Italian musicians at the Tudor Court - were they
really Jews?1

alessio ruffatti 

Ten years ago an article appeared in Jewish Historical Studies which attempted to
revolutionize the history of the Jews in sixteenth-century England.2 The author
suggested the presence in London of a second Jewish community, different from
that of the Portuguese Marranos whose presence was already well known, con-
sisting of the Italian musicians who were active at the Tudor Court. The present
study seeks to refute this thesis, starting with a critical discussion of some docu-
ments that have recently come to light.

The article which proposed the existence of a second Jewish community in
London is the culmination of a series of others that appeared during the preced-
ing decade.3 The starting point can be identified as a work in which Roger Prior
collected evidence which, in his opinion, demonstrated the Jewish identity of
the Bassano family who served King Henry VIII in the first half of the sixteenth
century.4 In his latest work, however, Roger Prior admits that ‘no single piece
of surviving evidence proves conclusively that the Bassanos were Jewish or of
Jewish origin, yet a wealth of circumstantial evidence strongly suggests so’.5
Even today, the belief that there was a second Jewish community in sixteenth-
century London composed of Italian musicians is widespread.6

The debate on English music of that period has been greatly affected by
Professor Prior’s theory firstly because the presumed Jewish musicians were very
important and had a great influence on English music of that period, and sec-
ondly because this opinion led an important scholar to formulate a new theory
about the spread of the viola da gamba in Europe.7

The musical environment of the English Court indeed underwent a profound
transformation in the 1540s following the engagement of a number of foreign
musicians by the king. Most came from Italy with their families, and for over a
century they exercised a practically unchallenged influence over instrumental
music for ‘consorts’. At Court, the Bassano family founded the consort of
recorders which, until the mid-seventeenth century, was composed almost
entirely of members of the family and of persons closely related to them.8 The
arrival in the same period of a new string consort which included many members
of the Lupo family had a decisive influence on the spread of the viola da gamba
in England.9 The Lupos very probably came from Milan, as many documents
in the English archives suggest. Yet it is likely that before moving to England

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Alessio Ruffatti 

the family spent several years in Venice, from where they moved to London
together with the rest of the string consort to which they belonged.10 Italian
musicians dominated the consorts of cornets and trombones for a long time.
Numerous descendants of the Bassano, Lupo, Kellim, Galiardello and Comey
families served the Court as musicians and instrument-makers until the mid-
seventeenth century. 11

The consort of recorders and the string consort, which were the most
important attached to the Court in those years, both came from Venice where,
during the same period, La Fontegara, the first Italian treatise on the recorder
and on the instrumental technique of diminution, was published.12 Venice in
these years was, in short, a veritable laboratory of lively experimentation in
instrumental music.

The Bassano family came from Bassano del Grappa, where they were known
as Piva, and moved to Venice in the early sixteenth century. In 1539 Alvise,
Antonio, Gaspare, Giovanni and Battista, five of the six sons of Jeronimo, the
patriarch of the family, finally established themselves in England, at the Court
of Henry VIII, after some visits in the preceding years. Generations of the family
served the English monarchs as musicians and instrument-makers until the Res-
toration. Jeronimo’s sixth son, Jacomo, also visited England, but settled again in
Venice, where he was active as a maker of musical instruments. Among his
descendants was Giovanni Bassano, a noted musician active in Venice between
the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries. He was a cornettist, the Maestro de’
Concerti at the Cathedral of San Marco, teacher in the Seminario Ducale and
famous for his volumes on Diminution.13

Documents from the archives of Bassano del Grappa that have recently come
to light, shed doubt on the hypothesis that the Bassanos were Jews or of Jewish
origin.14

Scholars who believe that the Bassanos moved to London for religious reasons
maintain that Jeronimo and his sons were Jewish refugees in Venice, expelled
from Bassano with its Jewish community. They therefore hold that in Venice
the Bassanos could have been converted Jews who practised Christianity only
nominally, as a front in order to be able to work for Christian institutions.
Judging the chances of a tranquil future in the Venetian Republic with greater
scepticism than their father, the sons may have fled to England where they found
a better quality of life. The same scholars then searched for confirmation of this
thesis in the documents that speak of the permanent residence of the Bassano
family in England. Roger Prior emphasizes that the Bassano family had contacts
in England with other Italian musicians whom he presumes to have been Jews,
including marriages between the Bassanos and the Lupos.15

