Robert Fayrfax
English Renaissance composer
Robert Fayrfax (23 April 1464 – 24 October 1521) was an English Renaissance composer, considered the most prominent and influential of the reigns of Kings Henry VII and Henry VIII of England. He represents the third stage of the development of the English votive style in the Eton Choirbook and the Caius Choirbook.
Biography
He was born in Deeping Gate, Lincolnshire, to William Fayrfax, Esquire, of Deeping Gate and Ann Tanfield, daughter of Robert Tanfield, Keeper of Arms of St Mary Aldermanbury. He had the patronage of the leading cultural figure of Henry VII's court, the king's mother Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443–1509). He became a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal by 6 December 1497. He was granted a chaplaincy of the Free Chapel at Snodhill Castle near Dorstone, a post which was given away a year later to Robert Cowper, another Gentleman. Fayrfax was at court at Richmond Palace on 28 March 1502 when Elizabeth of York, the wife of Henry VII, gave him 20 shillings for "setting an Anthem of oure lady and Saint Elizabeth". This 'Anthem' is almost certainly Eterne laudis lilium considering its acrostic ELISABETH REGINA ANGLIE ('Elizabeth Queen of England') and its references to both Mary and Elizabeth.
Fayrfax is reported as being the organist of St Albans Abbey responsible for the music there from 1498 to 1502. Fayrfax gained a Mus.B. from Cambridge in 1501, and a Mus.D. in 1504; he later acquired a D.Mus.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as english Renaissance composer. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
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 Q1973575. VIAF identifies the subject as 34722466. The Library of Congress control number is n84041992. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1464, 1521, 1443 and 1509.
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This entry incorporates text from “Robert Fayrfax” 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.