-known representation of a
Saxon Fiddle contained in the Cottonian manuscripts in the British
Museum. Strutt, in his "Sports and Pastimes," supplies us with a copy
of the illustration, which is that of a juggler throwing balls and
knives to the accompaniment of an instrument of the Fiddle kind.
Strutt ascribes the manuscript to the tenth century. The form of this
Fiddle is in advance of that supplied in the St. Blasius manuscript,
there being four strings, but there is no bridge indicated, and, had
there been, it would not have evidenced a Saxon knowledge of tuning
the strings to given intervals, and playing upon each string. The
little light which has been thrown on the condition of instrumental
music at the time renders it doubtful whether any bowed instrument was
used, other than for the purpose of rendering a rude extemporaneous
accompaniment to the voice or the dance.

The chief authorities upon ancient minstrelsy agree that the Saxon's
love of music was cultivated for centuries with ardour by his Saxon
ancestors; it would therefore be reasonable to believe that his
knowledge of rude Fiddles was derived from the land of his
forefathers, and not from any instrument he discovered in Britain.[15]
The similarity of the instrument of the St. Blasius manuscript and of
that in the hands of the Saxon Gleeman in the Cottonian manuscript is
evidence of Teutonic origin. It is, moreover, strengthened by the fact
of the use of the word Fithele by the Anglo-Saxons for nearly two
centuries after the Norman Conquest, which name was adopted with but
little variation by the whole of the Teutonic race.[16] In Germany the
word was used as late as the twelfth century. About this period the
word Geige appears to have been applied in Germany to designate a
Fiddle. It is described as an improved Rebec, and strung with three
strings.[17] The use of the word Geige in Germany instead of Fithele
in the twelfth century, is worthy of attention as bearing upon
Teutonic origin. The earliest information we have of the use of the
Geige in France is in connection with the Jongleurs. The Geige was
popular in France until the fifteenth century, when, as M. Lacroix
says, it disappeared, leaving its name "as the designation of a joyous
dance, which for a considerable period was enlivened by the sound of
the instrument." The word Geige, I am inclined to think, is important
as furnishing evidence of historical value in relation to the ancestry
of the Vio