An introduction to the Anglican service of morning prayer

The origins of the Anglican service of Matins can be found in the pre-Reformation canonical hours, the eight services of the monastic Divine Office spaced throughout the day. The Office of Matins was traditionally sung during the night, at about 2 a.m.
A new service in a new language

After the Reformation, the first version of the Book of Common Prayer (1549), the brainchild of then Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, reduced the eight services to two, combining the first three hours into a single morning service (which retained the title of Mattins, with two ‘t’s) and the last two into an evening service (Evensong). The other three hours were abolished.

While the new services borrowed much from the monastic Divine Office, a significant difference was their being conducted in English (rather than Latin). The services were renamed Morning and Evening Prayer in later versions of the Book of Common Prayer, but their format has remained largely unchanged since the mid sixteenth century and can be heard daily in most Church of England cathedrals and in other Anglican places of worship in many parts of the world.

There is a great explanation of Matins in more detail on the ‘Cathedral Trust’ website that you can access from the link below.