The Border Waites

Shipwreck!
The Border Waites

David Hatcher,
Frances Eustace,
Emily White,
Richard Thomas

Music from the time of Henry VII, who won the throne of when his forces defeated the forces of King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the culmination of the Wars of the Roses – in which the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471 was crucial.

The programme explores the splendour of the courts of England and Burgundy and the hazards of international travel through the chance meeting of Henry VII and Philip the Handsome Duke of Burgundy, King of Castile, Archduke of Austria, and son and heir of Maximilian I, the Holy Roman Emperor.

Having set sail on 10 January 1506 with a large army, most of his court, Quirini the Venetian Ambassador and Joanna the Mad, his queen, sailing down the Channel they were lashed violently by a 'hideous wind' which eventually drove most of the fleet onto the English coast.

Escorted to Windsor by Henry Prince of Wales they met the King, Henry VII, who invited them into the castle and oversaw their entertainment until their departure on 23rd April. On a large variety of instruments of the day, including shawms, viols, recorders, crumhorns and bagpipes, the Border Waites perform music that was known to Henry, Philip and the Venetian Ambassador.

The programme is interspersed with readings and comments, tracing the arrival of the very first viol players in England, describing the life of a musician of the court, observing the events of that fortuitous meeting and how the vicissitudes of medieval international travel are surprisingly relevant today!