PLAYING-CARDS.

Fig. 167.—Sambute, or Sackbut, of the Ninth Century. (Boulogne MS.)

by adapting to it the system of holes, which up to that time had been the characteristic of flutes (Fig. 168).

But among all the wind instruments of the Middle Ages, the organ was the one most imposing in its nature, and destined to the most

Fig. 168.—German Musician sounding the Military Trumpet. Drawn and Engraved by J. Amman.

glorious career. The only instrument of this kind known by the ancients was the water-organ, in which a key-board of twenty-six keys corresponded to the same number of pipes; and the air, acted upon by the pressure ofwater, produced most varied sounds. Nero, it is said, spent a whole day examining and admiring the mechanism of an instrument of this kind.

The water-organ, although described and commended by Vitruvius, was not much in use in the Middle Ages. Eginhard speaks of one constructed, in 826, by a Venetian priest; and the last of which mention is made existed at Malmesbury in the twelfth century. But this latter might be regarded more in the light of a steam-organ; for, like the warning whistles of our locomotives, it was worked by the effects of the steam of boiling water rushing into brass pipes.

Fig. 169.—Pneumatic Organ of the Fourth Century. (Sculpture of that date at Constantinople.)

The water-organ was, in very early times, superseded by the pneumatic or wind-organ (Fig. 169), the description of which given by St. Jerome agrees with the representations on the obelisk erected at Constantinople in the time of Theodosius the Great. We must, however, fix a date as late as the eighth century for the introduction of this instrument into the West, or at least into France. In 757, Constantine Copronymus, Emperor of the East, sent to King Pépin a number of presents, among which was an organ that excited the admiration of the court. Charlemagne, who received a similar present from the same monarch, had several organs made from this model. These were provided, according to the statement of the monk of Saint-Gall, with “brazen pipes which were acted on by bellows made of bull’s hide, and imitated the roaring of thunder, the accents of the lyre, and the clang of cymbals.” These primitive organs, notwithstanding the power and richness of their musical resources, were of dimensions which rendered them quite portable. It was, in fact, only in consequence of its almost exclusive application to the solemnities of Catholic worship that the organ became developed on an almost gigantic scale. In 951, there existed in Winchester Cathedral an organ which was divided into two parts, each provided with its apparatus of bellows, its key-board, and its organist.Twelve bellows above, and fourteen below, were worked by seventy strong men, and the air was distributed by means of forty valves into four hundred pipes, arranged in groups or choirs of ten, each group corresponding with one of the twenty-four keys of each key-board (Fig. 170).

Fig. 170.—Great Organ, with Bellows and double Key-board, of the Twelfth Century. (MS. at Cambridge.)

In the ninth century, the German organ-makers acquired great renown. The monk Gerbert, who, as we have already remarked, became pope under the name of Sylvester II., and co-operated so efficiently in the progress of the horological art, established in the monastery of which he was abbot a workshop for the manufacture of organs. We must add, that all the musical treatises written from the ninth to the twelfth century entered into very considerable details concerning the arrangement and working of this instrument. Nevertheless, the admission of the organ into churches did not fail to meet with earnest opponents among the bishops and priests of the day. But while some complained of the thunder and rumbling of the organs, others appealed to the examples of king David and the prophet Elisha. Finally, in the thirteenth century, the right of placing organs in all churches was no longer disputed, and the only question was, who could build the most powerful and most magnificent instruments. At Milan was an organ the pipes of which were of silver; at Venice some were made of pure gold. The number of these pipes was varied and multiplied to an infinite extent, according to the effects the instrument was required to produce. Themechanism was, generally speaking, rather complicated, and the working of the bellows very laborious. In large organs the key-board was made up of key-plates five or six inches wide, which the organist, his hands defended by thickly padded gloves, had to strike with his clenched fist in order to bring out the notes (Fig. 171).

Fig. 171.—Organ with single Key-board of the Fourteenth Century. (Miniature from a Latin Psalter, No. 175, Bibl. Imp., Paris.)

