See Rotte (psaltery) for the medieval psaltery, or Rote for the fiddle

Rotte or rotta is a historical name for the Germanic lyre, used in northwestern Europe in the early medieval period (circa 450 A.D.) into the 13th century. Differing from the lyres of the Mediterranean antiquity, Germanic lyres are characterised by a long, shallow and broadly rectangular shape, with a hollow soundbox curving at the base, and two hollow arms connected across the top by an integrated crossbar or ‘yoke’. From northwestern Europe—particularly from England and Germany—an ever-growing number of wooden lyres have been excavated from warrior graves of the first millennium A.D. The plucked variants declined in the medieval era (spreading less often in manuscripts in the 13th century), while bowed variants have survived into modern times.

Non-Greek or Roman lyres were used in pre-Christian Europe as early as the 6th century B.C. by the Hallstatt culture, by Celtic peoples as early as the 1st century B.C., and separately by Germanic peoples. They were played in Anglo-Saxon England, and more widely, in Germanic regions of northwestern Europe. Their existence was recorded in the Scandinavian and Old-English story Beowulf, set in pre-Christian times (5th-6th century A.D.) and written or retold by a Christian scribe about 975 A.D. The Germanic lyre has been thought to be a descendant of the ancient lyre which originated in western Asia. That same instrument was adopted in Ancient Egypt and also by the Ancient Greeks as the cithara. The rotte is shaped differently than these, however, and discoveries from further east has led to the possibility that it arrived with invading tribes.

The oldest rotte found in England dates possibly before 450 AD and the most recent dates to the 10th century. The Germanic lyre was depicted in manuscript illuminationsVespasian PsalterUtrechts PsalterDurham Cacciodorus and mentioned in Anglo-Saxon literature and poetry (as the hearpe). Despite this, knowledge of the instrument was largely forgotten, and it was confused with the later medieval harp. Then in the 19th century, two lyres (Oberflacht 84 and 37) were found in cemetery excavations in southwest Germany, giving concrete examples of the Germanic lyre's existence.Hillberg 2015, pp. 11, 14 These discoveries, followed in 1939 by the archaeological excavation at Sutton Hoo and the correct reconstruction of the Sutton Hoo instrument (as a lyre, not a harp) in 1970, brought about the realization that the lyre was "the typical early Germanic stringed instrument."Lawson 2005, p. 102. "Based on archaeological finds from Continental Europe, in particular from near-contemporary graves at Cologne and at Oberflacht, Württemberg, the Sutton Hoo harp now became a lyre. This caused quite a stir, not least amongst scholars of Old English literature. Many have still – to this day – not quite abandoned thoughts of harps and harping."

"Evidence of manuscript illustrations and the writings of early theorists suggest that, in Anglo-Saxon and early medieval times...the words hearpe, rotte and cithara were all used to describe the same instrument, or type of instrument." The direction of the spread of the instrument is uncertain. The instrument may have developed in several locations. Other possibilities include an Irish instrument that spread eastwards to Germany, or an instrument of central Europe that spread northwest. Across Europe, lyres were named with etymologically related variations: crwth, cruit, crot (Celtic); rote and crowd (English); rota, rotta, rote, rotte (French, English, German, Provencal).

The instrument disappeared in most of Europe, surviving in Scandinavia, and elsewhere remembered in medieval images and in literature. In 1774 it was featured in a work of religious musical scholarship by Martin Gerbert, who found an illustration in a 12th century A.D. manuscript and labeled the instrument the Cythara Teutonica. After archeological finds, the instrument has been recreated and studied anew, labeled Germanic round-lyre, Anglo-Saxon lyre, Germanic lyre and Viking lyre today.: "Shrill was the harp, loud its din these are words hard to justify with the sound of any medieval plucked musical instrument, particularly the intimate sound of the Anglo-Saxon lyre...The round Germanic lyre is well attested in early Anglo-Saxon art"Hillberg 2015, pp. 6, 7, 22, 48. "it is important to keep in mind the rather unclear terminology as outlined in this chapter. Especially when including literary sources... it is useful to bear in mind the confusion between lyre and harp....to be more precise, the Germanic round-lyre or rotte will be studied in this thesis...The lyre remains found and included in this study have been unearthed in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and England. They all belong to Germanic round-lyres, which were at the time variously termed harp or rotte..." Historical names include rotta (and variations rota, rotte, rote), harpa (Old Norse) and hearpe (Old-English). Medieval clerics sometimes used lyra, recalling classical Greece and Rome.

Anglo-Saxon lyre

In England, the lyre was called hearpe in Old English. They likely did not use rotta for the lyre. Hearpe lyres were played by the Germanic tribes (Anglo-Saxons) who arrived in England from the continent. Lyres can be seen in English artwork into the 11th century, eventually displaced by the medieval harp. On the continent, lyres continued to be illustrated in manuscripts into the 13th century.

