Duke of Devonshire in the context of "Eastbourne"

Secular music and sacred music were the two main genres of Western music during the Middle Ages and Renaissance era. The oldest written examples of secular music are songs with Latin lyrics. However, many secular songs were sung in the vernacular language, unlike the sacred songs that followed the Latin language of the Church, which is not to say there are not secular songs in Latin or not secular songs that are religious in theme.

In the Middle Ages, and even through the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment, any music that was not commissioned by the Catholic Church (or, later, a Protestant church) for liturgical use was and still is considered "secular music." Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven) (commonly called "Ode to Joy") and Messiah (Handel) are both examples of secular music because, despite being wholly and innately religious in theme, they were not commissioned by any church or for use in any religion's liturgy. Symphony No. 9 was commissioned by the Philharmonic Society of London for theater performance, not by the Catholic Church, the Church of England, or any other church and not for liturgical use. Likewise, "Messiah (Handel) was commissioned by the Duke of Devonshire to be performed in Dublin theaters for a series of charity concerts, not by the Catholic Church or any other church and not for liturgical use. So, while "secular" today is often taken to mean non-religious in any way, when it refers to music from the Middle Ages through as late as the 19th century, music with a religious theme may be and very often is "secular music" for the simple fact that it was not written on behalf of any commissioning church or for liturgical use, meaning "secular" does not indicate that it is thematically non-religious but that it is non-religious vis-à-vis a religious organization (i.e., the Church) did not commission its creation, sacred music being definitively music commissioned by the Church for liturgical use, for use by the Church in the Church's established rituals, the Church's ceremonies, and the Church's forms of worship, and any and all other music (i.e., music not fitting that strict definition) being secular music, no matter how religiously themed or gloriously worshipful of God it may be. A caveat: while these definitions of sacred music and secular music still hold true today when referring to such music from the past, they tend not to still hold true today for more modern music as any modern song that is themed in religious worship, regardless of if any church commissioned it or uses it in its liturgy, is not considered secular music, like Christian rock is not considered secular music today, but if it were somehow packed up and sent back to the 1500s, it would be considered secular music today because it would have been considered secular music back in the 1500s because of not being commission by the Church for liturgical use but by the artists themselves, or their labels, for their own personal or professional use and so would have come down through history to today as secular music.

The Cavendish (or de Cavendish) family (/ˈkævəndɪʃ/ KAV-ən-dish; /ˈkændɪʃ/ KAN-dish) is a British noble family, of Anglo-Norman origins (though with an Anglo-Saxon name, originally from a place-name in Suffolk). They rose to their highest prominence as Duke of Devonshire and Duke of Newcastle.

Leading branches have held high offices in English and then in British politics, especially since the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the participation of William Cavendish (then Earl of Devonshire) in the Invitation to William, though the family appears to date to the Norman Conquest of England, with Cavendish being used (in one form or another) as a surname per se since the beginning of the 13th century. As a place-name, it is first recorded in 1086.

Chatsworth House is a stately home in the Derbyshire Dales, 4 miles (6.4 km) north-east of Bakewell and 9 miles (14 km) west of Chesterfield, England. The seat of the Duke of Devonshire, it has belonged to the Cavendish family since 1549. It stands on the east bank of the River Derwent, across from hills between the Derwent and Wye valleys, amid parkland backed by wooded hills that rise to heather moorland.

Bess of Hardwick began to build the new Chatsworth House in 1553. She selected a site near the river, which was drained by digging a series of reservoirs, which doubled as fish ponds. Bess finished the house in the 1560s and lived there with her fourth husband, George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury. In 1568 Shrewsbury was entrusted with the custody of Mary, Queen of Scots, and brought his prisoner to Chatsworth several times from 1570 onwards. She lodged in the apartment now known as the Queen of Scots rooms, on the top floor above the great hall, which faces onto the inner courtyard. During the Stuart Restoration, William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of Devonshire reconstructed the principal rooms in an attempt to make them more comfortable, but the Elizabethan house was outdated and unsafe. William Cavendish, 4th Earl of Devonshire started rebuilding the house in 1687. Cavendish aimed initially to reconstruct only the south wing with the State Apartments and so decided to retain the Elizabethan courtyard plan, although its layout was becoming increasingly unfashionable. In the 18th century, William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire made great changes to the house and gardens. He decided the approach to the house should be from the west. He had the old stables and offices as well as parts of Edensor village pulled down so they were not visible from the house, and replaced the 1st Duke's formal gardens with a more natural look, designed by Capability Brown, which he helped bring into fashion.

William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire (25 January 1640 – 18 August 1707) was an English Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons of England from 1661 until 1684 when he inherited his father's peerage as Earl of Devonshire and took his seat in the House of Lords. Cavendish was part of the "Immortal Seven" which invited William of Orange to depose James II of England as part of the Glorious Revolution, and was rewarded for his efforts by being elevated to the Duke of Devonshire in 1694.

Earl of Devon is a noble title that has been created several times in the Peerage of England. It was possessed first (after the Norman Conquest of 1066) by the Redvers family (alias de Reviers, Revieres, etc.), and later by the Courtenay family. It is not to be confused with the title of Earl of Devonshire, which is held by the Duke of Devonshire, although the letters patent for the creation of the latter peerages used the same Latin words, Comes Devon(iae). It was a re-invention, if not an actual continuation, of the pre-Conquest office of Ealdorman of Devon.

Close kinsmen and powerful allies of the Plantagenet kings, especially Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V, the Earls of Devon were treated with suspicion by the Tudors, perhaps unfairly, partly because William Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon (1475–1511), had married Princess Catherine of York, a younger daughter of King Edward IV, bringing the Earls of Devon very close to the line of succession to the English throne. During the Tudor period, all but the last Earl were attainted, and there were several recreations and restorations. The last recreation was to the heirs male of the grantee, not (as would be usual) to the heirs male of his body. When he died unmarried, it was assumed the title was extinct, but a much later very distant Courtenay cousin, of the family seated at Powderham, whose common ancestor was Hugh de Courtenay, 2nd Earl of Devon (d.1377), seven generations before this Earl, successfully claimed the title in 1831. During this period of dormancy, the de jure Earls of Devon, the Courtenays of Powderham, were created baronets and later viscounts.

Devonshire House in Piccadilly, was the London townhouse of the Dukes of Devonshire during the 18th and 19th centuries. Following a fire in 1733 it was rebuilt by William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire, in the Palladian style, to designs by William Kent. Completed circa 1740, it stood empty after the First World War and was demolished in 1924.

Many of Britain's great noblemen maintained large London houses that bore their names. As a ducal house (only in mainland Europe were such houses referred to as palaces), Devonshire House was one of the largest and grandest, ranking alongside Burlington House, Montague House, Lansdowne House, Londonderry House, Northumberland House, and Norfolk House. All of these have long been demolished, except Burlington and Lansdowne, both of which have been substantially altered.