The organ, which, as we have seen, was at first of a portable nature, in some cases resumed its original dimensions (Fig. 172). It was then sometimes called simplyportatif(hand-organ), and sometimesrégaleorpositif(choir-organ). Raphael, in one of his famous pictures, represents St. Cecilia singing sacred hymns, and accompanying herself on a choir-organ.

Fig. 172.—Portable Organ of the Fifteenth Century. (Miniature in Vincent de Beauvais’ “Miroir Historial,” MS. in the Bibl. Imp., Paris.)

The class of pulsatile instruments was formed of bells, cymbals, and drums.

Fig. 173.—Tintinnabulumor Hand-Bell of the Ninth Century. (Boulogne MS.)Fig. 174.—TheSaufangof St. Cecilia’s at Cologne. (Sixth Century.)Fig. 175.—Bell in a Tower of Siena. (Twelfth Century.)

Fig. 173.—Tintinnabulumor Hand-Bell of the Ninth Century. (Boulogne MS.)

Fig. 174.—TheSaufangof St. Cecilia’s at Cologne. (Sixth Century.)

Fig. 175.—Bell in a Tower of Siena. (Twelfth Century.)

There can be no doubt that the ancients were acquainted with large bells, hand-bells, and strung-bells (grelots). But we must ascribe to the requirements of Christian worship the first introduction of the bell, properly so called, formed of cast-metal (campanaornola, the first having been made, it is said, at Nola), which was employed from the first in summoning the faithful to the public services. In the first instance the bell was merely held in the hand and shaken by some monk or ecclesiastic who stood in front of the church-door, or mounted a raised platform for the purpose. Thistintinnabulum(Fig. 173), or portable bell, subsequently passed into the hands of the public criers, the societies of ringers, and those who rang knells for the dead, at a time when most of the churches were provided withcampanilesor bell-towers, wherein were hung the parish bells, which daily assumed dimensions of increasing importance. These great bells, of which theSaufangof Cologne (sixth century) is an example (Fig. 174), were at first made of wrought-iron plates laid one over the other, and riveted together. But in the eighth century they began to cast bells of copper and even of silver. One of the most ancient still existing is that in the tower of Bisdomini at Siena (Fig. 175). It bears the date of 1159, and isformed in the shape of a cask, being rather more than a yard high: the sound it produces is very sharp. The combination of several bells of various sizes naturally produced the peal or chime; this at first consisted of an arch of wood or iron whereon were suspended the bells, which the player struck with a small hammer (Fig. 176). The number and classification of the bells becoming subsequently rather more complicated, the hand of the chimer was superseded by a mechanical arrangement. This was the origin of those peals of bells for which there was such a demand in the Middle Ages, and of which certain towns are still so proud.

The designations ofcymbalumandflagellumwere, in the first instance, applied to small hand-chimes; but there were also regular cymbals (cymbalaoracetabula), spherical or hollowed plates of silver, brass, or copper. Some of these were shaken at the ends of the fingers, or fastened to the knees or feet, so as to be put in motion by the movement of the body. These small cymbals, orcrotales, were a kind of rattle (grelots), causing the dancers to make a noise in their performance, as do the Spanish castanets, which in the sixteenth century were called in Francemaronnettes, and were the same as thecliquettes, or snappers, used by lepers in former days. Small strung-bells became so much the fashion at a certain epoch that not only was the harness of horses adorned with them, but they were suspended to the clothes both of men and women, who at the slightest movement made a ringing, tinkling noise, sounding like so many perambulating chimes.

The use of pulsatile instruments producing a metallic sound increased greatly in Europe, especially after the return from the Crusades. But even before this date the Egyptian timbrel was used in religious and festival music; this instrument was composed of a circle whereon rings were hung, which tinkled as they struck together when the timbrel was shaken. The Oriental triangle was also used on these occasions; this was almost the same then as it is at the present day.

