This is a list of medieval musical instruments used in European music during the Medieval period. It covers the period from before 5th into the 15th A.D. There may be some overlap with Renaissance musical instruments; Renaissance music begins in the 15th century. The list mainly covers Western Europe. It may branch into Eastern Europe and non-European parts of the Byzantine Empire (Anatolia, northern Africa).
Percussion Names and variationsDescription Ethnic connections, regionsPicturesAdufe
PandeiroA frame drum brought to Iberia by Muslims and played mainly by women. Used in the charamba in Portugal, a circle dance for couples.
The adufe is a square or rectangular frame drum usually made of pine, over which is mounted a goat's skin. The size of the frame usually ranges from 12 to 22 inches on each side, and 1 to 2 inches thick. The skin is stitched on the sides, with the stitches covered by a coloured ribbon. In the interior small seeds, stones or bells are placed to make pleasing sounds. Illustrated examples are decorated, possibly with henna.IberiaPortugalSpainBell Beehive bell Sugarloaf bell Gothic rib bell
Church bellFrom the 1st-4th centuries A.D., Christians were persecuted in the Roman Empire and their religious ceremonies were kept secret. After persecution ended with the 313 A.D. Edict of Milan bells became part of open expression of Christianity. As Christianity became widespread, trumpets, semantrons and bells were used in religious services, including calling worshippers to service. Paulinus of Nola (about 400 A.D.) and Pope Sabinianus (about 604 A.D.) are credited for early use of bells in church.
Monks in Byzantine cloisters in Damascus cast some of Christianity's earliest bells (about handbell sized). These were used to broadcast time inside the cloisters. Small cast bells in "Mediterranean tradition" were used by Christians during the first four centuries A.D.
In the 5th century Irish Christians made forged bells of sheet metal, and one was carried by Saint Patrick for use as a church bell. By St. Columba's day (521-597 A.D.), both riveted sheet-metal bells of iron and quadrangular cast-bronze bells were in use. The bells were wrung in the Celtic Christian Church, whose missionary work brought Christianity to parts of Europe conquered by Germanic tribes in the fall of the Roman Empire. The bells in Ireland are culturally linked to those in Scotland, Wales, England, Brittany, France, and Switzerland. Based on number of known bells, Ireland may be source of the region's sheet-metal bell type.
In 530 A.D., the Benedictine Order began to engineer cast churchbells and set up foundries to make them, supplying them throughout western Europe. Eastern Europe got bells from Constantinople. Cherson in Crimea also made bells.
Beehive bells were produced on about the 8th-12th centuries A.D. Sugarloaf bells were made starting in the 12th century. Transitional rib and Gothic rib bells were made from the 12th century and into the 17th century.Latin, western tradition from church tintinabulum, bell cymbalum, single bellHandbells
Chimes
Chime bells
Bell chime
cymbalumIn the Roman Empire preceding medieval Europe, bells were known. An example is the tintinnabulum, a wind chime made of small bells.
Racks of hammer struck bells are called chimes. Chimes from cymbalum (Latin). In Middle Ages (10th-16th centuries) was for indoor instrument made up of 4-12 small bells, hung from a bar and struck with hammers. Beginning 12th century, may have had "large wooden key installed" to make playing easier and to help play bigger bells.
Depicted in small sets (4 to 5, 8 to 9).
Cymbala, hung in towers became carillons, the bells eventually becoming very large in comparison to the wrack-suspended bellsLatin, western tradition from church tintinabuli, little bell Cymbala, plural, bell chime (multiple bells)Bell cowbell sheep bell goat bell herd bell harness bell Used on animals to find them when straying. Used on animal harness.Bumbulum (legendary)
Bunibulum (legendary)Some medieval scribes theorized about music from the past, or used musical instruments to illustrate doctrinal points. They copied in manuscript a letter from St. Jerome (342-420 A.D.) to Claudius Postumus Dardanus. In it, Jerome tried to explain pagan and Christian musical instruments that are mentioned in the Bible and their allegorical meanings.Ad Dardanum, de diversis generibus musicorum instrumentorum. The letter was reproduced in Christian manuscripts. Starting about 850, scribes began to illustrate the letter in manuscripts, from descriptions of the musical instruments in the letter. Some are allegorical and wouldn't work, such as a horn with three mouthpieces for each of the Holy Trinity to blow through; however in an allegory the Trinity would be expressed by speaking through the four outlets, symbolizing the Four Evangelists.
The bumbulum was played by shaking it. It had hanging bells or jingles, suspended from a centerpiece, itself suspended from overhead. It was described as a carpenter's square (signifiying the Holy Cross) with a "four cornered object" hanging from it (signifying Christ on the Cross), with 12 pipes hanging from the object's sides (to jingle and to signify the 12 Apostles).Clappers
crotalum
cliquettes
castagnettesCrotala, from the Carolingian Empire were metal chimes attached to sticks. Cliquettes (also called crotala) were blocks of wood held in the palms. The palm-held blocks could make clicking and rattle noises like castanets. Other similar instruments worldwide include the Thai/Cambodian krap sepha, Indian/Nepali khartal, Uzbek/Tajik qairaq, or North African krakebs. Castagnettes were wooden instrument, made up of sticks that were clapped or beaten together.Cymbals
Cymbala
CarillonGreek word kymbolon transmitted to medieval Europe through Latin (cymbalum -singular, cymbala -plural). Examples in Roman and Byzantine mosaics show girls dancing with them, in different versions that include finger or palm cymbals, cymbals on sticks and cup-shaped cymbals.
