The thesis proposes a study of late medieval plucked string musical instruments of the family of guitar and lute, based on a multidisciplinary approach that mixes historical, literary, linguistic-etymological, philological and iconographic aspects. The time span primarily considered ranges from the mid-1200s to the late 1400s, that is, from the first written evidence of these instruments in European languages to the invention of the tablature and the first treatises on organology. The sources used comprise Arab and Latin musical treatises, literary and historical documents in European languages, as well as iconographic evidence.
The main purpose of the thesis is a comprehensive investigation of the history of medieval plucked string instruments, not limiting the scope of research to linguistic and organological problems, but also extending it to the performative aspects, the repertoire, the musicians and the literary and cultural context in which these instruments appeared. Another objective is to identify all the evidence connected to the instruments that form the object of this research, in order to perform an exhaustive analysis of the terminology and highlight a series of less known sources.