Henri Arnaut de Zwolle (c. 1400, in

Zwolle Zwolle () is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Overijssel and the province's second-largest municipality after Enschede with a population of 130,592 as of 1 December 2021. Zwolle is o ...

– September 6, 1466 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

John Koster, 'Arnaut de Zwolle, Henri', ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed Sept 26 2007)) (often ''Henri Arnault'', also Henricus Arnold/Arnoldus/Arnoul of/van Zwolle) was employed as a physician,

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

astrologer Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Dif ...

, and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

Philip the Good Philip III (french: Philippe le Bon; nl, Filips de Goede; 31 July 1396 – 15 June 1467) was Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty, to which all 15th-century kings of France belonge ...

. He is best known for a treatise on musical instruments. Henri Arnaut apparently was born in Zwolle. There are no data on his education. Perhaps he became a physician first, as he was named ''Magister Henricus Arnault, Medicus Alemannus de Zuvolis'' (Zuvolis = Zwolle). He became a student of the instrument-maker Jean de Fusoris, who was employed between 1400 and 1445 by Philip the Good and later by the French king

Louis XI of France Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called "Louis the Prudent" (french: le Prudent), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revo ...

. By 1432, Henri was at the court of Philip the Good in

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

as well. Between 1438 and 1446 (several decades before the activities of

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

), he created manuscripts in Latin on a wide variety of technical subjects, including astronomy, hydraulics, astronomical instruments, and drawings of apparent inventions like a folding ladder and a gem polishing machine. Among the manuscripts is a copy (in Henri's handwriting) of

Jacob of Liège Iacobus de Ispania (James of Hesbaye; died after 1330) was a music theorist active in the southern Low Countries who compiled '' The Mirror of Music'' ( la, Speculum musicae) during the second quarter of the 14th century. Before the discovery of h ...

's ''Speculum musicae''. The best known part is his treatise on the design and construction of musical instruments, containing, amongst others, the earliest

illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vid ...

of a

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

. He gave a detailed description of the action and the operation of this keyboard plucked instrument with the complex linkages between the keyboard and the strings. He also described the

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

, the

clavichord The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was mostly used as a practice instrument and as an aid to compositi ...

, the dulce melos, and the organ. His description of the organ is more practical than earlier treatises, describing the composition of the diapason chorus and the scaling of the pipes. He describes the layout of pipes, either with the longest in the middle, "in the form of a bishop's mitre", or in chromatic order, longest at the left, and he is credited with the first mention of reed pipes. All instruments in his manuscript were to be played at the court and not in churches. The manuscripts were probably only bundled in the 16th century (F-Pn Lat. 7295). As councilor to Philip the Good, he produced a map in 1444 of the region contested between France and

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

, in order to define French enclaves that could be eliminated to simplify the border.Jeremy Black "Maps and Politics". University of Chicago Press, 1997, p. 123. Between 1454 and 1461 he left the Burgundian court to work for the French kings Charles VII and

Louis XI Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called "Louis the Prudent" (french: le Prudent), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revol ...

in Paris, where he died of the plague in 1466.

References

External links

Fretted clavichord
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnaut De Zwolle, Henri 1400s births 1466 deaths 15th-century French astronomers 15th-century deaths from plague (disease) 15th-century French physicians French musical instrument makers Harpsichord makers 15th-century physicians People from Zwolle People of the Burgundian Netherlands Medieval Dutch people