Watches in the Middle Ages
In the Medieval Europe the "phenomenon of time" was initially dominated by religious institutions. The metaphysical foundations of the Christian administration of time were provided by St. Augustine in the 4th Century. For Augustine, the story begins with the time of the creation - and there was nothing before creation, which would be able to move, there was no time before creation. For this reason, he understood the term as a one-dimensional continuum, a firm beginning - the story of creation - and a specific goal: the Last Day at the end of the world. But this was excellent for the following generations to derive a quantitative measurement of the time: in a way that you compared the duration of a motion with the time of a different one, or, in other words - thus resulting a relative and not absolute representation. The religious character of time in the early Middle Ages was felt most in the monasteries, because here discipline and regularity were very important. The monasteries had their own time system, the so-called colonial hours, which regulated the times for the choral prayer. The Colonial hours were based on temporal hours, which, as already mentioned by St. Augustine in his writings, had the disadvantage that the winter hours were shorter compared with the summer hours. Here improvements were made mainly by the Benedictines, who were known for their absolute punctuality. The monk Hildemar explains the strong relationship between time and life as follows: "No prayer is reasonable if it is not governed by a perfectly timed Klepsydra that displays the hours at night or on a cloudy day". And his colleague Roman Cassiodorus added to this by stating that the invention of the water meter as the greatest boon to mankind.
On the secular level, the development of solar and water watches has been further developed and funded by big names in world history: Charlemagne in the West, Harun al Rashid in the East and the flourishing Tang Dynasty in China. A number of scholars were working in the conservation and development of knowledge about clocks and time. In the West, it was mainly the Anglo-Saxon theologian Bede, which summarized the state of Western knowledge in his writings, the counting of the years before Christ came and introduced the idea of a middle man to the court of Charlemagne. In China, while the Empire was under the Tang Dynasty, a cultural boom was taking place. The water clock was improved to perfection between the 7th and 14 Centuries.
Particularly noteworthy is the name of idf Su Sung, a monk who later became head of the Finance Ministry. In 1090, hr described a new design for a mechanical Armillar sphere and a sky globe. Behind this hard to understand title is a monumental astronomical water clock, the "Heavenly Scale," which captivated attention to is size and skill, especially by a prominent feature, it had a drive wheel suspension and this wouldn't become known in the West until 200 years later.
It was alleged that King Alfred of England, who in the 9th Century in Europe invented the Candle Clock. His chronicler narrated that he mustered exactly 8 hours of his public duties, 8 hours for studying, eating and sleeping, and 8 hours for prayer. In order to keep of their structured day, the candle clock needs 6 candles daily burning for 4 hours each; the candles are kept in a lantern, to optimize the uniformity of the burn out.
On the secular level, the development of solar and water watches has been further developed and funded by big names in world history: Charlemagne in the West, Harun al Rashid in the East and the flourishing Tang Dynasty in China. A number of scholars were working in the conservation and development of knowledge about clocks and time. In the West, it was mainly the Anglo-Saxon theologian Bede, which summarized the state of Western knowledge in his writings, the counting of the years before Christ came and introduced the idea of a middle man to the court of Charlemagne. In China, while the Empire was under the Tang Dynasty, a cultural boom was taking place. The water clock was improved to perfection between the 7th and 14 Centuries.
Particularly noteworthy is the name of idf Su Sung, a monk who later became head of the Finance Ministry. In 1090, hr described a new design for a mechanical Armillar sphere and a sky globe. Behind this hard to understand title is a monumental astronomical water clock, the "Heavenly Scale," which captivated attention to is size and skill, especially by a prominent feature, it had a drive wheel suspension and this wouldn't become known in the West until 200 years later.
It was alleged that King Alfred of England, who in the 9th Century in Europe invented the Candle Clock. His chronicler narrated that he mustered exactly 8 hours of his public duties, 8 hours for studying, eating and sleeping, and 8 hours for prayer. In order to keep of their structured day, the candle clock needs 6 candles daily burning for 4 hours each; the candles are kept in a lantern, to optimize the uniformity of the burn out.
