A while ago on the medieval lute list, a beginner asked if it was OK to use chords (in medieval music). Surprisingly, I thought, someone said that it was. Maybe it all depends on what you mean by 'chord'.
Amat's guitar instructions show that guitarists were strumming chords in the late 16th century. Chord sequences like the passomezzo - as the basis of the musical composition - are earlier than this . Citterns and guitars could be strumming chord patterns - and maybe lutes too, slumming it. But how much earlier are passomezzo type pieces? I don't think they were even around in the early sixteenth century. The earliest lute tablatures (c1500) have chords in them - sometimes using all six courses.And it's sometimes surmised that some of these tablatures were conceived for the plectrum lute. These lute chords (c1500) are used in the context of a mix of florid single lines and block chords. They predate chordally based, passomezzo type pieces. They are certainly not any kind of strumming pattern or harmonic rhythm. Looking back further and there is no known music explicitly for the lute (or any other plucked instrument) but there maybe lute music lurking in surviving music (such as some keyboard tablatures). Music pre1500 is single lines or polyphony. Improvisation was built on melodies, not chords. So, given the music, there isn't obviously a reason for playing chords. Figured bass - and that sort of harmonic thinking - is much later. The lute played in duet format with other instruments (including lutes) in the 15th century. The tenorista, accompanying part, on face of it is just a single line - a fragment of plainchant or a popular song. In some of the keyboard settings of the time the left hand has single lines, passages in two part and even full chords. Lute players could have adopted this (or it could be chicken and egg) use of full chords do make their accompanying parts more interesting. So I think the first chord was strummed in 1452. On a Tuesday. (and I should be marking exam scripts) To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