Those who maintain that the Bassanos established themselves in London
because they were Jews, base their arguments on the assumption that Jews were
persecuted in Venice in the early sixteenth century and felt obliged to leave the

2 

Italian musicians at the Tudor Court 

city. But first of all it is important to clarify the historical and economic condi-
tions affecting the relationship between the Serenissima and the Venetian Jewish
community during the first half of the sixteenth century.16

The attitude of Venice towards the Jews was ambivalent. Part of the governing
oligarchy was traditionally hostile to the Jewish community and declared itself
against them on numerous occasions. This patrician faction followed the opin-
ions of certain representatives of the Minor Orders (Franciscans), who in this
period conduc ted a ferocious anti-Jewish campaign.17 In particular, they did not
approve of the fact that Jews were permitted to live among Christians and that
some of them boasted a lifestyle similar to the richest men in the city. Some of
the nobility believed that the military defeats which Venice suffered during the
Italian wars were divine punishment for too permissive an attitude to the Jewish
community. Periodically the Venetian authorities discussed the renewal of the
condotta, the residence permit given to the Jewish community. This was granted
only after the payment of large sums of money. These concessions were subject
to renewal after a certain time lapse. During the negotiations on the renewal of
the condotta, the Serenissima put very heavy pressure on the Jews so as to win
continuing financial benefits from their residence in the city.

On the other hand, a portion of the Venetian nobility was convinced that it
was indeed necessary to permit continued Jewish residence in the city, main-
taining that the Republic must negotiate specific terms with the Jews since there
was no realistic possibility of expelling them. In 1519, during the debate about
the renewal of the condotta, Marin Sanudo maintained that: ‘The Jews are neces-
sary for the poor people since there is no Monte di Pietà here as there is in other
places. One could discuss whether to let them live here or in Mestre and whether
the terms of the residence permit are good or not, but do not dispute against
the Jews as long as the Pope keeps them in Rome.’18

Supporters of this opinion were predominant at that time in Venice and
defended their position as a conservative choice based on practical reality, as
well as on economic and fiscal necessity. In 1519 the procurator, Antonio Grim-
ani, stated on this subject: ‘The Jews are necessary to help the poor people ...
and we should confirm their residence permit ... it is not necessary to discuss
these little details, but to allow the Jews to practise their moneylending activities
as they have no other way of earning a living. Rather, we should negotiate well
the conditions of their permanence in Venice, just as the Collegio did. While
they were at Mestre, that city was burnt by enemies and since they have been
admitted to live here we have regained our favourable position. During this war
they have given us remarkable financial help.’19

Jewish moneylenders had accumulated huge liquid assets through their bank-
ing activities, yet, due to the harsh restrictions imposed on them, these assets
could not be invested in land or buildings. This capital firstly provided a steady
and reliable source of ordinary tax revenue which the Republic did not want to

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Alessio Ruffatti 

give up and, secondly, was a possible source of extraordinary taxation, should
the State need funds for a war or some other unforeseen emergency. Indeed,
Jews were by far the main contributors to the Venetian State, as regards direct
taxes.20 Monti di Pietà could not be taxed in the same way as the Jews because
the profits of the former were allocated to charitable ends.21 Furthermore the
Jewish community provided a source of small loans to the poor at reasonable
rates of interest. Finally, the Jews lent money to members of the upper class
who might find themselves temporarily embarrassed financially.

Jews were admitted to settle in Venice in 1508, introducing a period of
unusual liberty and tolerance during which they lived among Christians in great
prosperity. Following this, however, protests were raised by the more reaction-
ary part of the city nobility which led to the confinement of the community in
the Ghetto Nuovo in 1516.22 In 1523 very few controversies arose when the time
came to renew the Jews’ condotta. In the following years the terms governing
their presence became, if anything, more generous. In 1528 and 1533 the terms
were renewed for another five years; and finally, in 1537, the Jews had a guaran-
tee of residence in the city for another ten years.23

