Poema de Fernán Gonzáles.

Poema de Fernán Gonzáles. Vyoleros mentioned in the text.

Strophe 682:
Alançavan en los tablados todos los caballeros,
E a tablas e a castanes jugan los escuderos,
De otra parte matavan los toros los monteros
Avya ay muchas de citulas e muchos vyoleros.

An early literary reference to the vihuela. It is one of the earliest recorded uses of the term “violero” but used here to denote a player rather than a maker. The text describes a festivity of noblemen that was accompanied by many players of the citole and vihuela, as Alvarez points out, (alvarez1982, p. 857) indicating the distinction between plucked and bowed instruments.

Text from pidal1911, 392 ff.
Mid. 13th century
alvarez1982 (857 and Appendix XXVIII) points this instrument out as an example of the medieval distinction between bowed and plucked instruments (p. 857) Violero = player of the viola