Editing Fiddle (section)

==History==
The medieval fiddle emerged in 10th-century Europe, deriving from the [[Byzantine lira]] ({{langx|grc|λύρα}}, {{langx|la|lira}}, {{langx|en|lyre}}), a bowed string instrument of the [[Byzantine Empire]] and ancestor of most European bowed instruments.<ref name="ebfiddle">{{cite encyclopedia |title=fiddle |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |date=6 March 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Anthony |last=Baines |title=The Oxford Companion to Musical Instruments |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] USA |date=November 12, 1992}}</ref>

Lira spread widely westward to Europe; in the 11th and 12th centuries European writers use the terms ''fiddle'' and ''lira'' interchangeably when referring to bowed instruments.<ref name="ebfiddle" />

The violin in its present form emerged in early 16th-century [[northern Italy]]. The earliest pictures of violins, albeit with three strings, are seen in northern Italy around 1530, at around the same time as the words "violino" and "vyollon" are seen in Italian and French documents. One of the earliest explicit descriptions of the instrument, including its tuning, is from the ''Epitome musical'' by [[Jambe de Fer]], published in [[Lyon]] in 1556.<ref>
{{Cite web
 |url=http://www.violinonline.com/historicalbackgroundoftheviolin.htm
 |title=Historical Background of the Violin
 |publisher=ViolinOnline.com
 |first=Robin Kay|last=Deverich|year=2006|access-date=2006-09-22
}}</ref> By this time, the violin had already begun to spread throughout [[Europe]]. The fiddle proved very popular among both street musicians and the nobility; the French king [[Charles IX of France|Charles IX]] ordered Andrea Amati to construct 24 violins for him in 1560.<ref>{{Cite web
 |url=http://www.bartruff.com/history.php
 |title=The History of the Violin
 |first=William|last=Bartruff|access-date=2006-09-22
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070208112530/http://www.bartruff.com/history.php <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-02-08}}</ref> One of these instruments, the ''Charles IX'', is the oldest surviving violin. 

Over the centuries, Europe continued to have two distinct types of fiddles: one, relatively square-shaped, held in the arms, became known as the [[Viola da braccio (instrument)|viola da braccio]] (''arm viol'') family and evolved into the violin; the other, with sloping shoulders and held between the knees, was the [[viola da gamba]] (''leg viol'') group. During the [[Renaissance]] the gambas were important and elegant instruments; they eventually lost ground to the louder ''viola da braccio'' family.<ref name=groveviol>{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last= Sadie |editor-first=Stanley |author1= Diana Poulton |entry= Viol |encyclopedia= The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments |year=1984 |id= Volume 3 |pages= 736–741}}</ref>