William Cornysh

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William Cornysh the Younger (1465 – 1523) was an English composer, dramatist, actor, and poet, and much more. In his only surviving poem, which was written in the Fleet prison, he claims that he has been convicted by false information and thus wrongly accused, though it is not known what the accusation was. He is not the composer of the music found in the Eton Choirbook which must certainly be by his father, also named William Cornysh, who died c.1502. The younger Cornysh had a prestigious employment at court, as Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal, which he fulfilled until his death and he produced secular music and the notable English sacred anthem Woefully arrayed.