The drum has always been a hollow case covered with a stretched skin, but the shape and size of this instrument have caused great variations in its name, and also in the way in which it was used. In the Middle Ages it was calledtaborellus,tabornum, andtympanum. It generally made its appearance in festal music, and especially in processions; but it was not until the fourteenth century that it began to take a place in military bands, at least in France; the Arabians, however, have used it from the earliestages. In the thirteenth century thetaburelwas a kind of tambourine, played on with only a drum-stick; in thetabornumwe may recognise the military drum of the present day; and thetympanumwas equivalent to our tambourine. Sometimes, as seen in a sculpture in the Musicians’ Hall at Rheims, this instrument was attached to the right shoulder of the performer, who played upon it by striking it with his head, while at the same time he blew through two metal flutes communicating with the inside of the drum (Fig. 177).

Fig. 176.—Chime of Bells of the Ninth Century. (MS. de Saint-Blaise.)Fig. 177.—Tympanumof the Thirteenth Century. (Sculpture on the Musicians’ Hall, Rheims.)

Fig. 176.—Chime of Bells of the Ninth Century. (MS. de Saint-Blaise.)

Fig. 177.—Tympanumof the Thirteenth Century. (Sculpture on the Musicians’ Hall, Rheims.)

We have now to speak of stringed instruments, the whole of which may be divided into three principal classes: those played on by the fingers, those that are struck, and those which are rubbed (frottées) by means of some appliance.

As a matter of fact, there are some stringed instruments which may be said to belong to all three of these classes, as all three modes of playing upon them has been adopted either simultaneously or in succession.

The most ancient are doubtless those that are played on by the fingers, first among which, in right of its antiquity, we must name the lyre; fromthis have sprung the cithern, the harp, the psaltery, thenabulon, &c. In the Middle Ages, however, considerable confusion arose from the fact that these original names were at the time often diverted from their real acceptation.

The lyre, the stringed instrumentpar excellenceof the Greeks and Romans, preserved its primitive form as late as the tenth century. The strings were generally of twisted gut, but sometimes also of brass wire, and varied in number from three to eight. The sounding-box, which was always placed at the lower part of the instrument, was more often made of wood than of either metal or tortoise-shell (Fig. 178).

Fig. 178.—Ancient Lyre. (Angers MS.)Fig. 179.—Lyre of the North. (Ninth Century.)

Fig. 178.—Ancient Lyre. (Angers MS.)

Fig. 179.—Lyre of the North. (Ninth Century.)

The lyre was held upon the knees, and the performer touched or rubbed the strings with one hand, either with the fingers or by means of aplectrum. The lyre specified as “Northern” (Fig. 179), was certainly the origin of the violin, to the shape of which it even then bore some resemblance; it was fastened at the top, and had acordierat the end of the sounding-board, as well as a bridge in the centre of the face of the instrument.

The lyre was superseded by the psaltery and the cithern. The psaltery, which never was furnished with fewer than ten, or more than twenty, strings, differed essentially from the lyre and the cithern by the sounding-board being placed at the top of the instrument. Psalteries were made of a round, square, oblong, or buckler-shaped form (Fig. 181); and sometimes the sounding-box was lengthened so as to rest upon the shoulder of themusician (Fig. 180). The psaltery disappeared in the tenth century and gave place to the cithern (cithara), a name which had been at first applied to all kinds of stringed instruments. The shape of the cithern, which in the days of St. Jerome resembled a Greekdelta(Δ), varied in different countries, as is proved by the epithets—barbarica,Teutonica,Anglica, which we find at different times coupled with its generic name. In other places, in consequence of these local transformations, it became thenabulum, thechorus, and thesalterionorpsalterion(which latter must not be confounded with the psaltery, a primary derivative of the lyre).

Fig. 180.—Psaltery to produce a prolonged sound. Ninth Century. (MS. in the Bibl. Imp., Paris.)

Thenabulum[23](Fig. 182) was made either in the shape of a triangle with truncated corners, or of a semicircle joined at the two extremities; itssounding-board occupied the whole of the rounded part, and left but a very limited space for the twelve strings. Thechorusorchoron, the imperfect representation of which in the manuscripts of the ninth and tenth centuries calls to mind the appearance of a long semicircular window or of a Gothic capitalN, generally had one of its sides prolonged, on which the performer leaned so as to hold the instrument in the same way as a harp (Fig. 183).

