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A LIttle Romance
Et nos cedamus amori. And we, too, shall yield to love. – Virgil

Medieval Monday: What time is it?

6/26/2022

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"Salisbury Cathedral" by stevecadman is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Happy Medieval Monday! I always have a wonderful time exploring the Middle Ages. Recently, I've become fascinated by some of the inventions. Continuing with last week's "timely" theme, did you know that the mechanical clock was a medieval invention? That surprised me. I'm not sure when I thought it had been invented, but certainly not as far back as the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century.  

As I've mentioned before, when I think of the medieval era, I tend to think of an agrarian society, not an urban one. For the medieval farmer, the sun moving from dawn to dusk was sufficient for calculating time. Certainly, in Tremors Through Time, it was all Lachlann needed during his medieval work day.

The sun hung midway between heaven and earth, the great loch silver beneath it, as Lachlann An Damh plowed his field.

But life in the cities ran on an altogether different schedule. So, too, did the monasteries that were popping up all over Europe. Monastic life centered around the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours. Moreover, wasting time was frowned upon. Knowing the exact time or hour became increasingly important. Churches and monasteries began developing and installing clocks. As church bells rang, merchants took note. Setting regular business hours suited them, too, as well as the variety of other establishments and venues found in urban areas.   

The mechanical clock (gears, weights, and pulleys) was not the first clock used to tell time. Since ancient times, sundials, obelisks, water clocks, hour glasses, and a variety of other ingenious methods had been used. 
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"Roman Sundial" by rvr is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
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 Tanis obelisk in Cairo, on Gezira Island,  Peter Lundström, CC BY-SA 4.0 
But while surely better than nothing, they were not as dependable as the mechanical clock would be. 

The mechanical clocks were well-made. One of the oldest -- arguably, the oldest -- mechanical clocks in the world that still works is in Salisbury Cathedral, It was built around 1382 and originally placed in the cathedral's bell tower. When that tower was demolished, the clock was moved to the Cathedral, then eventually set aside to be replaced. It was rediscovered in 1928, ultimately restored, and now  on display.  
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"Salisbury Clock" by Wyrmworld is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
 
These clocks changed the way time was ordered and therefore, often to no small degree, the way people lived.  They remain one of the most impressive inventions of medieval times.

Personally, I still favor the sun-up, sundown approach. But that's mostly because I detest alarm clocks. 

For more medieval fun, be sure to visit these medieval ladies' websites:

Mary Morgan

Barbara Bettis

For a delightfully medieval man, be sure to check out Tremors Through Time.  It's set to launch July 6 and available for pre-order now. 
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Medieval Monday: The Medieval Finessing of Time

6/15/2022

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The Summer Solstice is upon us! The longest day of the year begins tomorrow, June 21, at 5:14 a.m. Then, in almost infinitesimal increments, nights will begin to lengthen as the summertime moves toward autumn. 

In the Middle Ages, long before climate control and GMOs, the summer solstice, often referred to as Midsummer, marked the halfway point to harvest time. Lachlann, our hero in Tremors Through Time, would have cared about that in his medieval days. But I don't believe he would have been terribly concerned about what year it was. He was too busy living his life to count the years. And then time does a trick on him...

How important is time and the counting of it? Except for documentation, does what year it is really matter? I suppose it would depend upon whom you ask.

Julius Caesar...some ego, right? He would decide that time should be considered to have begun at the beginning of his reign. Henceforth, at least to the Romans (whose dominion was far and wide), the counting of years was based on the consulship. For example, "this is the second year of so and so's rule". It didn't take long for it to become obvious that that method wouldn't work forever. The Julian calendar had other problems, too -- major issues with leap years and the Easter tables. That last thing, the Easter tables, was a subject worthy of an 800-page volume of work, amongst many other documents. My simple summary is "how to set the date for Easter".  

It took an early medieval man to get things under control. The dating of Easter was a serious concern and cause of contention for the Church. Pope John I requested a monk to look into the matter, but not just any monk. Dionysis Exiguus (Latin - Dionysis the Humble) was highly respected for his brilliant scholarship. He set about righting the Easter tables. He also invented a system -- the system -- of numbering years from the Incarnation of Christ. At the time, from all his gathered resources, he calculated that 525 years had passed. He referred to the system as Anno Domini, the Year of the Lord. In other words, he approximated that it was the year 525 A.D. His system was incorporated into the Julian calendar. Nowadays, the more commonly used terms might be CE -- for Common Era -- and BCE -- Before the Common Era -- but the years are still based upon Dionysus Exiguus' calculations.

