It was not a conventional chapel, Johnstone noted, but a semiautonomous corporation of musicians in service of the monarch. The Chapel Royal also brought Byrd into contact with its then-organist, Thomas Tallis, who became his teacher and mentor and later a collaborator. After studying with Tallis, in 1563, Byrd left to take up the post of organist and master of the choristers at Lincoln Cathedral. But the cathedral’s governing chapter disapproved of Byrd’s organ playing and suspended his salary was suspended in 1569. And support for Byrd’s burgeoning career came from both England’s extant Catholic establishment and the queen herself.

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Persons: Johnstone, Byrd, Thomas Tallis, Tallis, Lincoln “, ” Johnstone, ” Phillips, “, wasn’t, Queen Elizabeth I, John Dowland, John Bull, Richard Dering, Byrd didn’t, ”, Elizabeth Organizations: Royal, Lincoln Cathedral, Catholic, Chapel Royal Locations: Lincoln