Anti-Semitic propaganda in Italy became acute only from the time at which
it became possible to create an alternative to the low-interest loans to the poor
which, until now, had been guaranteed by the Jewish moneylenders.24 The Monti
di Pietà, conceived explicitly for this purpose, were credit banks inspired by the
anti-Semitic Franciscan preachers, whose specific goal was loaning money not
for commercial, but for charitable ends. The Christian banks resolved to succour
the poor and made themselves guardians of morality by refusing frivolous or
extravagant loans. They also proposed to liberate Christians from dependence
on the Jewish bankers in order to minimize relations between members of the
two religious communities. In the sixteenth century there were two attempts to
promote a similar institution in Venice, but both failed miserably.25 The second
attempt was sharply blocked by an intervention by the Council of Ten, who
exercised their prerogative to intervene to protect the public interest by calling
a meeting of the patricians who had proposed this initiative. This was held on
19-20 April 1524. They concluded: ‘that on pain of death and the anger of this
Council, they will henceforth neither propose nor speak of this matter. We
decide also that they cannot and should not propose to discuss said subject of the
Monte di Pietà, without express permission and deliberation of this Council.’26

The opportunity to set up a Monte di Pietà in the city of Venice was not
discussed again until 1734, more than two centuries after this unsuccessful
attempt.27 The reasons for this violent reaction are not clear. It is probable that
there were doubts about the durability of the Monti themselves and about their
tendency to corruption and bad administration. On the other hand, all those
who dispense charity acquire authority over the poor, making every philan-
thropic body a potentially subversive threat against State authority. The commit-

4 

Italian musicians at the Tudor Court 

tee heading the Monte, moreover, would be made up of men not nominated
directly by the Venetian authorities, but a self-electing and possibly self-
perpetuating oligarchy nominated by the Church. Since the Jewish banks did
not manage public funds, they were not dangerous.28

From what we have said, it is clear that in the first half of the sixteenth
century the Serenissima had no intention of expelling the Jewish community;
indeed, their situation improved during the 1530s, precisely when the Bassanos
established themselves at the Court of Henry VIII.

A letter written by the Venetian ambassador at Brussels, Bernardo Navagero,
in September 1545, directly confirms the climate of tolerance that pervaded the
government of the Serenissima in the years in which the Bassanos moved to
London. Navagero wrote that Venice, ‘for liberty and security, is known as a
common homeland and a refuge for all’,29 concerning the arrival in Venice of
Beatrice and Brianda Mendez, two women who exercised real leadership in the
Marrano diaspora.

Further evidence of the generosity of the Serenissima towards the Jews is the
observation that the Inquisition tribunal in Venice condemned no Jews to death
for crimes in matters of faith, although the Serenissima, did execute some for
common crimes. The Inquisition tribunal in Venice, unlike others elsewhere,
was composed of clergy and of Venetian State representatives. The Serenissima
exerted strict control over the activities of the Inquisition from the date of its
foundation and obstructed its action in various cases. Furthermore, it is signific-
ant that the Inquisition brought few cases against Jews (about 70) as compared
to those against wizards and witches (about 300) or against Protestants (about
700).30

To accept Prior’s hypothesis one would have to believe that the Pivas lived
in Venice in a state of constant danger for about twenty years. At the beginning
of the 1530s, just when conditions of life for the Jews in Venice were improving,
the family came to the Court at London to find refuge in case events changed
for the worse. Following this, five members of the family finally settled in Eng-
land with their families, in order to flee - the theory would have us believe-
from the dangers in Venice. Yet if this is so, it is difficult to understand why
Jacomo, after spending a brief period in England,31 should have returned to
Venice to spend the rest of his life there. The theory of religious persecution
would also have us believe that the Bassano brothers cynically left their father
alone and defenceless against the barbaric scourge that they themselves fled.
Indeed, Jeronimo probably died on 8 October 1539, a few days after their depar-
ture for London. The Venice register of deaths informs us that on that day, a
certain ‘Jeronimo Pifaro’ died at San Vidal.32

If the Pivas were Jews, what were the conditions awaiting them in England?
The Jews had been expelled in 1290 and from that date for several centuries no
Jew officially received permission to live there. It has been proved, however,

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Alessio Ruffatti 

that after the expulsion from Spain in 1492 some refugees reached London.
This ‘infectious scourge’, as it was described (although as far as one can tell, the
number concerned was extremely small), continued until 1498 when Henry VII
promised the Spanish envoys that he would persecute without mercy any Jew
or heretic discovered in his domains. On 4 February 1542 the English authorities
ordered the arrest of certain foreign merchants ‘suspected of being Jews’ and
the sequestration of their property. The merchants were freed at the request of
the Queen of Portugal, who personally guaranteed that they were good Christi-
ans, although proceedings were probably instituted against them again later on.
Some Jews who pretended to be Calvinist refugees were forced to leave the
country in the course of the harsh Counter-Reformation reaction during the
reign of Mary Tudor. At this period England became more dangerous for the
Jews than Spain itself, due to the Catholic restoration that Spain desired.33 Jews
were not officially allowed to live in England until the Restoration.