The cymbals on sticks (crotala) found their way into art of the Carolingian Empire. In medieval manuscripts, cymbala became bell chimes, bells suspended in series and struck with hammers. Cup shaped cymbals also made their way into medieval manuscripts. Unlike the dancing artwork from Roman and Byzantine mosaics, the Carolingian and later artwork was stripped of sexuality and put into a Christian or Jewish context.DrumThe only drums in Europe reaching into ancient times were "Semitic frame drums", such as the Greek and Roman tympanum. Larger drums were introduced from "West Asia" in the medieval period. They were played as timekeepers, marking the beat, their "metrical development" not developed yet.drum, English, starting in the 16th century.
tambour, French
tamburo, Italian
trommel, German*Frame drumSee pandeiro, tabor
"A tympanum is a piece of skin or leather stretched over a piece of wood on one side." —Isidore of Seville, about 600 A.D.
The frame drum in use in Europe before the bigger drums arrived from West Asia can be called tambourines today. Tympanum was used as a name, as well as tabor. These were wooden rings with leather covering one side. At first there were no jingles, as became common. A variant was the pandeiro, introduced with Muslim invasions and pictured in manuscripts in Spain and Sicily. Some tabors could be frame drums, but other grew wider than the hand-held ring which we call tambourine today.
Tof was the Hebrew instrument which Miriam played, "most commonly translated" into English as timbrel Near eastern origin, used by Gauls, Greeks, Romans (tympanum), Egyptians, Assyrians. Jingles were probably originally separate from this instrument. Also related to Daff.
When jingles are attached, the instrument is classified as a type of rattle, a "frame wrattle," in which the rattles (or jingles) strike the object to which they are attached.
A timbrel or Basque tamborello was a "single-skin frame drum with cymbals" (modern tambourine), while a "single-skin frame drum" without jingles could also be labeled tamburin or bendir. The bendir is also a Muslim frame drum with two snares from North Africa, whose name "probably derives from a Spanish word."Tympanum, Latin
Tympanon, Greek
Tof
Timbrel
Tambourine
Bendir
Basque tamborelloHourglass drumImages in miniatures in the Cantigas de Santa Maria and the Valcavado Beatus show an hourglass drum was in use in Spain. Such drums are used in northern Africa and may have entered Europe with the Moorish soldiers who conquered the Iberian Peninsula. The drum also had been painted in Sicily, another place in Europe where Islamic and Christian cultures met.Jew's harpNakersAppears in English writings from 1352 to 1440 European adaptation of kettledrum from Near East, the naqqâra. Singular naker but played in pairs.nakers, Middle English
nacaire, French
nacchera, Italian
nacara, SpanishRattle
Jingles Jingle bells Sleigh bells
Vessel rattle Crotal Shaker
Frame rattle (see tambourine)
Row or rod rattles
Crotalus RatchetRattles in the medieval period included vessel wrattles (crotals) and rod rattles and frame rattles. See also adulfe, clappers or cliquettes, tambourine, triangle
Crotals, also known as jingle bells, were two hemispherical, slotted sheets of metal soldered together, bulging where they connected the sheets into a ball. There was a pellet inside the ball. Historical uses included use by nobility on clothing, armor, tents and knights' horses and dogs, use by ladies for dancing (such as girls wearing bells ""à la morisque" around their hips, arms and ankles" for the reception of Charles V in Spain), and use by the fool as part of his garb (the fool's cap).
Row or rod rattles; rattles strung on a straight or ring-shaped rod. Medieval triangles are illustrated with rattles in this manner.Cog rattle
Clatter
Crotalus matraca
Grager
RatchetHas been used among Catholic Christians in religious ceremonies to replace bells. Among Catholics has been used to replace bells between the Gloria of the Mass of the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday and the Easter Vigil.
Among Jewish people a ratchet is used to make noise by the congregation during the celebration of Purim. Sephardi Jews immigrating to Spanish imperial holdings in the Americas following their 1492 expulsion from Spain brought gragers for celebrating Purim, which could pass as the matracha of Catholic usage.Semantron
(Greek: σήμαντρον)
Lignum sacrum
Naqus (Arabic: ناقوس)
Toacă (Romanian)Wooden percussion board, struck with a hammer like a bell. These may be hung horizontally or vertically. Smaller versions may be handheld. In monasteries, they are used to call the monks. Used in Greek Orthodox during Easter week. These are still in use in Eastern Orthodox monasteries and may be made of wood or metal.Greece
Macedonia
Bulgaria
Romania
Russia
Serbia
Armenia
Israel
SyriaTabor
Pipe and taborEarly snare drum, narrow body compared to width of drumhead, 12th century and later.
The ensemble that played a three-hole pipe and "small drum" was used throughout western Europe to provide music for dances and was first seen in southern France and northern Spain in the 12th century. A player played both instruments at the same time.
Early drums in Europe were "side drums", slung at the players side or worn over their shoulder, or hung on left arm. These were tabors, double sided with snares of rope (possibly only on one side. The drums were either beaten with two sticks, or played as a pipe and tabor combination. Larger drums come on the scene by the 1500s.
A variation in France uses the tambourine à cordes or tambourine de Bearn, in which a dulcimer or string drum replaces the snare drum.tabur, Old French
tabourTambourine de Bearn
tambourin à cordes
string drum
tutu-panpan
ttun-ttun