1550 Book of Common Prayer

[Church of England].
Booke of Common Praier Noted.
London: Richard Grafton, 1550.
(17612)

As the evolving Church of England broke with its Catholic origins, it required a new manual for congregational prayer. Compiled primarily by Thomas Cranmer and first published in 1549, the Book of Common Prayer replaced the clergy’s complex Latin rites, which had been dispersed among several liturgical books, with a single succinct liturgy for the English people to recite in their own language. In the following year the English theologian and musician John Merbecke (ca. 1510–ca. 1585) issued this Booke of Common Praier Noted to provide for musical uniformity in the use of the first prayer book of the Church of England. Setting the liturgy to melodies adapted in part from Gregorian chant, the work became obsolete when the Book of Common Prayer was revised in 1552.