Roy Henry

Roy Henry (“King” Henry) () was an English composer, almost certainly the pseudonym of an English King: probably Henry V, but also possibly Henry IV. His music, two compositions in all, appears in a position of prominence in the Old Hall Manuscript. Identity Musicologists have not been able to agree on which English monarch wrote the two mass movements which appear, at the head of their respective sections, in the Old Hall Manuscript. Henry IV, who reigned from 1399 to 1413, was in his early forties when the music was most likely written, since stylistic evidence places it around 1410. However, by 1410 Henry IV was suffering from a disfiguring disease and struggling to maintain his regal power. Therefore, it is unlikely that he, albeit a talented musician, could be the composer of the two pieces. Whereas Henry V, despite being extremely ‘busy on campaigns’ after his succession, was recorded to never have ceased in his fondness for music. In 1420 the Pell Rolls recorded payments for two new harps to be shipped to the King in France. And the King even went so far as to take his chapel to the Agincourt campaign. This, as well as being substantial evidence for his piety, suggests that