Edmund Turges
English composer
Edmund Turges (c.1440-after 1501) thought to be also Edmund Sturges (fl. 1507–1508) was an English Renaissance era composer who came from Petworth, was ordained by Bishop Ridley in 1550, and joined the Fraternity of St. Nicholas (the London Guild of Parish Clerks) in 1469.
Several works are listed in the name of Turges in the Eton Choirbook, which survived Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries between 1536 and 1541. Turges also has a Magnificat extant in the Caius Choirbook, and compositions in the Fayrfax Boke. A Kyrie and Gloria are ascribed to Sturges in the Ritson Manuscript. At least two masses and three Magnificat settings have been lost, as well as eight six-part pieces listed in the 1529 King's College Inventory.
It is quite possible that his setting of 'Gaude flore virginali' was written with the choir of New College, Oxford in mind, especially since a man by the name of Sturges served as a chaplain in the choir between 1507-08. Its unorthodox vocal scoring for TrTrATB suggests the choral forces found in the college at the time where the boys (16 in total) outnumbered the men (of whom there were likely to have been no more than four). The high treble lines indicate that Turges was an early proponent of the English votive style.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Edmund Turges” is english composer. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Edmund, Turges and English, not as a finished interpretation.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3719486. VIAF identifies the subject as 67982247. The Library of Congress control number is n87153123. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1440, 1501, 1507 and 1508.
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This entry incorporates text from “Edmund Turges” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.