> Is the mandora/mandola the same instrument also called mandore/mandolino...a tiny lute-like instrument tuned in fourths and fifths? (the instrument of the Skene MS etc)
No. although I didn't actually refer to it, my observations were based on Renato Meucci's article "Da chitarra Italiana a Chitarrone - una nuova interpretazione" which Roman has mentioned. Someone on Lutenet kindly sent me a copy of this some time ago. It is one of these articles which revolutionizes the way you look at things and a whole lot of things which were a puzzle before become clear. Basically Tyler and Sparks maintain that the 4-course guitar was a small instrument with a much shorter string length tuned a 4th above the vihuela but some of the sources cited in support of this are demonstrated fairly conclusively by Meucci to refer to what he refers to as the "chitarra italiana" which is a small lute. It all really starts with Tinctoris who wrote... Furthermore there is the instrument invented by the Catalans, which some call the ghiterra, and others the ghiterne. It is obviously derived from the lyra (i.e. the lute) since it is tortoise-shaped (though much smaller) and has the same stringing and method of playing. Some of the others sources quoted in Tyler & Sparks - Bermudo for example seem to me to have been misinterpreted. Monica To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
