History of the hour : clocks and modern temporal orders
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
History of the hour : clocks and modern temporal orders
University of Chicago Press, 1996
- : cloth
- : paper
- Other Title
-
Die Geschichte der Stunde : Uhren und moderne Zeitordnungen
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Note
Translation of: Die Geschichte der Stunde
Bibliography: p. [435]-439
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
-
: cloth ISBN 9780226155104
Description
In this analysis of the organization of time, the author examines the history of the mechanical clock and its effects on European society from the late Middle Ages to the industrial revolution. The book provides a discussion of how mechanical clocks functioned in cities and dispels many myths associated with the clock's history. For example, Dohrn-van Rossum argues that in their race to display the grandest clocks, monarchs and princes were more responsible than merchants for introducing clocks into urban environments. This work also questions what is known regarding the clock's invention, including the role of the hour-glass, the arrival of the mechanical clock before scientific rationality, and the obscure history of the escapement, the clock's regulating mechanism. Detailing the clock's effects on social activity, this work presents a picture of a society regulated by the precise measurements of identical hours. From setting time limits on tortures to creating intricate schedules for town councils, schools and religious services, the clock has affected virtually all aspects of society.
Restructuring long-distance communication also became vital to modernization as the postal service began measuring its performance with unprecedented accuracy. In showing that the organization of time was not shaped by any single act or group of people, this work reveals the complexity of early modern society and the clock's pervasive influence over an entire culture.
Table of Contents
List of Figures 1: Introduction 2: The Division of the Day and Time-Keeping in Antiquity 3: The Medieval Hours (Hora) 4: Medieval Horologia and the Development of the Wheeled Clock 5: From Prestige Object to Urban Accessory: the Diffusion of Public Clocks in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries 6: Late Medieval Clockmakers 7: Clock Time Signal, Communal Bell, and Municipal Signal Systems 8: The Ordering of Time: The Introduction of Modern Hour-Reckoning 9: Work Time and Hourly Wage 10: Coordination and Acceleration: Time-Keeping and Transportation and Communications up to the Introduction of "World Time" Conventions Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index
- Volume
-
: paper ISBN 9780226155111
Description
This study of the organization of time offers 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 acitivity, it presents a picture of a society regulated by the precise measurement of identical hours.
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