A line in the chronicles of Joinville definitely establishes the
identity of the _nakeres_ as a kind of drum: "Lor il fist sonner les
tabours que l'on appelle _nacaires_." The nacaire is among the
instruments mentioned by Froissart as having been used on the occasion
of Edward III.'s triumphal entry into Calais in 1347: "trompes,
tambours, nacaires, chalemies, muses."[13] Chaucer mentions them in the
description of the tournament in the _Knight's Tale_ (line 2514):--
"Pipes, trompes, _nakeres_ and clarionnes,
That in the bataille blowen blody sonnes."
The earliest European illustration showing kettledrums is the scene
depicting Pharaoh's banquet in the fine illuminated MS. book of Genesis
of the 5th or 6th century, preserved in Vienna. There are two pairs of
shallow metal bowls on a table, on which a woman is performing with two
sticks, as an accompaniment to the double pipes.[14] As a companion
illumination may be cited the picture of an Eastern banquet given in a
14th century MS. at the British Museum (Add. MS. 27,695), illuminated by
a skilled Genoese. The potentate is enjoying the music of various
instruments, among which are two kettledrums strapped to the back of a
Nubian slave. This was the earlier manner of using the instrument
before it became inseparably associated with the trumpet, sharing its
position as the service instrument of the cavalry. Jost Amman[15] gives
a picture of a pair of kettledrums with banners being played by an armed
knight on horseback.
[Illustration: (From Härtel u. Wickhoff's "Die Wiener Genesis,"
_Jahrbuch der kunslhistorischen Sammlungen des allerhöchsten
Kaiserhauses_.)