Dear Ed, Had he not died prematurely, Prince Henry would have become Henry IX, but his subjects were never going to be large marine mammals. :-)
Spelling was not standardised in the 16th century as much as it is today. If there was more than one spelling then, we tend to standardise it now. For example, William Byrd's name was spelt Bird as well as Byrd, but we always stick to Byrd now. If we have only one spelling, as in the case of Jane Pickeringe, we have no choice, and the name should stay as it was. After all, that's how she chose to spell her own name. I find it interesting that there were at least three young ladies who left us good, reliable sources of lute music: Jane Pickeringe, Margaret Board, and (one assumes) Margaret L. London, British Library Additional MS 38539, formerly known as the Sturt Lute Book, but, following Robert Spencer's facsimile edition published by Boethius Press in 1985, now known as the M.L. lute book, has the initials "ML" stamped on the original cover. The same initials appear on the original end-paper at the beginning of the book. On the back of that end-paper there is written, "Margareta Marg", which Spencer assumed to have been "Margareta Margarita". He surmised that the rest of the name, "arita", would have been on paper which has been torn off. On folio 56r (the original end-paper at the back of the book) there is the following verse: Margareta Margarita Non Minerva est invita Splendida in tota vita Multa bona in ea sita et boni o[mn]es dicent ita Margareta Margarita Although Spencer accepted that the "M" of "ML" probably stood for "Margaret", he was unwilling to name the manuscript the "Margaret L Lute Book". Spencer also suggested that the same scribe may have been responsible for a manuscript now at the Biblioteka Jagiellonska in Krakow, olim Berlin Preussische Staatsbibliothek, Musikabteilung Mus MS 40641. It is heartening to know, that in a world where women did not have the same opportunities as men, there were some women who nevertheless attained a high level of proficiency in lute-playing. What saddens me is Margaret Board giving up playing, presumably when she got married. On folio 32v of her manuscript she wrote: Sic finem ludendi fatio Margret Bowrne. Spencer translated it as "the end of the playing has thus been achieved", and pointed out that Margaret Board married Henry Bourne between 1623 and 1631. Best wishes, Stewart McCoy. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Edward Martin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 11:56 PM Subject: [LUTE] Re: Pickering or Pickeringe? > Stepen, > > In the front of her book, on f.lv in 16 16, inscribed: > > Jane Pickeringe owe this > Booke 1616 > > In the Boethius edition, Robert Spencer gives an introductory study, and > he > states in the 1877 British Museum "Catalogue of Additions 1854-1857" > identified her thus: "A daughter of Sir John Puckering (or Pickering), > Lord Keeper, married Adam Newton, tutor to Henry Prince of Whales". To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
