> I happened to catch a replay of the 1952 film Ivanhoe with Robert Taylor.
> There was a scene at the beginning where Ivanhoe is riding around Europe with
> a lute singing a song that alludes to the captured Richard I in hopes he'll
> get discover where he's being held. I began to wonder if the lute had actually
> made it to Europe, and more importantly England in the late 12th century, and
> if so in what form?
Lute [3-string, both long and shortnecked] had been in Europe all along, at
least since the Hellenistic period.
See
http://www.polyhymnion.org/torban/iconography.html
RT
