History of the Hour: Clocks and Modern Temporal OrdersIn this sweeping study of the organization of time, Dohrn-van Rossum offers fresh insight into the history of the mechanical clock and its influence on European society from the late Middle Ages to the industrial revolution. Detailing the clock's effects on social activity, he presents a vivid picture of a society regulated by the precise measurement of identical hours. "In tracing the evolution of time consciousness with scholarship and skill . . . Dohrn-van Rossum evokes the many ways that the small moments of life have come to be reckoned with the passage of time."—Dava Sobel, Civilization "Dohrn-van Rossum paints a highly nuanced picture of time's conquest of modern life."—Steven Lagerfeld, Wilson Quarterly "This book is definitive in showing the clock's pervasive influence over European society."—Virginia Quarterly Review "[A] delightful, excellently translated history."—Choice "Dohrn-van Rossum has produced a persuasive and brilliantly documented new understanding of how modern time-consciousness arose."—Owen Gingerich, Nature |
Contents
The Division of the Day and TimeKeeping in Antiquity | 17 |
The Medieval Hours Hora | 29 |
Medieval Horologia and the Development of | 45 |
The Diffusion | 125 |
Late Medieval Clockmakers | 173 |
Clock Time Signal Communal Bell and Municipal | 197 |
The Introduction of Modern | 217 |
Work Time and Hourly Wage | 289 |
TimeKeeping | 323 |
Abbreviations | 351 |
| 435 | |
Other editions - View all
History of the Hour: Clocks and Modern Temporal Orders Gerhard Dohrn-van Rossum Limited preview - 1996 |
History of the Hour: Clocks and Modern Temporal Orders Gerhard Dohrn-van Rossum No preview available - 1996 |
Common terms and phrases
according appear astrarium astrolabe astronomical clock Avignon beginning bell signal Bilfinger canonical hours cathedral chap CHAPTER EIGHT chronicle church clepsydra clock-time clockmakers clockwork Cologne communal bell Computus construction council court daylight described device dial diffusion division ecclesiastical equal hours European example fifteenth century fourteenth century France Frankfurt Geschichte Giovanni guilds High Middle Ages hora Horloge horologia horologium hour indications important innovation Islamic Italy Jahrhundert Johannes king Late Middle Ages Leipzig measure mechanical clock mentioned Milan miniature modern hour modern hour-reckoning monasteries monastic night notarial NOTES TO PAGES Nuremberg orloges Paris period possible precision public clocks reference regulations repr Richard of Wallingford ringing Roman Rome sandglass sources statutes striking clocks sundials temporal temporal hours texts thirteenth century time-measuring tion tower clock transl URBAN ACCESSORY wage water clocks weight WHEELED CLOCK