# William Newark

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{{Short description|English choirmaster and composer}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
'''William Newark''' (c. 1450–1509, sometimes spelt Newerk) was an English choirmaster and composer. He served at the [Chapel Royal](/source/Chapel_Royal) under five English kings.

==Rank and income==
Newark was born in [Newark-on-Trent](/source/Newark-on-Trent) about 1450. He was admitted in 1476 into the Fraternity of St Nicholas, a London-area organization of musicians,<ref>[https://www.british-history.ac.uk/london-record-soc/vol 39 British History site. Retrieved 23 August 2019.]{{Dead link|date=November 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref><ref name="ODNB">[https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-70481. Retrieved 23 May 2019.]</ref> and appointed to the Gentlemen of the [Chapel Royal](/source/Chapel_Royal) in 1477, where he served until his death under five English kings (Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III, [Henry VII](/source/Henry_VII_of_England) and [Henry VIII](/source/Henry_VIII_of_England), see [List of English Monarchs](/source/List_of_English_Monarchs)).<ref name=Flood>{{Cite journal |title=New Light on Early Tudor Composers. I. – William Newark |author=W. H. Grattan Flood |journal=The Musical Times |volume=60 |year=1919 |issue=921 |pages=606–608 |doi=10.2307/3701584|jstor=3701584 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/2153358 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

On 23 November 1480, Newark was confirmed in the benefice of [St Mary's Priory, Thetford](/source/Thetford_Priory), granted to him in the previous year.<ref name="ODNB"/> He received a [corrody](/source/corrody) from there, and also from the [Abbey of St Benet of Hulme, Norfolk](/source/St_Benet's_Abbey) (from 1487) and Gloucester Abbey (from 1492).<ref name="ODNB"/>

Meanwhile, in 1485, Newark received a [life grant](/source/life_annuity) of £20 from the King's manor at [Bletchingley](/source/Bletchingley).<ref name=Flood /> In 1492, he was paid 20 shillings by the King "for making of a Song".<ref name=wallace>{{Cite book |title=The evolution of English drama up to Shakespeare |author=Charles William Wallace |year=1912 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=9783111651774 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s59sDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA239}}</ref> In 1493, Henry VII formally appointed him [Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal](/source/Master_of_the_Children_of_the_Chapel_Royal).<ref name=wallace/>

==Songs==
At least seven songs of his have survived in the Fayrfax manuscript (BL, Add. MS 5465), an early 16th-century songbook associated with the households of Henry VII or his son Arthur, Prince of Wales. One of them, for two voices, "The farther I go, the more behynde," sets an early 15th-century [rhyme royal](/source/rhyme_royal) stanza by Sir John Halsham (1357–1415).<ref name="ODNB"/><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ5bdq0MBs8 Recording with Pro Cantione Antiqua. Retrieved 23 May 2019.]</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-EWwvQ8FNI Recording with Isabel Alvarez and Sour Cream. Retrieved 23 May 2019.]</ref>

==Death==
Newark fell ill in the autumn of 1509 and died in the second week of November,<ref name=Flood /> some six months after his appointment as Master of the Children had been reconfirmed on the accession of King Henry VIII. He was buried in the porch of [St Alfege Church, Greenwich](/source/St_Alfege_Church%2C_Greenwich).<ref name=wallace/>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Fayrfax_Manuscript Compositions in the Fayrfax Manuscript]
*[https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Newark,_William Newark, William at IMSLP]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newark, William}}
Category:1509 deaths
Category:English Renaissance composers
Category:15th-century English musicians
Category:16th-century English composers
Category:Masters of the Children of the Chapel Royal
Category:1450 births
Category:Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal

{{England-musician-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [William Newark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Newark) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Newark?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.