Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 April 2011
The Willmott and Braikenridge manuscripts (1591) are the survivors from five partbooks containing twenty-seven pieces of Latin church music. Nine composers, most of them English, are represented. The source transmits entire pieces rather than only particular sections. It follows no conventional copying scheme reflecting derivation from other sources, from liturgical or seasonal use, or from groupings by composer, text or number of voiceparts. There are numerous inscriptions and drawings. Their nature, together with the choice and order of the Latin texts, suggests that the source was a statement of allegiance to Roman Catholicism by the scribe, John Sadler, schoolmaster and Anglican priest, of Northamptonshire.