Fig. 181.—Buckler-shaped Psaltery with many Strings. (Ninth Century. Boulogne MS.)Fig. 182.—Nabulum.Ninth Century. (MS. d’Angers.)

Fig. 181.—Buckler-shaped Psaltery with many Strings. (Ninth Century. Boulogne MS.)

Fig. 182.—Nabulum.Ninth Century. (MS. d’Angers.)

Fig. 183.—Choron.Ninth Century. (Boulogne MS.)Fig. 184.—Psalterion.Twelfth Century.

Fig. 183.—Choron.Ninth Century. (Boulogne MS.)

Fig. 184.—Psalterion.Twelfth Century.

Thepsalterion, which was in use all over Europe after the twelfth century, and is thought to have originated in the East, where it was found by the Crusaders, was at first composed of a flat box of sounding wood, with twooblique sides; it assumed the shape of a triangle truncated at its top, with twelve or sixteen metallic strings either of gold or silver, which were played upon by means of a small bow of wood, ivory, or horn (Fig. 184); subsequently the strings were made more slender, the number being increased to as many as twenty-two; the three angles of the sounding-box were cut off, and holes were made, sometimes one only in the middle, sometimes one at each angle, and sometimes as many as five, symmetrically arranged. The performer placed the instrument against his chest, and held it so as to touch the strings either with the fingers of the two hands, or with a pen orplectrum(Fig. 185). This instrument, which in the representations of poets and painters never failed to figure in celestial concerts, produced tones of incomparable softness. The old romances of chivalry exhausted all the phrases of admiration in describing thepsalterion. But the highest eulogium which can be passed on this instrument is that it formed the starting-point of the harpsichord, or of the stringed instruments struck or played on by means of mechanism.

Fig. 185.—Performer on thePsalterion. Fourteenth Century. (MS. No. 703 in the Bibl. Imp. of Paris.)

It is, in fact, thought that a kind of harpsichord with four octaves, which in the fourteenth century was calleddulcimerordulcemelos, and is but imperfectly described, was nothing else than apsalterion, with a sounding apparatus that assumed the proportions of a large box, to which also a key-board had been adapted. This instrument, when it had but three octaves, was calledclavicordormanicordion, and in the sixteenth century produced forty-two to fifty tones or semi-tones: one string expressed several notes, and this was effected by means of plates of metal which, serving as a movable bridge to each string, either increased or diminished the intensity of its vibration. The grand-pianos of the present day unquestionably have their key-boards placed in the same position as they were in thedulcimerandclavicorde. The earliest improvements in metallic stringed instruments constructed with a key-board are due to the Italians; these improvements soon had the effect of throwing thepsalterioninto oblivion.

Fig. 186.—Organistrum.Ninth Century. (MS. de Saint-Blaise.)

In the ninth century a stringed instrument was in use the mechanism of which, although not very perfect, evidently tended to an imitation of the key-board applied to organs: this was theorganistrum(Fig. 186), an enormous guitar pierced with two sound holes, and provided with three strings set in vibration by a small winch; eight movable screws, rising or falling at will along the finger-board, formed so many keys which served to vary the tones. In the first instance two persons performed on theorganistrum—one turning the winch while the other touched the keys. When its size was decreased it became thevielle(hurdy-gurdy) properly so called, which could be managed by one musician. It was at first calledrubelle,rebel, andsymphonie; subsequently this last name was corrupted intochifonieandsifonie, and we may remark that even now in certain districts of centralFrance theviellestill bears the popular name ofchinforgne. Thechifonienever found a place in musical concerts, and fell almost immediately into the hands of the mendicants, who solicited alms accompanied by the doleful and somewhat discordant notes of this instrument, and thence obtaining the name ofchifoniens.

Notwithstanding all the efforts which were made to substitute wheels and key-boards for the action of the fingers on the strings of instruments, still those that were played on by the hand only, such as harps and lutes, did not fail to maintain the preference among skilful musicians.

