The date of Martin Peerson's birth has never been established. As I shall show, this happy event—for it gave England one of her greatest composers—must have occurred between the spring of 1570 and the end of 1574, during which interval Martin's parents were married, his father died and his mother remarried. Former estimates, which appear to have been reached by guesswork, place his birth between seven and nineteen years later than this, so I will state my case briefly.