Page "Mandolin" Paragraph 22

Over subsequent centuries, the strings were doubled to courses, and eventually ( in Europe ) frets were added, leading to the first lute appearing in the thirteenth century.

The history of the lute and the mandolin are intertwined from this point.

The lute gained a fifth course by the fifteenth century, a sixth a century later, and up to thirteen courses in its heyday.

As early as the fourteenth century a miniature lute or mandora appeared.

Like the mandola, it had counterparts in Assyria ( pandura ), the Arab countries ( dambura ), and Ukraine ( kobza-bandura ).

From this, the mandolino ( a small cat gut-strung mandola with six strings tuned g b e ' a'd g sometimes called the Baroque mandolin or cat-banjo and played with a quill, wooden plectrum or finger-style ) was developed in several places in Italy.

A nearly identical instrument called the mandore was used in France at the same time.

The mandolino was sometimes called a mandolin in the early eighteenth century ( around 1735 ) Naples.

At this point, all such instruments were strung with gut strings.