ABSTRACT
The preceding discussions of the printed metrical psalms are important because of the people who used these texts. In England, churches, cathedrals and clergymen purchased metrical psalters for use in worship, and schoolmasters and students bought them for general educational purposes. This suggests a growing number of people used the printed psalters, and this also had a significant influence on how non-literate people learned to sing metrical psalms.1 With an increasing number who sang metrical psalms, what remains to be considered is how people sang them and whether printed editions reflected or effected developments and differences in performance practice. By considering evidence external to the printed psalters, it is possible to better understand the purpose of the printed psalters in England. More precisely, pairing historical accounts and other external evidence with the printed editions reveals much about the singers of metrical psalms, the tunes and texts they used, and their singing methods.
