>At 16:48 20/12/98 -0600, you wrote:
>>Hello, listmembers. I have a question regarding the canonical hours: How
>was time
>>measured in the middle ages and renaissance, especially at night? I've heard
>>something about the existence of candles with marks on them to indicate
>hours. Also,
>>that in winter night hours were longer than sixty minutes and day hours
>shorter to
>>account for twelve hour days and nights.
Hildemar's 9th-century commentary on the Benedictine Rule shows that, at
least in the early Middle Ages, time measurements were certainly not
standardized. In chapter 8, for example, Hildemar tells how December and
January have 18 night hours and 6 day hours--but he also tells of the 12
hour day/12 hour night rule.
In regard to HOW time was measured, that also appears to have been
inconsistent. There were water clocks, which were sometimes accurate.
There were candles, but candles don't burn at a steady rate, which could
cause problems. I think it's also Hildemar who tells of watching the stars
to gauge the night hours. I've read in a commentary on the Rule or a
Customary that monks at at least one house knew when to get up for the
night offices because a monk was set to recite a given number of psalms to
mark the time; he was to be punished if he'd rattled them off too quickly
and roused the monks too soon. (I've gone through all my notes, and don't
seem to have written it down; it must be practice from before c. 1050,
because I haven't read much after that.)
Phyllis
Phyllis G. Jestice
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