This day will focus on some of the themes raised in my book, The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason, first published in 2003, but we will take the story on beyond the fall of the Roman empire. We shall consider the role of the Church in the reopening the western mind, which forms part of the subject of my next book, The Awakening, A History of the Western Mind, AD 500-1700 (due for publication, April 2020).

It is often said that Æthelstan (ruled 925-939), grandson of Ælfred the Great, was the first king of England.  Yet it seems likely that Rædwald of East Anglia (died c.625) ruled over a similarly wide area, for after his victory at the Battle of the River Idle in 617, he was the first overlord of both southern and northern Britain.  His triumph by the River Idle also appears to have been the first time that a baptised English king gained victory on the field of battle.  Rædwald may thus have been regarded as a very great king indeed, all of which strengthens the probability that he was the king who lay in state aboard the Sutton Hoo ship-burial.

During the day we will look at the forms and style of music from the Elizabethan period through a variety of genres – ranging from the music of the streets and theatre to the music of the church, court and stately homes. In doing so we shall also focus on the music played in the homes of the cultured families of the Petres in Ingatestone, the Pastons of Norfolk and the Kytsons at Hengrave.  Composers and their works will be illustrated by a lecture recital of Elizabethan keyboard music.