This research project is the first to reconstruct, from music manuscripts and archival documents, the musical experience of a commoner in London in the later middle ages (c.1300-1558). Rather than focussing on the music of the royal palaces or grand cathedrals, I am interested in the music that was made in the city’s taverns, halls, parish churches, and streets: from the singing of boys and girls to welcome an important visitor into the city, to the raucous clanging of pans and bells that led a prisoner to the pillory. London’s archive is rich in descriptions of how, when, and by whom music was performed, and, sometimes, even details of what music the commoners knew and heard survive.