It is therefore incomprehensible why the Bassanos, if they were Jews, would
have had to flee the Republic of Venice where they could freely practise their
religion, to settle in a country where Judaism was forbidden and persecuted.

Roger Prior conjectures that the Bassanos could have practised Judaism pri-
vately, appearing outwardly as Christians.34 According to Prior, this was a wide-
spread practice among Italian Jews who worked for Christian institutions. He
does not cite any source to support this hypothesis.

It should be explained that the practice of crypto-Judaism was not usual
among Italian Jews, unlike among Jews of Iberian origin, because those in the
Italian states could practise their religion openly. On the other hand, if the
Bassanos were crypto-Jews, one would have to assume that at some time they
had converted to Christianity. In this regard one notes that conversions from
Judaism were solemn events which, by their very nature, left a deep impression
on the memory of those who participated. Because the neofiti were distrusted,
and it was considered desirable to control them, converts were marked out for
at least two generations. The private memory of their origins was thus matched
by that of the community,35 and reinforced by the mention of the Jewish origin
of the family in all documents relating to them for two generations.36 In this
regard, the case of Giovanni Maria Alemmano (fl. 1470-1530), a Jewish musician
who converted to Christianity, is illuminating: even after his conversion he is
recorded in the documents as Giovanni Maria Alemanni (Hebreo) or Gianmaria
Giudeo.37 How is it, then, that not even a veiled reference to a Jewish origin
appears in documents regarding the family members, either in Bassano or in
Venice?

Scholars who believe that the Bassanos emigrated for religious reasons are
persuaded that their surname is proof of the Jewish origins of the family. Yet
documents from Bassano del Grappa reveal that before the move to Venice they
were called Piva,38 a surname that does not seem at all Jewish. This demonstrates

6 

Italian musicians at the Tudor Court 

that the surname Bassano, adopted by the family only after their move to Venice,
was only a place name and not an indication of Jewishness. The custom of
identifying a person by a place of origin was common among Christians as well
as among Jews, and not only those of humble origins. For example, the painter
Jacopo Bassano, whose Christian faith does not seem to be in doubt, is clearly
recorded with another name, Jacopo dal Ponte, in Bassano documents con-
cerning him.

Giulio Ongaro wrote in one of his articles about the Bassano family: ‘It might
be impossible to prove, as it has been suggested, that the Bassanos were of
Jewish origin. The use of a town’s name as a surname (which is certainly wide-
spread among Jewish families in modern Italy) is not a clear indication of such
origin in the sixteenth century: a large part of the musicians active in sixteenth-
century Venice for which I have references (a total of about 700 names, not
counting St Mark’s musicians) are named after a town of origin. Much of the
other evidence for their Jewishness is circumstantial.’39

If the family converted, one must suppose that this took place at Bassano and
not at Venice. In fact the surname Piva could only have been adopted by the
family after such an event. In this case, references to their Jewish origins would
have been found in Bassano documents about the family over a long period. In
a small city, control of the populace and in particular of minorities was diligent.
It would be difficult for a fact of this sort to escape the authorities. The record
of such an event would be preserved at Bassano for a long time, given that it
was then a city of modest dimensions and strong anti-Semitic tendencies. The
Bassano community never lost sight of the Piva family. The patriarch - Jeron-
imo - forty years after his death and sixty years after his move to Venice, was
still recorded by Lorenzo Marucini, a local writer, as a personality who had
contributed to the glory of his home town. Marucini, moreover, in his account
of the famous musician and instrument-maker, does not hint at Jewish roots or
a conversion. Marucini probably knew members of the family directly and what
he wrote on the private and public life of Jeronimo seems well informed. It is
rather unlikely, then, that the Venetian chronicler would have neglected to
record such an important detail.40

Some documents from the Bassano del Grappa archives, narrating aspects of
the Piva lifestyle before the move to Venice, cast still more doubt on the theory
that Jeronimo and his sons were Jews.41 The city of Bassano del Grappa started
to compile baptismal registers - which would eliminate all doubt on the issue-
only after the Council of Trent, yet the Pivas were born before that date, making-
it impossible to find definite proof of their religious identity at the relevant
point.

