ABSTRACT
By the late Middle Ages the wire-strung clarsach was established as the characteristic instrument of the Scottish Gael. In the non-Gaelic areas of Southern Scotland the development of the harp seems to have been somewhat different. If our hypothesis is correct, and the triangular-framed harp of the Picts spread southwards, it would appear that, in the territory dominated by the Angles, horsehair strings were replaced by gut. This was certainly happening in Wales between the 10th-12th centuries.
