Figure 1.

Drawing of Gregory's constellation Faix, the Sickle, from the manuscript of De cursu
stellarum in the Bamberg Staatsbibliothek (MS Patres 61, folio 80vJ. The Latin reads: "Hae
stelle kal[endis] augusti oriuntur primam."

8
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 Gregory of Tours, Monastic
Timekeeping, and Early
Christian Attitudes to Astronomy

By Stephen C. McCluskey*

|W ESTERN EUROPE PRODUCED FEW scientific achievements during

the periodfrom the fifthto the tenth centuries. Althoughthe early Middle
Ages maintaineda tenuous contact with the science of antiquity,Roman science
itself provideda poor foundationfor the constructionof a new science.' Yet the
Dark Ages were succeeded by that remarkableendeavor of scholars from the
Latin West to seek out Greco-Arabicscience and assimilate it into their own
intellectualtradition.
This search for scientific knowledge has significantimplications,for we seek
only what we know of and value. If there was little scientificprogressin the early
Middle Ages, a rudimentaryscientific activity was nonetheless essential to that
later quest for learning. Monasteries were a major source of stability and the
principalfocus of learningduringthis unsettled period, and we should look to
them if we are to characterizemore precisely this scientific activity, its context,
and its development.
The rudimentarytechniquesof astronomicalcomputusthat arose to determine
the date of Easter have been a recurringtopic of discussion. Less well studied,
however, are the observationalpracticesconcernedwith that monastictimekeep-
ing employed to regulate the hours of monastic prayer. This astronomy is ap-
plied, not pure, science; it is best understoodin the context of the rituals it was
intended to regulate. The earliest requirementthat the time of prayer be gov-
erned by watching the stars is found in John Cassian's discussion of the night
offices, which is based largely on practices he had observed in the monasteries
of Lower Egypt during the closing decades of the fourth century.2 Cassian's
* Departmentof History and Programin the History of Science and Technology, West Virginia
University,Morgantown,WV 26506.
Drafts of this paperwere read by AnthonyAveni, Bruce Eastwood, GregoryGood, David Lind-
berg, Wesley Stevens, and a numberof anonymousreferees. An earlierversionwas presentedat the
Seventh Medieval Science Colloquium,Collegeville, Minn., 1-5 June 1987. I am gratefulfor the
criticismsand suggestionsI have received, and to the librarystaff of St. Vincent Archabbeyand
College, Latrobe,Pennsylvania.
1 William H. Stahl, Roman Science: Origins, Development, and Influence to the Later Middle Ages
(Madison:Univ. WisconsinPress, 1962);see esp. pp. 250-251.
2 Robert Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours in East and West (Collegeville,Minn.: LiturgicalPress,
1986), pp. 58-62, 76-80, 96-100; Owen Chadwick,John Cassian (Cambridge:CambridgeUniv.
Press, 1968), pp. 71-73; and John Cassian,De institutiscoenobiorum2.1-2.6, ed. and trans. Jean-
ClaudeGuy (Paris:Editionsdu Cerf, 1965).Egyptianmonasticrules mentiona call to assemble for
predawnprayersand the disciplineof latecomers.Thereis no indicationwhetherstellartimekeeping
was involved: Arnold Villeux, La liturgie dans la ce6nobitismePach6mien au quatrieme si&le (Studia

ISIS, 1990,81:9-22 9

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10 STEPHENC. MCCLUSKEY

Institutions (De institutis coenobiorum) and Regula, written in Marseilles in the

