York Minster – Early Music Muse

York Minster: 900 years of music iconography. Part 2 of 2: The instruments of the magnificent pulpitum or Kings Screen, 1473–1500.

Ian Pittaway Agricola Martin, bagpipes, bray harp, broken consort, Bruegel Pieter the Elder, clavicembalum, clavichord, clavicimbalum, clavicymbalum, clavicytherium, clavisimbalum, clavisymbalum, consort, cymbals, double recorder, drum, Dunstaple John, English consort, farting, fiddle, Fight Between Carnival and Lent by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, flute, fools, gittern, harp, harpsichord, iconography, lute, mixed consort, monochord, nakers, organ, organistrum, Pavel Žídek of Prague, portative organ, positive organ, Praetorius Michael, psaltery, recorder, rommelpot, rota, rote, rothe, rotta, sampogna, shawm, simfonia, sinfonye, spinet, symfenyge, symphonia, symphonie, transverse flute, triangle, tromba marina, trumpet, viella, vielle, Virdung Sebastian, virginal, York Minster 17th September 202517th September 2025 4 Comments

In the first article about York Minster, we spanned nearly 900 years of music iconography from circa 1030 to 1915, with an actual 11^th century oliphant in the crypt, and carvings of a pipe and tabor, harps, trumpets, gitterns, lutes, nakers, violin, timbrel, and portative organ.

This second article is dedicated to one outstanding feature of York Minster, the pulpitum or Kings Screen, with 56 carvings of instruments from 1473–1500: shawms, bagpipes, trumpets, transverse flute, recorder, double recorder, lutes, bray harps, gitterns, rotas, fiddles, symphonie, tromba marina, portative organs, positive organ, clavicimbalum, cymbals, fool’s percussion, triangle, nakers, and singers.

This article therefore acts as a survey of instruments played in England in the last quarter of the 15^th century, including some of the instruments lesser-known in the modern early music revival: the rota, the tromba marina, and the clavicimbalum.

Each carving of an instrument is photographed and described, accompanied by a video of each instrument playing music from the time.

York Minster: 900 years of music iconography. Part 1 of 2: Carvings of musical instruments, c. 1030–1915.

Ian Pittaway Beverley Minster, Bosch Hieronymous, Bosch Jheronimus, drum, fiddle, Garden of Earthly Delights (Bosch painting), gittern, harp, horn, iconography, lute, medieval fiddle, medieval harp, morris dance, morris dancing, nakers, olifant, oliphant, olyphant, organ, pipe and tabor, portative organ, tambourine, timbrel, trumpet, viella, vielle, violin, York Minster 10th September 202517th September 2025 0 Comment

The current building of York Minster was founded in c. 1225 and added to for many centuries, as is typical for a medieval church. During that period, depictions of medieval and renaissance musicians were carved in stone and crafted in stained glass. There is also an actual musical instrument on display, an oliphant from c. 1030 (pictured above).

This article, the first of two about York Minster’s rich musical iconography, is a chronological guide from c. 1030 to 1915, a span of nearly 900 years. The dates, locations and instruments are:

• c. 1030, the crypt – oliphant
• c. 1290–1350, the south wall – pipe and tabor
• c. 1310, the south window – harp
• 1405–08, the Great East Window – trumpets
• c. 1470s–80s, the central tower – gittern, lutes, fiddle, nakers
• c. 1803–35, the quire – gittern
• c. 1820, the south quire aisle – violin
• 1903–1915, east walls of the north and south transepts – harp, timbrel, portative organ

Each representation of an instrument is photographed, with a description and a video of the instrument being played.

There is one location missing from the list above, so densely populated with instruments that it is described in a second dedicated article: the magnificent pulpitum or Kings Screen, 1473–1500, with 56 carvings of 20 different instruments, including shawms, bagpipes, trumpets, transverse flute, recorder, double recorder, lutes, bray harps, gitterns, rotas, fiddles, symphonie, tromba marina, portative organs, positive organ, clavicimbalum, cymbals, fool’s percussion, triangle, nakers, and singers. The second article is available here.