A lute-player entertains a member of the household of wealthy
merchant and mayor of York, William Snawsell, in the family sitting room
(Great Chamber) of his house, 1468. The lute was one of the cultural
imports brought back from the Arab world by crusaders in the thirteenth
century, although its period of greatest popularity was
post-medieval.
Re-enactment in Barley Hall, York. Photo © S. Alsford
One reflection of the importance of music in medieval society is
the fact that many of angels, cherubs, etc. portrayed in the carvings in
ecclesiastical architecture or in the decorative surround to manuscript
illustrations show them playing harp, trumpet, fiddle (as here) or some
other instrument.
Roof boss from the warming house vault of St. Mary's Abbey,
York (now displayed in the Yorkshire Museum).
Photo © S. Alsford