Peter Philips (also Phillipps, Phillips, Pierre Philippe, Pietro Philippi, Petrus Philippus; c.1560–1628) was an eminent English composer, organist, and Catholic priest exiled to Flanders in the Spanish Netherlands.

He was one of the greatest keyboard virtuosos of his time, and transcribed or arranged several Italian motets and madrigals by such composers as Lassus, Palestrina, and Giulio Caccini for his instruments.

On his way back, Philips was denounced by a compatriot for complicity in a plot on Queen Elizabeth's life, and he was temporarily imprisoned at the Hague, where he probably composed the pavan and galliard Doloroso (Fitzwilliam Virginal Book nos.

Philips' fortunes took a turn for the better on his return, and in 1597 he was employed in Brussels as organist to the chapel of Albert VII, Archduke of Austria who had been appointed governor of the Spanish Netherlands in 1595.

In his position at court, Philips was able to meet the best composers of the time, including Girolamo Frescobaldi, who visited the Low Countries in 1607–1608, and his fellow-countryman John Bull, who had fled England on a charge of adultery.

It was the subject of a magnificent set of variations by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck entitled Pavana Philippi, a version by Thomas Morley, and survives in arrangements for consort and lute.

Of Philip's 27 known keyboard pieces (excluding doubtful works) – pavans, galliards, fantasias and settings of Italian masters – no fewer than nineteen are included in the same collection.

Many of the pieces are settings of Italian composers, and in some Philips' name is spelled the Flemish way: Peeter suggesting that the scribe – possibly Tregian himself [1] – was copying from continental manuscripts.

1615: 3 Trios (without instrumentation) in L'Institution Harmonique by Salomon De Caus, Frankfurt 1616: Les Rossignols spirituels, two and four-part arrangements of popular songs adapted to sacred texts in Latin and French.