The Middleton Accounts of 1526: #44

The next entry in the Middleton household accounts for Sir Henry Willoughby in 1526 was dated 5th August. It was described as a reward to Chamberlain and Lascelles of Nottingham for the bringing of 2 children for the Children of the Chapel. The amount was 10 shillings, which was the equivalent of about £220.64 today.

As mentioned in a previous post, 1526 Accounts #21, Sir Henry maintained a private choir at Middleton Hall, comprised of boy choristers, and this was known as the Children of the Chapel. This entry refers to the sourcing of new talent for his Chapel choristers, the recruiting of which is reputed to have been extremely competitive and even somewhat aggressive.

Children of the Chapel Royal, Remembrance Sunday 2024, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The most challenging competition was from the King. The King was able to issue royal warrants to the Masters of the Children of the Chapel Royal to find and impress any boy in the country that had an exceptional voice. Thus, the King could forcibly commandeer and essentially poach any singing boy in the country from any cathedral, church or noble household to sing as part of his Children of the Chapel Royal.

As a result of the royal primacy of forced recruitment, the nobility and religious houses had to compete against each other for the remaining talent or to find new talent. This was achieved through a mixture of talent scouts, bounties and poaching. Bidding wars were noted to have occurred between noble households. The rival offers focused on the quality of the provision for the boy of: clothing; lodging; education; and long-term options for after the boy’s voice broke. The amount paid to Chamberlain and Lascelles is a considerable amount and it is thought to be indicative of the kind of lavish bounty that might be paid to talent scouts who managed to intercept a talented boy before anyone else found him.

Further Reading: W. H. Stevenson, Report on the Manuscripts of Lord Middleton, Historical Manuscripts Commission, 1911. p.384.

Author - Debbie Jordan, Middleton Hall Volunteer.

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