The remains of surviving instruments (largely decayed into fragments) have been discovered in graves. Two instruments have given more information about the instrument's characteristic shape. The Grave at Sutton Hoo contained enough of an instrument to create speculation about just what these instruments were; at first it was thought to be a harp. The grave at Prittlewell was thoroughly decayed, but archaeologists were able to use scans of undisturbed soil to reveal the instrument.

Apart from archaeological finds, another source of information about hearpes comes from historic images.

The Vespasian Psalter, an early 8th-century Anglo-Saxon illustrated book originating from Southumbria (Northern Mercia), shows King David playing the lyre with his court musicians. The theme was commonly repeated across the Christian world, usually with David playing a harp. The image from the Vespasian Psalter gives some insight into how the lyre was played, notably the left hand being used to block strings showing he was using a type of play known as strum and block. This same method of lyre playing appears on many Ancient Greek illustrations of lyre playing.

The Durham Cassiodorus contains an image of King David playing the Anglo-Saxon lyre. The book originates from Northumbria some time in the 8th century.

Another manuscript image of the hearpe being plucked can be found in the Utrecht Psalter, a 9th Century book of illustrations from the Netherlands.

A 9th century Anglo-Saxon sculptured image appeared in relief on a column at Masham, North Yorkshire. The image shows David holding what is "clearly a round-lyre of contemporaneous Germanic type."Lawson (1981), pp. 229-232

According to musician Andrew Glover-Whitley, "music [among the Anglo-Saxons] was seen as coming from the Gods and was a gift from Woden who was, amongst many things, the God of knowledge, wisdom and poetry and as such bestowed the ‘magic’ of music on the people. ... It was also seen as a power to do good or evil, to help cure people of maladies of the mind, soul or body as well as able to inflict harm on enemies and to conjure up spirits that would be of help or to do your bidding against enemies."

There are 21 mentions of the lyre in Anglo-Saxon poetry, five of these in Beowulf. Mentions of the lyre in literature commonly associate it as accompanying storytelling, being used during celebrations or in context of war.: "In the 6th and 7th centuries it seems probable that the dominant form of performing art amongst the English, the Franks and their related (though not always friendly) neighbours was heroic and lyric verse... Examples survive in manuscripts of the 8th to 10th centuries. Such verse we believe was customarily recited or chanted in some way (Latin texts are notated in neumes from the ninth century onwards) to the accompaniment of a plucked stringed instrument of lyre kind, which is itself mentioned in several texts."

Bede, relating the story of Cædmon (the "first" English poet), describes how the lyre was passed around during feasts, so that as part of the merriment people could pick it up and sing songs.The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Bede, 8th century This is similar to other instruments such as the bagpipes which are also described as being passed around at feasts (Exeter Codex). The songs played on the lyre include Anglo-Saxon epic poetry and it is likely that performances of Beowulf, the Wanderer, Deor, the Seafarer etc., were enacted with the lyre providing the backing track.

Lyre in continental Europe

Gallery of Germanic lyres

Norse lyre

In Old Norse, harpa could be used for multiple instruments, including the lyre and the later harp, as can be seen in carved artwork.Pulver, page 139. "The name "harp" from the beginning was never connected with any definite form of instrument, but often covered several...Over the period between the tenth and the fourteenth centuries, it was "a harp" that King Gunnar played in the snake pit. The monuments, however, teach us that only, in one case out of five did Gunnar's instrument take the form of a triangular harp; in four cases it was a round lyre. Those who carved the monuments therefore, in the greater number of cases, called the round lyre a "harp."

The oldest image of the Norse lyre comes from Gotland in Sweden, where a rock carving dating from the 6th century has been interpreted as an image of a lyre.

In the Poetic Edda, the harpa is mentioned in several different poems.

A Norse story about Gunnar that was widely known was source material for Icelandic poetry. In the story, Gunnar lay dying, thrown into a pit of snakes. He had given his sister in marriage to Atli, and wanted Atli's sister Oddrun for his own wife. Atli refused, but Oddrun and Gunnar slept together anyway. Atli had Gunnar killed in the snakepit, and (pleading to his sister Gunnar or his lover Oddrun for help) Gunnar played his harpa with his toes (his hands were tied). The harpa is used this way in the Dráp Niflunga, Oddrúnargrátr, and Atlakviða.

It is also mentioned in the Völuspá.

Celtic lyre

In Ireland, patriotism has claimed the Celtic harp as an Irish symbol, in spite of scholarship which acknowledges the cruit to originally have been a form of lyre.Galpin (1910), p. 9. "Grattan Flood, in his History of Irish Music, which is as full of patriotism as it is of valuable information, simply claims this illustration as that of an Irish instrument, and, whilst he acknowledges with the savant O'Curry that the Cruit was originally a form of Lyre, he nevertheless calls it a small Irish Harp" This disconnect was commented on as early as 1910. Looking broadly at both Ireland and Scotland early images of stringed instruments may be seen in carved reliefs on stone crosses and in a manuscript illustration. The earliest images of European harps are found in Scotland, in Pictish relief carvings.