gleaned the following from a "5c. vihuela" alert on google in response to the question of "who invented the guitar?" ... anything missing?:
1265 Juan Gil of Zamora mentions the early guitar in "Ars Musica." 1283-1350 Guitarra Latina & Guitar Moresca are mentioned multiple times in the poems of the Archpriest of Hita 1306 A "gitarer" was played at the Feast of Westminster in England 1404 "Der mynnen regein" by Eberhard Von Cersne makes reference to a "quinterne." 1487 Johannes Tinctoris described the guitarra as being invented by the Catalans. This refers to the four course guitar. Each course represents one pair of double strings. 1546 "Tres Libros de Musica en Cifras para Vihuela" by Alonso Mudarra is the first publication to include music for guitar. 1551-1555 Nine books of tablature were published by Adrian Le Roy. These include the first pieces for 5 course guitar. The addition of the fifth course was attributed to Vicente Espinel 1600-1650 Many publications of tablature for the guitar. It's popularity begins to rival the lute. 1674 Publication of "Guitarre Royal" by F. Corbetta increased the guitar's popularity. It was dedicated to Louis XIV. 1770-1800 A sixth string was added to the guitar and the courses were replaced by single strings. 1800-1850 Guitar enjoyed a large popularity both in performances and publishing. Fernando Sor, Mauro Guiliani, Matteo Carcassi and Dioniso Aguado all performed, taught, wrote and had published their compositions. 1850-1892 Guitar maker Antonio de Torres develops the larger more resonant instrument we know today. 1916 Segovia performs at Ateneo, the most important concert hall in Madrid. Before this it was thought that the guitar did not have the volume for this type of venue. 1946 Nylon replaces gut as a string material http://earlymusiccharango.blogspot.com/ ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Answers - Got a question? Someone out there knows the answer. Try it now. http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/ To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
