2 CHILDREN OF THE CHAPEL AT BLACKFRIARS 
part of the choral body which takes its name from the piser of 
worship, namely, the Chapel Royal. 
As Rimbault points out in his Jntroduction to The Old C nae 
Book, the Chapel Royal is the most ancient choral body of which 
there is any authentic record. The first account of it I have 
found is in the Liber Niger Domus Regis* of Edward the 
Fourth’s reign, near the middle of the fifteenth century.* It was 
then constituted of one “Deane,” twenty-four “Chaplenes and 
clerkes,” two “yeomen” or ‘“Pisteleres,’ eight “children,” one 
“Master of songe” to teach the Chapel Boys music, and one “Mas- 
ter of y° Gramere” to provide for these children and others con- 
nected with the Court somewhat of a. liberal education. 
At the period with which the present work deals, the last six 
years of Elizabeth and the first half of the reign of James I, 
the official constitution was,t Dean, Sub-Dean, Confessor of his 
Majesty’s household, six chaplains, a Master of the Children, 
Clerk of the Cheque, first and second Organist, twenty-four 
Choristers, called Gentlemen in ordinary® (and the same or 
greater number of substitutes called Gentlemen extraordinary, 
who served without pay but were in line of succession to a va- 
cancy in the ranks of the ordinary), twelve Children, two Epis- 
tlers, two Gospelers, besides the officers of the vestry and common 
servants. 
The Chapel Royal, thus constituted. attended the sovereign 
wherever resident, according to ancient custom, and as a whole 
or in part accompanied him during progresses through the coun- 
1The Old Cheque-Book, or Book 
of Remembrance, of the Chapel 
Royal from 1561 to 1744 (ed. E. F. 
Rimbault for The Camden Society, 
1872.) 
*Liber Niger Domus Regis (Brit. 
Mus., Harl. MS. No. 293, fol. 11-12; 
No. 610, fol. 24-275 No. 642, fol. 
71-74, and fol. 132b—New pagina- 
tion of 1893). 
®Tts exact date is not more nearly 
known than that it was written 
sometime within the limits of Ed- 
ward IV’s reign,—4 March, 1461, to 
9 April, 1483. 
*Cf. Rimbault, op. cit., 60-62, 127- 
28; but see also 156. 
*Dec. 15, 1604, as appears from 
a warrant, there were thirty-eight 
Gentlemen. of the Chapel. But this 
seems to count not only the choris- 
ters but also the chief officers. See 
State Papers, Domestic, James I, 
xxxvi, No. 69, Public Record Of- 
fice. Also noted in the Calendar of 
State Papers, Domestic, Addenda 
1580-1625, 450. John Stowe (ed. 
E. Howes), Annals, or a general 
Chronicle of England... to end 
of 1631 (1631), 1037, says there 
were thirty-three Gentlemen of the 
Chapel in the first year of James I. 
See also the King’s grant of aug- 
mentation, u. 7., 37. 
116 
