In 1511 Sebastian Virdung attributed the invention of the so called German lute tablature to the blind Nuremberg organist Conrad Paumann. But how much can we trust this statement?

This thesis shall examine the origin of German lute tablature and the environment in which it emerged. Attention will therefore be paid to the earliest lute sources in addition to possible traces in similar diagrammatic annotations from earlier times and other music cultures. Was German lute tablature not just an invention of one person but a product of cultural exchanges, revived antique theories and humanistic preoccupation with lute?
 

Further studies into repertoire and notational aspects shall also demonstrate, how German Lute Tablature developed during its life span, why it shows such a great divergency in its set of symbols and why it became less important after the 16th century.