>> If the Irish had wire technology they would have been supplying English >> textile industry, but Elisabethan customs authorities had massive >> problems >> with Continental wire contraband, so obviously there was no wire in >> Ireland. >> > I'm getting a little confused, Roman. First you say the 14th century > isn't really early, 14th (1300's) is the GENERALLY ACCEPTED century for any (mostly bronze) wire drawing (mostly for textile industry, i.e. needles, but musical strings also). This is exactly when wire-stung instrument start proliferating everywhere.
> then you bring Elizabethan England into it. Why? Ireland lost its independence to England, but did not become the supplier of wire to the English textile industry. > And not only that, but at that time there was a constant state of > animosity, resentment and fear between England and Ireland, which you > don't take into account, and there is still the question of the > willingness to share what could be considered reserved techniques and > technologies, not just in terms of those within a tradition and those > outside, but between enemies. There is no evidence of Brits plundering wire from Ireland. > how research is done, and the motivations and objectives behind > gathering information (including what constitutes a valid source and > even where to look), interpreting it, drawing conclusions from it and > then publishing and distributing it. In an earlier post you mentioned a > web article concerning the history of drawn wire and later quoted "From > an encyclopedia" - are these the same source? Maybe I missed your post > concerning the name of the encyclopedia, and please excuse me if I > have, but can I ask which encyclopedia, who is the author of the > article you quote from, and what are the sources drawn upon? Sorry, I didn't save the URL, I think it was something like Britannicaonline. > friend at the Journal of the History of Technology, who also, as it > happens, is a blacksmith - I'll drop him a note to ask if he could > point us to any other useful information. Do that. The point is whether a BEATEN rather than DRAWN string could be used for music. I suspect not. > Didn't Stephen Barber take Francis Bacon at his word and string up an > instrument with silver strings? I seem to remember something about > this, and about quite favorable results. > Doc I wouldn't be surprised, given his predilection for Heavy Metal..... In any event: when "Corinna" sang to her lute, and awoke its "leaden strings" I, as an individual who can tell poetry from prose, wouldn't take it too literally. RT To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
