The stately Orpharion

wpeB.jpg (17553 bytes) The Orpharion is an english invented, wire strung, scalloped shaped instrument with slopping brass frets, often mentioned in Elizabethan Lute song publications as an alternative to the Lute.

Houshold inventories of the day reveal the Orpharion to have been as popular as the Lute.

16th and early 17th Century Printed illustartions of Orpharions

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William Barley 1596 M.Praetorius 1618
On his oceanic voyages Sir Francis Drake brought a "chest of instruments of music" with him, included amongst these was an Orpharion.
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Francis Palmer Orpharion 1617 Copenhagen
Lord Edward Cromwell's sister, Catherine Cromwell, married Sir Lionel, Lord Tollemache of Helmingham, Suffolk, God son to Elizabeth I. During a Royal Progress Queen Elizabeth was entertained at Helmingham, where she presented Catjherine's husband with  her own Orpahrion.