420s, disseminatedthese practices throughoutthe Latin West. Cassian stipulated
that the night offices should be governed, not by a whim or by the sleeplessness
of the monk assigned to wake his brothers,but by carefuland frequentobserva-
tion of the course of designated stars that regulated calling the brothers to
prayer.3
Subsequent monastic rules, inspired in part by Cassian, shared his concern
with the regularsequence of monasticprayer. St. Benedict of Nursia in his Rule
(dated about 550) holds the abbot personallyresponsiblefor soundingthe signal
to wake the communityfor prayer, althoughhe is allowed to entrustthis duty to
a carefulbrother.In the event the monks are wakened too late to complete their
prayers, the negligent monk should "make due satisfaction to God in the ora-
tory."4
The earlier and more detailed Rule of the Master (Regula Magistri, dated to
the first quarterof the sixth century) designates this duty in a weekly rotation
among the deans, or praepositi, who stay up in pairs lest one fall asleep, waking
the abbot when the time for prayerhas arrived.He, in turn, sounds the signal to
wake the remainingmonks. Isidore of Seville's Rule for Monks (Regula mona-
chorum, written in the first quarterof the seventh century)assigns the responsi-
bility for nocturnaltimekeepingspecificallyto the sacristan.5The mechanics of
reckoningthe time for prayer, however, are not specifiedin monasticrules, even
Cassian's; that is left to individualarrangements.
Keeping time by watchingthe stars is a rudimentarykind of astronomy, more
akin to the folk astronomies of primitive peoples and of Hesiod's Worksand
Days and Virgil's Georgics than to the learned mathematicalastronomy of the
quadrivium,for which Ptolemy's Almagest would provide the paradigm.Yet it
does require familiaritywith the constellations and some knowledge of their
movementswith the seasons and of the changinglength of day and night through
the year. One of the few discussions of these technical details in a monastic
context appears in the short treatise De cursu stellarum (On the Course of the
Stars), ascribed since 1853to Gregoryof Tours, an ascriptionconfirmedby sub-
sequent recovery of a fragmentof an eighth-centurymanuscriptof the treatise.6

Anselmiana,57) (Rome: Herder, 1968),pp. 292-315. Resolutionof Egyptiantimekeepingpractices

would demandstudy of the largelyunexploredCoptictexts.
I "Sollicitefrequenterquestellarumcursupraestitutumcongregationistempusexplorans,"Cassian,
De institutis2.17; cf. Regula Cassiani 16, in H. Ledoyen, "La 'RegulaCassiani'du CLM28118et la
Regle anonyme de l'Escoriale A. .13," Revue Be&ndictine, 1984, 104:175.
4 Regula Benedicti 45.1, 11.12-13, ed. and trans. Timothy Fry (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical
Press, 1981),pp. 206-207, 246-247. It may be significantfor the spreadof stellar timekeepingthat
Benedict specificallyrecommendsCassian's Institutionsas a guide for monastic perfection:ibid.,
73.6. On the chronologyof and influencesamongmonasticrules see Adalbertde Vogiu, "TheCeno-
bitic Rules of the West," CistercianStudies, 1977,12:175-183.
s Regula Magistri31-32, ed. Adalbertde Vogue (Paris:Editionsdu Cerf, 1964),pp. 168-175;and
Isidore of Seville, Regula monachorum 20.1, in Patrologiae cursus completus, series Latina, ed.
J. P. Migne(Paris, 1850),Vol. 83, cols. 889-890.
6 See Gregoryof Tours, De cursu stellarum,ed. F. Haase (Wroclaw, 1853),which attributesthe
text to Gregorybecause he described having written such a work and it had similaritieswith his
known works; and Vienna, OsterreichischeNationalbibliothek,Ser. Nov. 37 (Hill MonasticMicro-
film Library, or HMML, 20549), an eighth-centuryfragmentrecovered from the bindings of two
codices, which attributesthe text to Gregorius[Tu]roni.De cursu stellarumwas also edited by B.
Krusch, Monumenta Germaniae historica, scriptorum rerum Merovingicarum, Vol. I, Pt. 2 (Han-
nover: Hahn, 1885), pp. 854-872. The astronomicalportion (18-47) is found in two manuscripts:

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 EARLY CHRISTIANASTRONOMY 11

Gregory'sapplicationof astronomicalknowledgeto the service of God empha-

sizes the proper completion of the daily round of prayer. Regular communal
prayer had been stressed by the canons of the Second Council of Tours, held in
567, only six years before Gregory'sconsecrationas bishop. The canons spelled
out the numberof psalms to be chantedat each season of the year in the Basilica
of St. Martin and stipulatedthat whoever failed to chant the requirednumber
would fast on bread and water until evening prayer.7De cursu stellarum was
written some time after Gregory's consecration as bishop in 573, apparentlyas
part of his episcopal obligationto instructand guide the clergy and regulate the
numerousmonasteriesin the vicinity of Tours.8Gregory'streatmentof mundane
details compensatesfor the lack of particularsin either of the monasticrules that
may have been used at Tours, whetherJohn Cassian'sInstitutionsor the Rule of
the Master.9
In De cursu stellarumwe see a practicalastronomythat has been reduced to
its barest essentials. Gregory's stated purpose was to provide only those ele-
ments of astronomythat would help a monk determinethe propertime to rise in
the hours before dawn for nocturnalprayer. But this is not an indigenousGallic
folk astronomy;10Gregory was educated in the declining tradition of Roman
Gaul, and parallels to his astronomycan be found in a wide range of texts. His
selection of particularelements that served his practicalreligious purpose illus-
trates how monasticculture, with its faith in a divinely establishednaturalorder,
shaped the preservationand transformationof astronomicalpractice.