Fig. 187.—Triangular Saxon Harp of the Ninth Century. (Bible of Charles le Chauve.)Fig. 188.—Fifteen-stringed Harp of the Twelfth Century. (MS. in the Bibl. Imp., Paris.)

Fig. 187.—Triangular Saxon Harp of the Ninth Century. (Bible of Charles le Chauve.)

Fig. 188.—Fifteen-stringed Harp of the Twelfth Century. (MS. in the Bibl. Imp., Paris.)

The harp was certainly Saxon in its origin, although some have imagined they could discover traces of it in Greek, Roman, and even Egyptian antiquities. This instrument was at first nothing but a triangular cithern (Fig. 187), in which the sounding-board occupied the whole of one side from top to bottom, instead of being limited to the lower angle, as in the primitivecithara, or confined to the upper part as in the psaltery. The English harp (cithara Anglica) of the ninth century differed but little from the modern instrument; the simplicity and good judgment shown in its shape bear witness to the perfection it had already attained (Fig. 188). The number of strings and the shape of this instrument varied constantly from time to time. The sounding-box was sometimes made square, sometimes elongated, and sometimes round. The arms were sometimes straight and sometimes curved; the upper side was often lengthened so as to represent an animal’s head (Fig. 189) and the lower angle, on which the instrument rested on the ground, terminated in a griffin’s claw. According to the miniatures in manuscripts, the harp was of a size that the top of itdid not extend higher than the head of the performer, who played upon it in a sitting posture (Fig. 190). There were, however, harps of a lighter character, which the musician bore suspended from his neck by a strap, and played upon while standing up. This portable harp was the one that maypar excellencebe called noble, and was the instrument on which thetrouvèresaccompanied their voices when reciting ballads and metrical tales (Fig. 191). In the romances of chivalry harpers are constantly introduced, and their harps are ever tuned to some lay of love or war; we find this taking place as well in the north as in the south. “The harp,” says Guillaume de Machaut—

“tous instruments passe,Quand sagement bien en joue et compasse.”

Fig. 189.—Harpers of the Twelfth Century, from a Miniature in a Bible. (MS. in the Bibl. Imp., Paris.)Fig. 190.—Harp-player of the Fifteenth Century. From an Enamelled Dish found near Soissons, and preserved in the Bibl. Imp., Paris.

Fig. 189.—Harpers of the Twelfth Century, from a Miniature in a Bible. (MS. in the Bibl. Imp., Paris.)

Fig. 190.—Harp-player of the Fifteenth Century. From an Enamelled Dish found near Soissons, and preserved in the Bibl. Imp., Paris.

In the sixteenth century, however, it began to fall into disfavour; it was supplanted by the lute (Fig. 192), an instrument much used in the thirteenth century, and by the guitar, which was brought into fashion in France from Spain and Italy, and formed the delight both of the courtand private circles. At that time every great lord, imitating kings and princesses, wished to have his lute or guitar player, and the poet Bonaventure des Périers,valet de chambreof Marguerite de Navarre, composed for her “La Manière de bien et justement entoucher les Lucs et Guiternes.” The lute and the guitar, which for about two centuries were in high favour in what was called “chamber music,” have since the above-named epoch scarcely been altered in shape. With certain modifications, however, they gave rise to thetheorboand themandolin, which never attained more than a transient or local favour.

Fig. 191.—Minstrel’s Harp, of the Fifteenth Century. (MS. in theMiroir Historialof Vincent de Beauvais.)Fig. 192.—Five-stringed Lute. Thirteenth Century. (MS. in the Bibl. Imp., Paris.)

Fig. 191.—Minstrel’s Harp, of the Fifteenth Century. (MS. in theMiroir Historialof Vincent de Beauvais.)

Fig. 192.—Five-stringed Lute. Thirteenth Century. (MS. in the Bibl. Imp., Paris.)

