In the sixteenth century, however, it began to fall into disfavour; it was supplanted by the lute (Fig. 192), an instrument much used in the thirteenth century, and by the guitar, which was brought into fashion in France from Spain and Italy, and formed the delight both of the court and private circles. At that time every great lord, imitating kings and princesses, wished to have his lute or guitar player, and the poet Bonaventure des Périers, _valet de chambre_ of Marguerite de Navarre, composed for her “La Manière de bien et justement entoucher les Lucs et Guiternes.” The lute and the guitar, which for about two centuries were in high favour in what was called “chamber music,” have since the above-named epoch scarcely been altered in shape. With certain modifications, however, they gave rise to the _theorbo_ and the _mandolin_, which never attained more than a transient or local favour. [Illustration: Fig. 191.--Minstrel’s Harp, of the Fifteenth Century. (MS. in the _Miroir Historial_ of Vincent de Beauvais.)] [Illustration: Fig. 192.--Five-stringed Lute. Thirteenth Century. (MS. in the Bibl. Imp., Paris.)] Stringed instruments that were played on by means of bows were not known before the fifth century, and belonged to the northern races; they did not become prevalent in Europe generally until after the Norman invasion. At first they were but roughly made and rendered indifferent service to musical art; but from the twelfth to the sixteenth century, these instruments were subject to many changes both in form and name, and were brought to perfection according as the execution of musicians also improved. The most ancient of these instruments is the _crout_ (Fig. 193), which must have produced the _rote_, so dear to the minstrels and the _trouvères_ of the thirteenth century. The _crout_, which is the instrument placed by tradition in the hands of the Armorican, Breton, and Scotch bards,[24] was composed of an oblong sounding-box, more or less hollowed out at the two sides, with a handle fixed in the body of the instrument, in which were made two openings that allowed the performer to hold it by the left hand and at the same time to touch the strings; these, as a matter of principle, were only three in number. Subsequently it had four strings, and then six--two of which were played open (_à vide_). The musician played on it with a straight or convex bow, provided with a single thread either of iron wire or of twisted hair. Except in England, where the _crout_ was national, it did not last beyond the eleventh century. It was replaced by the _rote_, which was not, as its name (apparently derived from _rota_, a wheel) would seem to intimate, a _vielle_ or _symphonie_. It would be useless to seek for the derivation of the name of _rota_, except in the word _crotta_, the Latin form of the term _crout_. [Illustration: Fig. 193.--Three-stringed _Crout_ of the Ninth Century. From a Miniature.]