Cornyshe, William (died 1523)

English composer. He was attached to the courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII, not only as a musician, but also as an actor and producer of interludes and pageants. He was made a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in about 1496, and succeeded William Newark as Master of the Children in 1509. He wrote music for the court banquets and masques and officiated in France at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520.

Several other musicians of the period also had the surname Cornyshe, including a William Cornyshe senior (died c. 1502), who was the first recorded master of the choristers at Westminster Abbey, London, about 1480-90.

Works Church music motets, Magnificats, Ave Maria.

Secular songs, some with satirical words, for instruments and voices, including a setting of Skelton's Hoyda, Jolly Rutterkin.