Various miracles were recorded as having taken place around Beverley minster where the body of the saint, John of Beverley (died 721) was buried. One of these records an incident when a boy, keen to watch a drama about Christ’s passion being performed in the churchyard, climbed up high inside the minster to get a good view, but fell to the paving beneath and was apparently dead, but then returned to life. The account is vivid, and ends with an allegorical coda drawing parallels with Christ’s death and resurrection.

The maîtrise (or choir school) was the crucible of late medieval polyphony and chant: a first stepping stone on the progress to ecclesiastical careers and, more specifically, to musical careers within the church. It was also the seedbed for most composers of note in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Hence the training and social context it provided are crucial to understanding the shape and role of music in the period. The chapter addresses both the progress in and the reasons – theological and practical – for the cultivation of choirboys, and especially the changes of perspective that led to the vastly increased investment in their training and accoutrements. A signal element here is their role in private foundations paid for by individuals (especially church canons) for the welfare of their souls, and in the increasing elaboration of such foundations including chant and, particularly, polyphony.