This chapter introduces the topic and this book, setting out its key aims and general approach, which privileges the appreciation of Renaissance music in its sounding reality whilst fostering an awareness of what lies beyond the notes. It then interrogates the periodization of music history, and specifically that of the Renaissance in music. It reviews previous approaches towards locating the topic historically, arguing for an intrinsically musical approach to the question, and proposing the Europe-wide reception of the ‘Missa Caput’ (by an anonymousEnglish composer), c.1440, as a possible starting-point.