A biography

Dunstaple is generally acknowledged as the first great English composer, one with an influence that stretched into mainland Europe: Dufay certainly knew his music. Not much is known of his life but he is known to have served Queen Joan of Navarre, second wife of Henry IV, and was part of the household of Henry, Duke of Gloucester, in 1438. In the late 1430s he held lands in northern France. It has been suggested too that he was also an astronomer. His epitaph (at St Stephen’s, Walbrook) describes him as ‘prince of music’.