| Administrative History | the name Johanes Banys is written at the end of the text on page 66. Inside the back cover, the name Johanes Banis also appears, together with memoranda including 'Item to remember to send a letter to mr rauff shyrley of stanton for a writing concer[n]ing the gyff of the parsonage of saint [blank]'. Stanton is probably Staunton Harold, Leicestershire which Sir Ralph Shirley (d. 1466) acquired through his marriage (before 1423) to Margaret, daughter and heiress of Thomas Staunton. Ralph's son John (d. 1486) moved there from the family seat in Shirley near Ashbourne, although the family continued to maintain its extensive estates in Derbyshire.
The Shirleys, Finderns and Gresleys were probably part of the same social circle in South Derbyshire in the late medieval and early Tudor period. John Findern witnessed a grant of land to william Sherle in 1476. Thomas Findern (fl. 1505-1525) married Margaret Dethick of Newhall, near Swadlincote; her sister Dorothy was the wife of Thomas Gresley of Drakelow.
The Shirley family is associated with several manuscripts indicative of shared literary and cultural interests amongst the gentry of South Derbyshire in the later 15th century. Probably the best known of these is the so-called 'Findern Anthology' (held at Cambridge University Library, MS. Ff. 1.6). Compiled over a long period of time by many hands, including some named women, its contents include copies of popular verse works by Chaucer, Hoccleve and Lydgate, love lyrics, scraps of doggerel, various signatures and memoranda, as well as inventories of bedlinen, table linen and pots and pans at Findern. Another manuscript, a copy of the English 'Stimulus Amoris' by Walter Hilton, includes a coat of arms of the Shirley family (British Library, MS Harley 2254); a prose version of the 'Brut' chronicle c1440-1460, now in Pennsylvania State University Library, is said to have 'erased notes' of births of children to John Shirley (1535-1570) of Staunton Harold; and in St John's College, Cambridge, is a book of hours (MS. 264) given as a present by Margaret Beaufort 'moder to the kynge' [mother to Henry VII] to 'my good lady Shyrley'. Family tradition identifies the receipient as Anne, daught of Sir Henry Vernon of Haddon Hall, who became the second wife of Sir Ralph Shirley (d. 1517) about 1496. Howver, Ralph also had a child by his first marriage named Anne. In the Findern Anthology, the name 'Anne Shyrley' appears, in a late 15th century hand, at the top of folio 118r, a text of Sir Richard Roos's 'La Belle Dame Sans Mercy'.
Members of south Derbyshire gentry families who copies famous poems in manuscript and were familiar with the latest literary fashions may well also have employed a highly-skilled and knowledgeable dancing master, John Banys. Interest in an indigenous tradition of dance, evidence of which survives in Banys choreographies, dance titles and music, would also be consistent with their practical support for transmission of English vernacular poetry. Furthermore, the relative stability of the later 15th century encouraged courtly accomplishments such as dancing. Peace was largely established from 1471, when Edward IV recaptured his throne, until his death in 1483 and the accession of Henry VII in 1485 seems to have stimulated new artistic activity of many kinds - music, drama, choreography, literature and the visual arts. Subsequently, the lavish festivities which accompanied the wedding of Arthur, Prince of Wales and Catherine of Aragon in 1501 would be well known to landed families in Derbyshire despite the distance from their homes to the capital.
Although nothing is yet known of John Banys beyond his name, his notebook should be considered in the context of other late 15th century compilations for professional purposes such as texts for minstrels (for example, British Library Sloan MS 2593, or Bodleian Library MS Eng. poet e.1) or songbooks (e.g. Bodleian Library MS Arch. Selden B. 26, Trinity College Cmabridge MS 1230 or Cambridge University Library Add MS 5943). In the inclusion of Latin prayers it resembles other personal collections of the time such as Canon John Cysborn's early 16th century commonplace book (British Library Sloane MS 1584).
Written by Margaret O'Sullivan, County and Diocesan Archivist, 1999 |
| Administrative History Sources | - R Beadle and AEB Owen, eds (1978) The Findern Manuscript Cambridge University Library MS Ff.1.6. Facisimile edition, London.
- Charles Burnett (1996) Magic and Divination in the Middle Ages. Variorum, Aldershot. Especially 'Chiromancy supplement: the principal Latin texts on chiromancy extant in the Middle Ages', pp. 1-29.
- David Fallows (1996) 'The Gresley Dance Collection, c1500' in Research Chronicle of the Royal Musical Association, Volume 29, pp. 1-20.
- Kate Harris (1983) 'The Origins and Make-up of Cambridge University Library MS Ff. 1.6' in Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Volume 8, pp. 299-333.
- GR Keiser (1980) 'MS Rawlinson A 393: Another Findern Manuscript?' in Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Volume 7, pp. 445-448.
- Jennifer Nevile (May 1998) 'Dance in early Tudor England: an Italian connection?' in Early Music, Volume XXVI/2, pp. 230-244.
- RH Robins (1954) 'The Findern Anthology' in PMLA [Publications of the Modern Language Association], Volume LXIX, pp. 510-642.
- Susan M. Wright (1983) The Derbyshire Gentry in the Fifteenth Century. Derbyshire Record Society. |
| Publication Note | Fallows, D. 'The Gresley Dance Collection, c. 1500', published in Research Chronicle of the Royal Musical Association, (1996) vol 29: pages 1-20.
Nevile, Jennifer 'Dance in early Tudor England: an Italian connection?' published in 'Early Music', Oxford, volume 26 no 2 (May 1998), pages 231-244
Barbara Ravelhofer, 'The Early Stuart Masque: Dance, Costume, and Music'. Oxford University Press, 2006
Kent, Ann and Paul 'Cherwell Thy Wyne: Dances of fifteenth-century England from the Gresley Manuscript'. A dance instruction book by Ann and Paul Kent with accompanying CD by The York Waits. Dolmetsch Historical Dance Society (2013) |