Stringed instruments that were played on by means of bows were not known before the fifth century, and belonged to the northern races; they did not become prevalent in Europe generally until after the Norman invasion. At first they were but roughly made and rendered indifferent service to musical art; but from the twelfth to the sixteenth century, these instruments were subject to many changes both in form and name, and were brought to perfection according as the execution of musicians also improved. The most ancient of these instruments is thecrout(Fig. 193), which must have produced therote, so dear to the minstrels and thetrouvèresof the thirteenth century. Thecrout, which is the instrument placed by tradition in the hands of the Armorican, Breton, and Scotch bards,[24]wascomposed of an oblong sounding-box, more or less hollowed out at the two sides, with a handle fixed in the body of the instrument, in which were made two openings that allowed the performer to hold it by the left hand and at the same time to touch the strings; these, as a matter of principle, were only three in number. Subsequently it had four strings, and then six—two of which were played open (à vide). The musician played on it with a straight or convex bow, provided with a single thread either of iron wire or of twisted hair. Except in England, where thecroutwas national, it did not last beyond the eleventh century. It was replaced by therote, which was not, as its name (apparently derived fromrota, a wheel) would seem to intimate, avielleorsymphonie. It would be useless to seek for the derivation of the name ofrota, except in the wordcrotta, the Latin form of the termcrout.

Fig. 193.—Three-stringedCroutof the Ninth Century. From a Miniature.

Fig. 194.—King David playing on aRote. From a Painted Window of the Thirteenth Century. (Chapel of the Virgin, Cathedral of Troyes.)

In the earliestrotes(Fig. 194), those made in the thirteenth century, there is an evident intention of combining the two modes of playing on the strings—rubbing with a bow and touching with the fingers. The box, which was not hollowed out and rounded at the two ends, was much deeper at the lower end, where the strings commenced, than higher up, near the pegs, where these strings are sounded open under the action of the finger, which reaches them through an aperture; the bow acting on them near the string-bridge in front of the sounding-holes. It must have been difficult to touch with the bow one string alone, but it should be remarked that the harmonic ideal of this instrument consisted in forming accords by consonances of thirds, fifths, and eighths. Therotewas soon developed into a new instrument, assuming the form that our violoncellos have almost exactly retained. The box was increased in size, the handle was lengthened beyond the body of the instrument, the number of strings was reduced tothree or four, stretched over a bridge, and the sounding-holes were made in the shape of a crescent. From this time theroteacquired a special character it had not lost even in the sixteenth century, when it became the bass-viol. This was its true destination. The size of the instrument dictated the manner in which it was held, either on the knees or on the ground between the legs (Fig. 195).

Fig. 195.—German Musicians playing on the Violin and Bass-Viol. Drawn and Engraved by J. Amman.

Thevielleorviole, which had no affinity except in shape with thevielle(hurdy-gurdy) of the present day, was at first a smallroteheld by the performer against his chin or his breast, in much the same way as the violin is now used (Fig. 196). The box, which was at first conical and convex, became gradually oval in shape, and the handle remained short and wide. It was, perhaps, this handle which terminated in a kind of ornamental scroll in the shape of a violet (viola), that originated the name of the instrument. Theviole, just as therote, formed the accompanimentobligatoof certain songs; and among the jugglers who played upon it good performers were rare (Figs.197,198). Improvements in theviellecame for the most part from Italy, where the co-operation of a number ofskilful lute-players was the means of gradually forming the violin. Even before the famous Dnifloprugar, born in the Italian Tyrol, had hit upon the model of his admirable violins, the handle of theviellehad been lengthened,

Fig. 196.—OvalViellewith Three Strings, of the Thirteenth Century. (Sculpture on the Cathedral of Amiens.)Fig. 197.—Juggler playing on aVielle, hollowed out at the Sides. Fifteenth Century. (“Heures du Roi René,” MS. No. 159 in the Bibl. Imp. of the Arsenal, Paris.)

Fig. 196.—OvalViellewith Three Strings, of the Thirteenth Century. (Sculpture on the Cathedral of Amiens.)

Fig. 197.—Juggler playing on aVielle, hollowed out at the Sides. Fifteenth Century. (“Heures du Roi René,” MS. No. 159 in the Bibl. Imp. of the Arsenal, Paris.)

its sides hollowed out, and its strings had received a more extended field of action by removing the stringer (cordier) from the centre of the sounding-board

Fig. 198.—Player on theVielle. Thirteenth Century. (Taken from an Enamelled Dish at Soissons.)Fig. 199.—Angel Playing on a Three-stringed Fiddle. Thirteenth Century. (Sculpture in the Cathedral of Amiens.)

