Citole

**citole**
	medieval lute
	Upload media
	Wikipedia
Instance of	type of musical instrument;
Subclass of	plucked string instrument; necked box lute;
Authority file
	Q665657; GND ID: 7851483-6
	Reasonator; Scholia; Wikidocumentaries; KML file; Search depicted;

Citole: an angel plays what would probably have been called a citole; a cut out of “Coronation of the Virgin”, De Lisle Psalter (c.1310), England^[1]^[2]
Three mermaids from Brunetto Latini "Li livres dou tresor," c. 1300, playing a citole, a harp and a shawm.

British Library image Royal 2 B VII f. 174. Detail of a bas-de-page scene of two musicians dancing, one playing a citole, and the other a rebec, with a decorated initial 'D'(eus).
British Library image Royal 2 B VII f. 177. Detail of a bas-de-page scene of a nun playing a psaltery and a monk playing a citola.
British Library image: Royal 2 B VII f. 189. Detail of a bas-de-page scene of four youths in a row, their hands connected by ribbons, and a musician playing a citole.
British Museum image: Royal 2 B VII f. 192. Detail of a bas-de-page scene of two grotesques, one playing a citole and one playing a horned instrument, with an inhabited initial 'D'(eus) with a lion at its centre.
British Museum image: Royal 2 B VII f. 203. Detail of a bas-de-page scene of two men dancing, one playing a citole, and the other a rebec.
British Museum image: Royal 2 B VII f. 192v. Detail of a bas-de-page scene of an ape and a centaur playing a citole and a trumpet, with a decorated initial 'D'(eus).
British Museum image: Royal 2 B VII f. 168v. Detail of a miniature of the marriage feast at Cana with a kneeling maid holding up a cup of the miraculous wine and six angels playing musical instruments in niches, three on either side. Instruments include 2 citoles, 3 rebecs, a trumpet and a psaltery.

Modern reproduction of citole

Citola (reproduction) with Pedro Jesús Gómez
Medieval citole built by Jo Dusepo
Cítola according to the iconography of the Cantigas de Santa María, s. XIII. Interpretation of Cantigas de Santa María by Emilio Villalba. Luthier: Asier de Benito (Spain)

Hypothesis: evolution from cithara to citole
A hypothesis of the transition from cithara into necked string instruments (1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. 12, p. 704)
Lira d'egipte - Museu de la Mediterrània de Torroella de Montgrí (56)
Cithara/lyra, Bible of Charles the Bald (9th century)^[1]^[2]
Cithara/lyre without arms, Utrecht Psalter, Psalm 43 (9th century)^[1]^[2]
Plucked string instrument, Carolingian Psalter, 108r part (820–830)^[2]
4-string plucked instrument with small wings on body, by Benedetto Antelami (c.1180), Baptistery of Parma, Italy^[1]^[2]
4-string plucked instruments with "holly leaf shape" body (left, Guitarras Latina), Cantigas da Santa Maria (13th century), Spain^[1]^[2]
Citole, “Coronation of the Virgin”, De Lisle Psalter (c.1310), England^[1]^[2]
Citole (ca.1300). Note: this individual instrument have been converted into violin in the 16th century.
Citole (modern reproduction)

left: Harpo-lyre by André Augustin Chevrier, ca.1830, right: Lyre guitar by Joseph Pons, ca.1805
Lyre guitar by Carl Christian Otto, Halle S., 1820
Lyre guitar by Carotte in youth, 1834
left: Octochordis mandolino-lira (lyre mandolin) by P. Dabiero, Milan, c.1900
Danelectro Longhorn (electric guitar), 1958