Francis Cutting

Little is known about the life of Francis Cutting.  He and members of his family are mentioned in the records of St. Clement Dane in London in the 1580s.  He was lutenist to Philip Howard, Duke of Norfolk, whose London residence was Arundel House.  It seems likely that Cutting was Catholic like his patron.  The Howards had a place in Norfolk not far from Walsingham, the Catholic shrine.  A setting of the song “Walsingham” is among the eleven of Cutting’s found in William Barley ‘A New Booke of Tabliture’, 1596.  It is thought that the lyrics of “Walsingham” were written by Philip Howard during his imprisonment in the Tower for recusancy.