Fig. 198.—Player on theVielle. Thirteenth Century. (Taken from an Enamelled Dish at Soissons.)

Fig. 199.—Angel Playing on a Three-stringed Fiddle. Thirteenth Century. (Sculpture in the Cathedral of Amiens.)

Henceforth the play of the board became more free and easy, the performer was able to touch every string singly, and was in a position tosubstitute effects more characteristic instead of the former monotonous consonances.

Fig. 200.—Rebec, of the Sixteenth Century. From Willemin.Fig. 201.—Long Monochord played on with a Bow. Fifteenth Century. (MS. of Froissart, in the Bibl. Imp., Paris.)

Fig. 200.—Rebec, of the Sixteenth Century. From Willemin.

Fig. 201.—Long Monochord played on with a Bow. Fifteenth Century. (MS. of Froissart, in the Bibl. Imp., Paris.)

England was the birthplace of thecrout; France invented therote, and Italy theviole; Germany originated thegigue,[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. Thegiguewas provided with three strings (Fig. 199), and its special distinction from theviolewas, 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. Thegigue, 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, thetrouvère, who speaks with admiration of the “gigueoursof Germany.” Thegigue, 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 termaulique, in contrast to the rusticcornemuse(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 theélesorceles, theéchaqueiloréchequier, theenmorache, and themicamon, we are left to the vaguest conjectures.

Fig. 202.—Triangle of the Ninth Century. (MS. of Saint-Emmeran.)

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 ofTarots.—Cards calledCharles the Sixth’smust have beenTarots.—Ancient Cards, French, Italian, and German.—Cards contributing to the Invention of Wood-Engraving and Printing.

THE origin of playing-cards has for many years past formed a special subject of investigation among scholars and antiquarians. For, however trifling the matter may appear in itself, this curious point is connected with two of the most important inventions of modern times—engraving and printing.

We must not, however, take upon ourselves to assert too positively that all the profound researches, persevering study, and ingenious deductions which have been applied to the subject have entirely succeeded in elucidating the question. Nevertheless, a certain degree of light has been thrown upon it, by which we shall endeavour to profit.

The question is, at what date are we to fix the invention of playing-cards, and to whom are we to attribute it? In order to solve these queries, they must be divided; for, although the introduction of playing-cards into Europe may not date back beyond the fourteenth century, and the invention of our game of piquet may not have been prior to the reign of Charles VII., it is at least asserted—(1st), that playing-cards existed in India in the twelfth century; (2nd), that the ancients played at games in which certain figures and numbers were represented on dice or tablets; (3rd), that in comparatively recent times the game of chess and the game of cards presented striking affinities, proving the common origin of these two games—one connected with painting, the other with sculpture.

If we are to believe Herodotus, the Lydians, in order to beguile thesufferings of hunger during a long and cruel famine, invented nearly every game, especially that of dice. Later authors ascribe the honour of these inventions to the Greeks, when irritated at the tedious delays of the siege of Troy. Cicero even mentions by name Pyrrhus and Palamedes as the originators of the “games in use in camps” (ludos castrenses). What were these games? Some say, chess; others, dice or knuckle-bones.

Certain very ancient specimens prove unquestionably that the Indian cards were nothing but a transformation of the game of chess; for the principal pieces in this game are reproduced on the cards, but in such a way that eight players instead of two could take part in it. In the game of chess there were only two armies of pawns, each having at its head a king, a vizier (who was afterwards turned into a “queen”), a knight, an elephant (which became a “bishop”), and a dromedary (afterwards a “castle”). There can be no doubt that the course and arrangement of these games were very different; but in both may be found an original affinity in the fact that they recalled to mind the terrible game of war, in which each adversary had to attack by means of stratagems, combinations, and vigilance.