But the calendar still had problems. By the 1500s (over a thousand years later), it was so misaligned with the solar calendar that the (northern) spring equinox was occurring long before its expected date in March, which again threw off Easter dates. It took another medieval man -- actually more than one -- in the High Middle Ages to right the fiasco. Pope Gregory XIII wanted the Easter issue resolved. Aloysius Lilius, an Italian astronomer, and Christopher Clavius, a German mathematician, were the primary architects of what came to be known as the Gregorian calendar. The auspicious day of the new calendar was October 15, 1582. 
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One of the first printed editions of the new calendar, printed in Rome by Vincenzo Accolti in 1582.
The Gregorian calendar isn't universally accepted, although most countries have adopted it as at least their civil calendar. It's also not perfect. But it's been working well enough for over four hundred years thanks to some prolonged medieval finessing.

For more medieval fun, be sure to visit the blogs of these marvelous medieval ladies, 
Mary Morgan and Barbara Bettis.

Happy Medieval Monday! Happy Summer Solstice!
                          Dionysis Exiguus  (c. 470-c. 544)                                                                 Pope Gregory XIII (1502-1585)
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Medieval Monday: The Establishment of Universities

6/13/2022

6 Comments

 
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Dimitris Kamaris  Archiginnasio, Bologna (26408793660).jpg via WikiCommons
Happy Medieval Monday! Today, I am considering those institutions of higher learning known as universities. I have been amazed at how long some have been established. There are older university sites than the ones I am featuring.  Al-Karaoine in Morocco and Al-Ahzar in Egypt are good examples. But while they have been universities for a very long time, they did not begin as such. For my purpose, I've chosen a not uncommon set of criteria -- that they have been continually in operation since inception and that they began as universities. 

Some of the universities were cathedral schools before they became universities -- all still way back when, others were royal charters, while even others were begun as student guilds. They were all established in the medieval era.

It's awesome.

The oldest is the University of Bologna, founded in 1088 by a guild of students. It's Latin name Alma Mater Studiorum means "Nourishing Mother of Studies". The students called it a "universitatis", first to do so, giving it a term from Roman law to designate a legal body. 

Oxford is the second oldest. According to the university, classes were taught as early as 1096. It was organized as a university between 1201 to 1214 and granted a royal charter in 1244. Its history is closely related to that of Cambridge University, which is third on the list.
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"Oxford University" by _Hadock_ is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
The University of Salamanca in Spain is fourth, founded in 1218. 
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File:Old Library in University of Salamanca 01.jpg" by Antoine Taveneaux is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
There are many Italian universities that were founded during the medieval era. One of the older, non-Italian ones is the University of Coimbra in Portugal, It moved back and forth between Lisbon and Coimbra for a while, but was established in 1290.
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Courtyard of the University of Coimbra" by Debarshi Ray is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
There are a few more I'd like to mention. Frankly, there are enough beautiful universities with long and fascinating histories to occupy countless blogposts.

The Sorbonne was officially chartered in 1200 by Philip II and recognized fifteen years later by Pope Innocent III. It did not operate continually from its beginnings, however. The French Revolution sort of put it on hold. Thankfully, it returned. 
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"Sorbonne University @ Paris" by *_* is licensed under CC BY 2.0
We cannot forget Trinity College in Dublin, home of the Book of Kells.
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"Dublin IR - The Long Room Of The Old Library At Trinity College 03" by Daniel Mennerich is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Scotland boasts some of the oldest universities in the English-speaking world. The earliest is the University of Saint Andrews (1410-1413), followed by the University of Glasgow (1451), and the University of Aberdeen (1495), and the University of Edinburgh (1582). 
From left to right:
"University of St Andrews 4" by Son of Groucho is licensed under CC BY 2.0, "University of Glasgow architecture" by Jim_Nix is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0, "University of Aberdeen" by readephotography is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0, ​"File:Old College, University of Edinburgh (24923171570).jpg" by LWYang from USA is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
​
An astounding number of universities were established in medieval times that are still in existence and active. I find it uplifting to know that there have always been students who wanted to learn and teachers who wanted to teach. I believe it is a beautiful statement about humanity.

In my time travel romance Tremors Through Time, Lachlann did not have the opportunity to attend a university. There were no universities open to him in the fourteenth century Scottish Highlands. However, he could have learned to read; he had a friend willing to teach him. He was too busy farming to consider it. Once he's stuck in this century, he wishes he'd taken the time to learn. 

For more Medieval Monday, be sure to stop by these beautiful blogs:

Mary Morgan - 
Medieval Monday | A Love Affair with Medieval Romance (marymorganauthor.com)

Barbara Bettis - Blog - Barbara Bettis - Historical Romance Author

May we all continue to enjoy learning!
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Coming July 6! ​Available for Pre-order.
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    Romance!

    It's no secret that I prefer fat HEAs. Where better than in a beautiful romance?

    Mysteries -- Cozy Mysteries!


    Fun, diverse, and clever, this genre also offers those satisfying endings I prefer. Moreover, they often include a romantic interest.  I absolutely love these books and have "discovered" many wonderful authors, books, and series to enjoy.

    Since, like my favorite romances, cozy mysteries are feel good books with wonderful settings, characters, and satisfying endings, I will be featuring them now and then.

    Happy Reading!

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