Two deliberations of the communal council in 1502 tell us about a commission
entrusted to the Pivas to repair and tune the organs of the church of S. France-
sco a Bassano. As mentioned above, the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries saw an

7 

Alessio Ruffatti 

anti-Semitic campaign of unprecedented violence led by the friars. At Bassano,
too, the Franciscans led protests against the local Jewish community. They
became advocates of a plan to gather funds to establish the Monte di Pietà, which
was necessary for the dismissal of the Jews.42 The Communal Council of Bassano
discussed this proposal in these terms in the early sixteenth century: ‘It would
be good and useful for the health of the souls of the Bassano populace to have
and to maintain in this territory of Bassano and its district one location and
convent of Religious of the Order of the Seraphic and Blessed Francis ... even
for the sake of completely expelling the Jewish moneylenders from the said
territory.’43 It would be difficult to believe that such ferocious enemies of the
local Jewish community as the friars of St Francis at Bassano would entrust
work on their church organs to Jewish craftsmen.

A notary’s deed of 1481 testifies to the renewal of rent of four fields by
Jeronimo Piva’s father. The contract, drawn up with the Benedictine monastery
of S. Croce di Campese, a village near Bassano, relates to a family of relatively
poor Venetian peasants who just managed to survive by working the land. Yet
at this period there is no documentary evidence in the Venetian republic of
Jewish peasants in such destitute circumstances as those described in this con-
tract. Furthermore, it would be difficult to conceive of a Jewish family being so
closely linked to a Benedictine monastery.

The family possessed a house in Borgo del Leon a Bassano. The names first
of Jeronimo and then of his sons appear in those documents that record the
payment of property tax. The numerous land registers conserved at Bassano
contain abundant data about the family throughout the sixteenth century, but
there is no indication anywhere of a conversion.44

Roger Prior believes that the Nasi sisters, who married the Bassanos, were
also Jewish. But one must ask how it is that in the documents that concern
them-for example in the 1570 controversy over the possession of the family
house in Borgo del Leon in Bassano del Grappa - there is no mention at all of
their Jewish identity?45

As we have seen, it is clear that Venetian Jews in the sixteenth century were
not forced into exile by the authorities. On the contrary, once the Venetians had
allowed the Jews to live in the city at the beginning of the sixteenth century, they
remained closely bound by economic ties with the community. The evidence in
the Bassano del Grappa archives demonstrates that the Bassanos were, to all
appearances, Christians and there is therefore no justification for the assumption
that they were Jews. This reasoning could also be applied to the members of
the string consort who also came from Venice and to which some of the Lupo
family belonged.

To prove whether or not all the musicians that Prior supposes were Jews were
indeed so, would require archival research similar to that which has been com-
pleted on the Bassano family. In some cases one can rely on other previous

8 

Italian musicians at the Tudor Court 

investigations. For example, in Shlomo Simonsohn’s research on the Jews in the
Duchy of Milan there is no sign of the Lupo family,46 who certainly came from
that city.47

These conclusions, if accepted, refute the initial premise and demolish one of
the main supports of the theory that there was a community of Italian crypto-
Jewish musicians in Tudor London. The theory also loses interest from a musi-
cological point of view, for Venetian families were certainly the most important
of the Italian musicians who settled at the English Court in the early sixteenth
century.

Since there is no confirmation of the theory that the Bassano family’s migra-
tion was forced by religious persecution, it would be useful to try and understand
what did cause them to move first to Venice and then London.

When the Pivas moved to Venice, the War of the League of Cambrai was in
full swing and the situation at Bassano was very difficult.48 The mainland was
subject to passing armies who sacked and fired houses in every territory that
they crossed. Venice, on the other hand, remained untouched and was a secure
haven for those who feared for their lives. In addition, at Bassano there was no
guarantee that the talent of the Pivas would be adequately recognized and
rewarded. All the other musicians of that period born in Bassano del Grappa
probably moved elsewhere for this reason. Marucini, the chronicler of Bassano,
mentions Zanetto Bornacino, trombonist and singer who moved to the Court of
the Duke of Mantua, and Giacomo Scattola, a violinist who was much in
demand at the principal European Courts.49

The move of the Bassanos and many other Italian musicians to London was
probably determined by the social and economic circumstances of instrumental-
ists in Venice and London. In the first half of the sixteenth century the situation
of instrumentalists in Venice was insecure. Although various opportunities for
occasional work were available, very few were employed full-time.50 In this
period, only a few institutions in Venice offered musicians regular employment:
San Marco, the Scuole Grandi and the Cathedral of San Pietro in Castello.51

