Majesty and Music in Royal Worship: The English Chapel Royal, I558–I625

Abstract

This article revises interpretations of the post-Reformation English Chapel Royal as a place for the performance of ‘conservative’ or ‘traditional’ forms of the Book of Common Prayer and establishes its importance as a space for negotiating Protestant royal worship. By detailed analysis of the sound and appearance of royal chapels under Elizabeth I and James VI & I the Chapel Royal is emphasised not for its anticipation of a Laudian ascendancy, but its sensitivity to the ceremonial boundaries of the reformed Church of England, and ability to negotiate a form of Protestant majesty in royal worship.