The team used the first term (Lyre) in the programme, but I am told that while these instruments were fairly common in the northern tribal homelands of the period, many developed minor variations as the tribes ventured farther afield to settle other parts of Europe, of which the Anglo Saxon 'hearpa' (presumably 'harp')was one such example. Can anyone shed light on this please?
Although the terms harp and lyre are often used interchangeably, strictly speaking the instrument found at Prittlewell is a lyre, or a 'vertical harp' if you prefer. The Old English 'hearpe' is from the same root as 'to pluck' and doesn't translate directly to what we recognise as a harp today. To quote one description of the difference between Saxon lyres and (for example) Gaelic harps, the lyres 'have a flat soundbox with a bridge and tailpiece to hold the strings, like on a fiddle, but instead of the fiddle's neck and fingerboard they have two arms holding a yoke which supports the strings.
This type of lyre is relatively well known at this early period from many parts of northern Europe. There are even some surviving remains of instruments from the 6th and 7th centuries, found in royal burials in England and on the continent, e.g. the remains from Sutton Hoo and Prittlewell. It is usually assumed that these continental instruments were strung with hair or gut, in contrast to the metal wire of the Irish instruments.'
The Museum of London web page on the Prittlewell lyre is here:
It's spelt 'hearpe' (with an 'e'), but yes your informant is right. It's the same instrument as found at Prittlewell, which is usually called a lyre today.
