 he won victories at Cyprus, Acre, and Arsuf (against Saladin), but failed to recover Jerusalem. While returning overland he was captured by the Duke of Austria, who handed him over to the emperor Henry VI, and he was held prisoner until a large ransom was raised. He then returned briefly to England, where his brother John had been ruling in his stead. His later years were spent in warfare in France, where he was killed.

Himself a poet, he became a hero of legends after his death. He was succeeded by his brother John I.

Adrian Le Roy

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Ludwig Senfl(1486?-1543) was Swiss by birth. In 1496 he became a choirboy and copyist in the court chapel of Emperor Maximilian I and a pupil of the court composer, Heinrich Isaac. Senfl was with the Imperial Court in Konstanz 1507-1508 during the "Reichstag", at which time he entered the priesthood. In 1512 Isaac settled in Florence; whether Senfl succeeded to his position to the court at this time or only with Isaac's death in 1517 is not known. He remained in the position of music director to the court until the dissolution of the court chapel in 1520 after the death of Emperor Maximilian. He was responsible for the music at the wedding of Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria to Maria Jakobća of Baden in 1522 and in the following years he was "fürstl. Componist zu München". About - perhaps in - 1530 he married and gave up the priesthood; there is much to suggest that he sympathized with the Reformation movement and he was in contact with Luther, for whom he composed at least two motets. Senfl died sometime between 2 December 1542 and 10 August 1543.

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