In 1971, at the International Josquin Festival-Conference, I mentioned for the first time a group of newly discovered documents on the early career of Adrian Willaert in Italy, drawn mainly from the account books of his patron, Cardinal Ippolito i d'Este (1479–1520). In several articles since then I have briefly described these findings but until now have not been able to furnish the full particulars on which they depend. This article aims to do just that, and adds enough by way of commentary to provide a new portrait of the young Willaert's connections with Ferrarese patrons in these years. This new portrait not only transforms our view of his early maturity and its context, but extends his first known Italian period back some seven years before 1522, heretofore the first secure date for his presence in Italy altogether.