The musicians of the Scuole Grandi, as opposed to those of San Marco, were
often priests or craftsmen who gave their services on Sundays and those holidays
which required a ceremony or celebratory procession with musical accompani-
ment. The regularly employed Cantori di San Marco usually received 50 ducats
a year, while the highest-paid musicians in the Scuole Grandi received a max-
imum of 12 ducats per year.52 The economic conditions of the musicians who
played in the Scuole Grandi were decided by the Guardian Grande, the person
at the head of the brotherhood, who decided the budget for music - often motiv-
ated by financial restrictions. Thus, with every change of Guardian, the position
of the musicians was reassessed and often cuts were made. Morale was very low
among the musicians of the Scuole Grandi due to constantly uncertain conditions
which drove them to seek employment elsewhere.53 Moreover, in the fraternities

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Alessio Ruffatti 

there were fewer instrumentalists than singers. They were not employed with
the same regularity and were paid substantially less.54 In the smaller Scuole and
in the monasteries the more important holy days were marked with processions
and magnificent celebrations, similar in every respect to those at the Scuole
Grandi. On these occasions, as at the Scuole Grandi, different instrumentalists
and singers were engaged.55 Other employment opportunities took the form of
private celebrations: musicians were often hired for weddings, baptisms, ban-
quets and the numerous occasions that occurred during Carnival. Obviously
these were occasional engagements.56

One exception to this survey is the sonadori di violini of the Scuola di San
Marco. This group, formed during the 1530s, gradually assumed more import-
ance and stability until they held a more considerable role than the Scuola’s
singers themselves.57

In Venice there existed until the end of the fifteenth century a group of wind
instrumentalists called Pifferi del Doge (‘the Doge’s pipers’), who were engaged
in processions and on numerous public occasions. Such cornet-and-trombone
groups were very common during this period.58 Unfortunately, documentation
about them is very scarce and consists mainly of accounts in diaries or illustra-
tions in paintings.59 As far as one can tell, the group was composed of a limited
number of instrumentalists, ranging from six to nine. The Pifferi participated in
many public occasions, but it is unfortunately impossible to tell from the
research if there was a constant nucleus or if, here too, the conditions of employ-
ment were uncertain. Whatever the case, the tiny number of instrumentalists
who formed the company did not enable many people to make a living from
this profession.

Given this background, it is not surprising that in 1539 the English ambas-
sador in Venice wrote to the authorities at home confirming that, although the
Bassanos were, in his opinion, the best musicians in Venice, they were poor and
could not afford to pay for their journey to England.60

The situation at the Tudor Court was very different. During the medieval
period the many minstrels at the English Court were mainly wandering musi-
cians who travelled from Court to Court and were rewarded for their services
on an ad hoc basis. During the reign of Edward IV (1461-1483), only five musi-
cians served permanently at the Court in London, while when the Bassanos
settled in London in 1540, more than forty musicians were employed at the
Tudor Court on a permanent basis.61 Edward VI, in 1552, had sixty-five musi-
cians, excluding those assigned to the royal chapel who played sacred music at
religious functions.62 In other words, towards the middle of the sixteenth cen-
tury, musicians employed by the Tudor monarchs could count on steady
employment and a high wage, besides many legal and financial privileges. Above
all, they could rely on a permanent position and could dedicate themselves full
time to music, without having to worry about finding alternative ways of earning
a living.63

10 

Italian musicians at the Tudor Court 

In London, moreover, the Bassanos benefited from a social and economic
status decidedly higher than any other professional musician in England in the
sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Some members of the family were
granted noble titles.64

Having sketched this background and clarified some of the conditions of life
and work in Venice and London in the early sixteenth century, one can conclude
that what led this group of Venetian musicians to move to the Court of Henry
VIII were the generous conditions offered by the English sovereign and the
prospect of a guaranteed, well-paid and stable life-style, as opposed to the pre-
carious life they were then leaving. For this reason, some of the most important
musicians of the experimental laboratory for instrumental music in early-
sixteenth-century Venice moved to London towards the end of the 1530s and
had a decisive influence on English music of that period.

NOTES 

Alessio Ruffatti 

Italian musicians at the Tudor Court 

Alessio Ruffatti