World of William Byrd

In The World of William Byrd John Harley builds on his previous work William Byrd: Gentleman of the Chapel Royal (Ashgate 1997) in order to place the composer more clearly in his social context. He provides new information about Byrd's youthful musical training and reveals how in his adult life his music emerged from a series of overlapping family business and social networks. These networks and Byrd's navigation within and between them are examined as are the lives of a number of the individuals comprising them.