Books › The Violin and its Music, 1881 › scan 80
Scan 80
The Violin and its Music, 1881
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 60. See the scan on archive.org.
1dant of that "barbarous bowed contrivance," mentioned by Roger North in connection with the Goths, with a scion bearing a marked family likeness to its own remote ancestor through another line of Fiddle and Viol. If this view be correctly taken, we may assume that the coming together of Geige and Rebec amid the minstrelsy of France contributed something towards the perfection of the Violin, though we cannot possibly learn, at this distance of time, to what extent.
3Leaving these speculations, let us pass to the time when the Jongleurs formed themselves into a company, and obtained a charter, in the year 1321. Under this charter they elected a chief, whom they styled the "King of the Minstrels," and laws were made which the members of their body corporate were to observe. They inhabited a building which gave the name to the street in Paris, St. Julien des Menestriers. At these head-quarters all applications for musicians were made and duly attended to. In the reign of Charles VI. the Jongleurs are said to have separated themselves entirely from the art of juggling, and attended only to the art of music, and it is in a charter of Charles, dated 1401, that we discover evidence of much importance relative to the progress of bowed instruments in France. The charter runs:—
5"Charles, by the grace of God, &c., &c. It having been humbly represented unto us by the King of the Minstrels and other performers on high
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.