Although Byrd’s Masses in three, four and five parts were published without title pages, they have now been established as dating from 1592-95, in the years immediately following his move to Standon Massey near Ingatestone in Essex, home of the Catholic Petre family. While their debt to English and continental models is fully explored in the preface to the volume, the Masses stand above all as reflections of Byrd’s mature style at its most refined and original.