#middleages

Full finger armor

⚜️ Reconstruction of the left gauntlet from the “Lion armor” (Italy, 1550), possibly made for Henry II de Valois, king of France

Creative Workshop Steel Legacy

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Сборка перчатки

⚜️ Реконструкция левой латной перчатки от «Львиного доспеха» (Италия, 1550 год), который возможно принадлежал Генриху II Валуа, королю Франции

Художественная мастерская “Стальное Наследие”

#чеканка

#lion_armor

#Львиный_доспех

#львиная_перчатка

#gauntlet_Lion_armor

#стальноенаследие

#steellegacy

#armororder

#orderarmor

#доспехиназаказ

#gauntlets

This post was written by Nicole Arnold, Summer 2021 Classics Department Intern.

(Above: A modern approximation of a decacordum. Image from Liuteria Severini.)  

One of the most constant aspects of music across time has been instruments. Even if their names are different than what they once were, the sound and function of the instrument is often the same. The instruments of ancient and medieval times very much inform the modern music world. Similar instruments often exist across multiple cultures and religions too. Churches in the Middle Ages included certain instruments in their music that had connections to ancient Greece and Rome, especially string instruments. Some of these included the decacordum and cithara.  

The decacordum is defined as a ten-stringed instrument (perseus.tufts.edu). The prefix “deca” means “ten”; the “cordum” suffix refers to the strings. The word itself seems to have been a general term for ten-stringed instruments. Some scholars believe that ten-stringed instruments in the church referenced the ten commandments while the sides of them represented the four gospels. (Kolyada 31) Other sources, like the Musurgia Universalis (circa 1650) of University of Pittsburgh Library Systems’ Archives & Special Collections, describe the instrument’s strings as similar to a spiderweb. This is most likely in reference to their intricate weaving. Modern depictions of the instrument resemble a small harp. It is possible that could be what the spiderweb comment means; the trapezoid in a spiderweb looks much like the harp. The decacordum was one of several string instruments commonly used in the church.  

(Above: Apollo, the Greek god of music, playing a cithara. Image from wikipedia.org.)

Another instrument of the medieval European church was the cithara. Although it was used like a harp in the church, the cithara originated in ancient Greece as a type of lyre, which resembled a guitar. The ancient Romans adopted it into their culture as well, and it became the most common instrument in Rome. It had anywhere between three and twelve strings. It is believed that “cithara” is the etymological stem of “guitar” (britannica.com). Descriptions of its features in medieval church music imply a resemblance between the two instruments. The “choking strap” of the cithara is mentioned in the psalm “Confitebor Angelorum,” in the Archives & Special Collections’ Psalmodia vespertina. (circa 1710) Since this instrument was a kind of lyre and had a strap that went around the neck, it can be inferred that the modern twelve-string guitar bears a resemblance to it. Notably, 21st-century musician Taylor Swift plays a twelve-string guitar rather than a typical six-string one; the doubled number of strings creates a more intricate sound.  

(Above: Taylor Swift performing “Sparks Fly” on a twelve-string guitar. YouTube video.)

Works Cited

Kolyada, Y. (2014). A compendium of musical instruments and instrumental terminology in the bible. ProQuest Ebook Central <aonclick=window.open(‘http://ebookcentral.proquest.com’,’_blank’) href='http://ebookcentral.proquest.com’ target=’_blank’ style='cursor: pointer;’>http://ebookcentral.Created from pitt-ebooks on 2021-06-14 20:13:12.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Kithara”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 Nov. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/art/kithara. Accessed 29 June 2021.

“Psalterium Decachordum.” Liuteria Severini, https://liuteriaseverini.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=90&Itemid=1030. Accessed 29 June 2021.

“Cithara.” Wikipedia,17 April 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cithara#/media/File:Apollo_Musagetes_Pio-Clementino_Inv310.jpg. Accessed 29 June 2021.  

“Decachordum.” Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0059:entry=decachordum. Accessed 29 June 2021.  

Kircher, Athanasius, and Jacobus Viva. Musurgia universalis; sive, Ars magna consoni et dissoni in X. libros digesta … Romae: Ex typographia haeredum Francisci Corbelletti, 1650.

Baroni, Filippo. “Psalmodia vespertina: totius anni, duplici choro perbreuiter concinenda : opus secundum” Bononiæ: Typis Marini Siluani, 1710.

Swift, Taylor. “’Sparks Fly’ (acoustic) Live on the RED Tour!,” YouTube Video, 0:48, March 15, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx-5bHeC6xo 

brother William of Baskerwille / “Il nome de la Rosa” - “The name of the Rose”

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