Juan de Anchieta

Juan de Anchieta (1462 – 1523) was a leading Spanish Basque composer of the Renaissance, he served as a singer and chapel master in the royal court of the Catholic Monarchs and their successors. Anchieta was closely associated with Queen Isabella I of Castile, Prince John, Queen Joanna of Castile, and the future Emperor Charles V, for whom he acted as a music teacher. Biography Juan de Anchieta was born in Azpeitia, in 1462 to a leading Basque family, his mother was a great-aunt of Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus. He may have studied at Salamenca University with music professor Diego de Fermoselle, older brother of Juan del Encina. He officially joined the royal chapel of Queen Isabella as a chaplain and singer on 6 February 1489. At the time of his appointment, he was approximately twenty-seven years old. His initial annual salary was 20,000 maravedís, which was calculated from the standard 8,000 maravedís for chaplains alongside an additional 12,000 maravedís allocated for lay singers. Returning to the Queen’s service after the Prince’s death in 1497, and in 1504, to that of the new Queen, Joanna the Mad. In her service he travelled to Flanders with Pierre de