We have now learned from certain authority (Abel de Rémusat,Journal Asiatique, September, 1822) that playing-cards, proceeding from India and China, were, like the game of chess (Fig. 203), in the hands of the Arabians and the Saracens at the commencement of the twelfth century. It is therefore almost certain they must have been brought into Europe after the Crusades, with the arts, traditions, and customs which the men of the West then derived from their Oriental antagonists. There is, however, every reason to believe that the use of cards spread but slowly; for at an epoch when the civil and ecclesiastical authorities were constantly issuing ordinances against games of chance, we do not find that cards were ever the subject of legal proceedings, like dice and chess.

The first formal mention made of playing-cards is found in a manuscript chronicle of Nicolas de Covelluzzo, preserved in the archives of Viterbo. “In the year 1379,” says the chronicler, “there was introduced at Viterbo the game of cards, which comes from the country of the Saracens, and is called by the latternaïb.” There is, in fact, a German book, the “Jeu d’Or,” printed at Augsbourg in 1472, which testifies to the fact that cards existed in Germany in the year 1300. But, in the first place, this evidence is not contemporary with the fact alleged; and, besides,

Fig. 203.—Chess-Players. Fac-simile of a Miniature of the Thirteenth Century. (MS. 7,266, Bibl. Imp., Paris.)

we may well suppose that the vanity of the Germans, which had attributed to themselves the discovery of printing, desired, with about as much reason, to appropriate also the invention of cards—that is, of wood-engraving. We shall, therefore, act judiciously in paying but little attention to this doubtful assertion, and hold to the account given by the chronicler of Viterbo. But the latter, unfortunately, furnishes us with no details as to the nature of these cards. Was the game similar to that which is still extant in India? Or was it one peculiar to the Arabs? These are questions which must remain unsolved. The only facts presented to our notice are, that in 1379 cards made their appearance in Europe, brought from Arabia, or the country of the Saracens, and that their original name is given. The Italians for a long time gave to cards the name ofnaïbi. In Spain they are still callednaypes. If it be understood that the wordnaïbin Arabic signifies “captain,” we shall see that the game in question was one of amilitary character, like that of chess, and we shall be led to recognise in these primitive cards thetarotswhich were for a long time current in the south of Europe.

In 1387, John I., King of Castile, issued an ordinance prohibiting to play with dice,naypes, or at chess.

In the archives of the Audit Office, in Paris, there formerly existed an account of the treasurer, Poupart, who states that, in 1392, he had “paid to Jacquemin Gringonneur, painter, for three packs of cards in gold and various colours, ornamented with numerous devices, to lay before the lord the king (Charles VI.) for his amusement, 50 sols of Paris.” This game, which seemed at first intended only for the amusement of the king in his mental derangement, subsequently spread so much among the people, that the provost of Paris, in an ordinance of January 22, 1397, issued a prohibition “to persons engaged in trade from playing at tennis, bowls, dice,cards, and skittles, except on feast-days.” We must remark that, twenty-eight years previously, Charles V., in a celebrated ordinance which enumerates all the games of chance, did not mention cards.

The “Red Book” of the town of Ulm, a manuscript register preserved in the archives of that town, contains an ordinance dated in 1397, in which is conveyed a prohibition of games with cards.

These facts are the only authenticated evidence which can be brought forward with a view of fixing the approximate period of the introduction of cards into Europe. Some authors have certainly imagined they were in a position to determine an earlier epoch, but they have gone upon data the value of which has since been destroyed by more thorough investigation.

In the fifteenth century there are evident traces both of the existence and popularity of cards in Italy, Spain, Germany, and France. Their names, colours, and emblems, their number and forms, were indeed constantly changing, according to the country in which they were used and the fancy of the players. But whether calledtarotsor “French cards,” they were in fact nothing but modifications of the primitive Oriental cards, and an imitation more or less faithful of the ancient game of chess.

Reckoning from the fifteenth century, we meet with cards in every enumeration of games of chance; we find them also proscribed and condemned in ecclesiastical and royal ordinances. The clergy, too, raised their voices against them; but these measures did not prevent the trade in

Back to Index Next