Dear all, > On the vexed question of frets, or "freats" as Hoby spells the word, > it appears that he has opted for implying fretted instruments. It seems
he spells it "freates" It is interesting that the word (freate or) fret only appears in English around 1500, origin unclear. This list of the courtiers desired musical abilities a.. To singe well upon the booke. a.. To play upon the Lute, and singe to it with the ditty. a.. To play upon the Vyole, and all other instrumentes with freates. sounds to me as if fretted instruments are meant. (Because the vyole is an instruments with frets.) BH To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
