Medieval

1. See Early Medieval for more.

2. In the 13th century stone choir of Lincoln cathedral are carved magnificent angels, many playing musical instruments. Two of these have carefully depicted early Gaelic harps. One, wearing a crown to depict King David, holds his instrument in his hands; its string shoes (crú na d-tead) are heavily drawn leading some English organologists to conclude it is a European bray harp. The second angel is playing his harp, left hand in the treble and right in the bass, and is resting the foot on the instrument in the opening of its bag which rests between his knees.

3. for example Ardmore Cathedral, co. Waterford, c. 1200; Iona, Argyll, c. 1400; Kilchoan, Skye, 15th century; Keills, Argyll, late 15th century.

4. The Queen Mary harp and the Lamont harp.

5. The Trinity College harp

6. The Lamont and Queen Mary harps were preserved for centuries in Lude House, Perthshire, with family traditions going back to the 15th or 16th centuries. The Trinity College harp has a somewhat dubious provenance before being acquired by Trinity College Dublin, and is suspected to be an Argyll instrument based on similarities of its decorative carving with 15th century West Highland graveslabs. See Sanger and Kinnaird, "Tree of Strings" (Kinmor 1992) for more details.

7. R.B. Armstrong, "The Irish and Highland Harps", David Douglas, Edinburgh, 1904, remains by far the best technical study of the surviving Gaelic harps.

8. The most recent and most ambitious project is that of the HHSI, which I have been helping run. See the HHSI Online Shop for details of replicas curently available.

9. Topographia Hiberniae, written c. 1185. Alan J. Fletcher, "Drama and the Performing Arts in Pre-Cromwellian Ireland: A Repertory of Sources and Documents from the Earliest Times until c.1642", D. S. Brewer, 2000 has the text (p. 165) and translation (p.506) of the relevant passages.

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