The Countess and the Composer

by Chris Carr

One such local resident was Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby and mother to King Henry VII. Although born in Bletsoe in Bedfordshire, Margaret spent much of her early life in her mother’s castle at Maxey. Margaret is often depicted as scheming, manipulative and avaricious. However, to those who formed part of her extended circle of friends and family she was very supportive, particularly in terms of patronage. A local man who benefited from her patronage was Robert Fayrfax, a younger son of a family who lived in Deeping Gate in a house known as Fairfax Hall on the site of the current Fairfax House in Riverside.

The Fayrfax family were gentry rather than nobility. They are first recorded in Deeping

Gate in the 1301 tax assessment when Robert

Fayrfax is assessed as owing 3s 10.25d. In the 14th century the sum represented 15 days’ pay for a skilled tradesman or nearly a month’s wage for a labourer. This tax assessment was for a fifteenth of a person’s movable property. This means that Robert owned things like robes, pans, pots and beds as well as possibly livestock and crops to the value of 57s. The assessment didn’t include land and houses. By the standards of the time, Robert Fayrfax was a wealthy man.

The family not only held (rented) property in Deeping Gate but also Yardley Hastings, Whissendine, in Grendon, and Panton, a village north of Lincoln. This shows that they were people of standing. This is reflected in the appointment, in 1461, of William Fayrfax to the post of High Sheriff of Northamptonshire. At the time this was much more than the ceremonial role it is today. The High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county which makes the appointment somewhat unusual as William had, as a man in his early 20s, been accused (with others) of affray in Deeping. He held other civic posts, as was expected of a man of

Margaret Beauchamp

his standing. He served on commissions looking into sewers and drains and later, in 1474-5 as a Justice of the Peace in Kesteven. He had many important contacts, either through marriage (his brother-in-law was MP for Northamptonshire) or through possible business contacts. For example, William Browne of Stamford (founder of Browne’s Hospital) and his wife were godparents to three of the Fayrfax children.

As one of the pre-eminent men in the immediate area, it is little wonder that in about 1445, when the recently widowed Margaret, Duchess of Somerset moved into Maxey castle with her infant daughter, the Fayrfax family should become part of their circle of friends.

Margaret wasn’t new to widowhood. John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, had been her second husband. Her first, Oliver St John, left her with five children who all became part of the household at Maxey. They provided a happy family in which Margaret Beaufort was to spend her childhood. The family would increase in 1447, when Margaret married her third husband, Lionel, Lord Welles, with whom she had another son.

History has left us a document which gives a wonderful insight into the intertwined lives of the Fayrfax family at Deeping Gate and their more illustrious neighbours at Maxey. Fragments of a prayer book known as the Fairfax Book of Hours is housed in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. As with many books of its type and period it lists family births. Not only are the dates, places and in some cases the hour of birth of the Fayrfax children recorded but also details of their baptism. This gives us an intimate picture of family life at Fayrfax Hall and the circle in which the family moved.

In total, William Fayrfax fathered 14 children, two girls by his first wife Elena (or Eleanor) and 12 by Agnes his second wife. There may have been other children lost in infancy. At the time the infant mortality rate was 50% and childbirth was the biggest killer of women. The Book of Hours tells us that Margaret Beauchamp was not only godmother to William and Elena’s first daughter but also named the baby. She may well have been present at the birth, although as the only Fayrfax child to be born in Stamford the Duchess may have been absent. It was the custom at the time for the first daughter to be named after her mother and sons after their father. The Duchess of Somerset went against tradition in choosing her own name for the Fayrfax first-born, although Margaret was also the name of the baby’s paternal grandmother. Margaret Fayrfax was baptised in St George’s Church in Stamford by the Abbot of Peterborough. One of her godmothers was Edith St John, Margaret’s daughter.

The Duchess also named one of the Fayrfax sons, Charles who was born in November 1468 in Deeping Gate and baptised in the Priory Church of St James, East Deeping by the Abbot of Bourne. His godmother was Elizabeth St John, granddaughter of the Duchess. Some Fayrfax children were baptised in St Peter’s Church, Maxey.

Fayrfax brass at St Albans Abbey

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Deeping and numbered the Rector of Peakirk as one of his godfathers. Robert had a distinguished musical career. We know little about his early years but it is possible that he sang as a boy in the Lady Chapel choir of Peterborough Abbey, a position which may have been secured through the family’s close relationship with the Abbot.

It is also possible that by 1487 Robert was a member of Margaret Beaufort’s Chapel at Collyweston. At the time there was a great interchange of musical personnel between other institutions further afield such as Higham Ferrers, Tattershall College, Winchester College, London Charterhouse and the Chapel Royal.

By 1497, Robert was a member of the Chapel Royal and served in a number of chapels in various places. Over the years, he advanced in seniority as he sang at various state occasions such as the funeral of Edmund son of Henry VII in 1500, that of Henry’s wife Elizabeth of York in 1503 and of the King himself in 1509.

As a composer, Fayrfax certainly contributed to the musical life of Margaret Beaufort’s chapel. On 4 December 1504 he received a payment from the countess’ cofferer, most probably for musical duties, and on 11 August 1507, he received a payment of 6s. 8d. from the Treasurer of the Chamber of Margaret’s household, this time for the new mass, ‘O Bone Jesu’.

Robert’s career flourished under Henry VIII to whom he was no doubt introduced by the King’s grandmother. Robert’s service to Henry VIII culminated in 1520 when he led the Chapel Royal to the Field of the Cloth of Gold meeting with King Francis I of France. Robert died a year later, possibly in St Albans, where a funeral brass commemorating him and his wife Agnes survived into the 17th century. The image shows a modern reproduction.

Robert Fayrfax is considered to have been a major impact on the development of Renaissance music and to have influenced later composers such as Tavener and Tallis. We can count him as one of our own.

Sadly, there is no trace of the house that Robert, his siblings and Margaret Beaufort knew as the current Fairfax House dates to the late 17th or early 18th century.

Fairfax House

Image: @theoldbuilding

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We understand how important it is to speak face-to-face with a pharmacist about your medicines and prescriptions. Our fast and efficient wholesaler service to enable us to fulfil all the prescriptions promptly. We also keep a services give you the chance to chat to a pharmacist about wide range of over-the-counter medicines and also your concerns, while getting expert advice on how to impove vitamins and mineral supplements your health in our private consultation room. Our other services include ● We offer blister pack medication to We stock a wide range of prescription medications and patients who meet the criteria. dressings from all the main brands. We keep a comprehensive ● Flu vaccinations will be available this stock of all medicines and use a fast and efficient wholesaler winter as a pre-book or drop-in service. service to enable us to fulfill all the prescriptions promptly. We ● NHS unwanted medicine service, where you also keep a whole range of over the counter medicines and also vitamins and other mineral supplements. ● can return all unwanted medicines to the pharmacy where we will dispose of them safely. Emergency supplies: if you need one of your regular medicines in an emergency and you are unable to contact your doctor, we may be able to help. Come in and say hello, we’d be very glad to see you and assist you with anything you need.

• We offer blister pack medication to patients who meet the criteria. • Flu vaccinations will be available this winter as a pre-book or drop in service. • NHS unwanted medicine service, where you can return all unwanted medicines to the pharmacy where we will dispose of them safely. • Emergency supplies. If you need one of your regular medicines in an emergency and you are unable to contact your doctor, we may be able to help.