England was the birthplace of the crout; France invented the rote, and Italy the viole; Germany originated the gigue,[25] the name of which may perhaps be derived from the similarity presented by the shape of the instrument to the thigh of a kid. The gigue was provided with three strings ([Fig. 199]), and its special distinction from the viole was, that instead of the handle being as it were independent of the body of the instrument, it was a kind of prolongation of the sounding-board. The gigue, which bore a considerable resemblance to the modern mandolin, was an instrument on which the Germans were accustomed to work wonders in the way of performance; according, at least, to the statement of Adenès, the trouvère, who speaks with admiration of the “gigueours of Germany.” The gigue, however, entirely disappeared, at least in France, in the fifteenth century; but its name still remained as the designation of a joyous dance, which for a considerable period was enlivened by the sound of this instrument.
Among the musical instruments of this class in the Middle Ages, we have still to mention the rebec ([Fig. 200]), which was so often quoted by the authors of the day, and yet is so little known, although it figured in the court concerts in the time of Rabelais, who specifies it by the term aulique, in contrast to the rustic cornemuse (bagpipes).
We must, in conclusion, speak of the monochord (monocordium), which is always mentioned by the authors of the Middle Ages with feelings of pleasure, although it appears to have been nothing more than the most simple and primitive expression of all the other stringed instruments ([Fig. 201]). It was composed of a narrow oblong box, on each end of the front-board were fixed two immovable bridges supporting a metallic string stretched from one to the other, and corresponding to a scale of notes traced out on the instrument. A movable bridge, which was shifted up and down between the string and the scale, produced whatever notes the performer wished to bring out. In the eighth century there was a kind of violin or mandolin furnished with a single metallic string played on with a metallic bow. Later still, we find a kind of harp formed of a long sounding-box traversed by a single string, over which the musician moved a small bow handled with a sudden and rapid movement.
The instruments we have named do not, however, embrace all those in use in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. There certainly were others which, in spite of the most intelligent investigations, and the most judicious deductions, are now known to us only by name. As regards, for instance, the nature and appearance of the éles or celes, the échaqueil or échequier, the enmorache, and the micamon, we are left to the vaguest conjectures.
Fig. 202.—Triangle of the Ninth Century. (MS. of Saint-Emmeran.)
PLAYING-CARDS.
Supposed Date of their Invention.—Existed in India in the Twelfth Century.—Their connection with the Game of Chess.—Brought into Europe after the Crusades.—First Mention of a Game with Cards in 1379.—Cards well known in the Fifteenth Century in Spain, Germany, and France, under the name of Tarots.—Cards called Charles the Sixth’s must have been Tarots.—Ancient Cards, French, Italian, and German.—Cards contributing to the Invention of Wood-Engraving and Printing.