ASTRONOMY, ASTROLOGY, AND CHRISTIAN CULTURE

As an introductionto astronomyDe cursu stellarumis little more than an appe-

tizer. No geometricabstractions,no mentionsof circles and poles occur in Greg-
ory's treatise. Instead of using abstractcelestial coordinates,Gregorydefines the
positions of the stars in terms that would be directlyuseful to an observer watch-
ing them as they rise.

BambergStaatsbibliothek,MS Patres61 (eighthc.), fols. 75v-82v; and Vatican, BibliotecaAposto-

lica Vaticana,MS 67 (twelfthc.), fols. 120v-126v.None of the manuscriptsused in previouseditions
name the author.
My thanksto the directorsof these librariesand of the Hill MonasticMicrofilmLibraryfor provid-
ing microfilmcopies of manuscriptsin theircare. I am currentlypreparinga new editionof the entire
treatisebased on the eight extant manuscripts.
7 Concilia Galliae, A. 511-A. 695, ed. Carolusde Clercq, Corpus Christianorum, series Latina
(Turnholt:Brepols, 1963),Vol. 148A,pp. 182-183.The stipulatedmonthlysequence of psalmsis not
the same as that of De cursu stellarum.
8 For the exceptionalinfluenceof bishopson the foundationand regulationof early monasteries,in
contrastto the later independenceof abbots underthe Rule of St. Benedict, see Elie Griffe, "Saint
Martin et la monachisme gaulois," in Saint Martin et son temps: Me6morialdu XVIe centenaire des
de6buts du monachisme en Gaule, 361-1961 (Studia Anselmiana, 46) (Rome: "Orbis Catholicus"/
Herder, 1961),pp. 17-19. On the monasteriesfoundednear Tours before 590, inspiredby the estab-
lishment of Marmoutierby the monk Bishop Martin (ca. 316-397), see FriedrichPrinz, Fruhes
M6nchtum im Frankenreich: Kultur und Gesellschaft in Gallien, den Rheinland und Bayern am
Beispiel der monastischen Entwicklung (4. bis 8. Jahrhundert) (Munich/Vienna: R. Oldenbourg,
1965),map XIIa.
9 Prinz,FruihesMonchtum,p. 98, n. 54, and map IVa.
10Muchremainsto be done towardthe recovery and interpretationof medievalfolk astronomies.
See, e.g., StephenC. McCluskey,"TheMid-QuarterDays and the HistoricalSurvivalof BritishFolk
Astronomy," Archaeoastronomy, No. 13, supplement to Journal for the History of Astronomy, 1989,
20:S 1-S 19.

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12 STEPHEN C. MCCLUSKEY

If Gregory's astronomyis not part of the mainstreamof Greco-Romanmathe-

matical astronomy, similaritiesto a number of astronomicaltraditions suggest
direct or indirectinfluences. An analogueto Gregory'slocation of constellations
in relationto the path of the sun appearsin MartianusCapella'swidely circulated
Marriage of Philology and Mercury. Here we find a description of 183 parallel
daily circles that the sun travels twice each year. Gregoryhad read this standard
text in the liberal arts and noted that Martianus "taught you . . . to trace the
courses of the stars in his astronomy."'1
Descriptions of the successive risings of the constellations fill the works of
Virgiland the other astronomicalpoets, a genre that Gregorymentions, if only to
reject the poets' mythologicaldescriptionsof the constellations.12 The genre in-
cludes such calendricalworks as Virgil's Georgics, Ovid's Fasti, Manilius'sAs-
tronomica, Aratus's Phaenomena, and parts of Pliny's Natural History. The
works are filled with practicalastronomicaldetail, and also with allusions to the
power of the stars and their mythological origins that are antithetical to the
evolving, more strictly Christian,culture.
It was Christianculture that guided Gregory'srelation to the diverse astrolo-
gies of his Greek and Romanpredecessors and of his Germanic,Celtic, and even
some Christiancontemporarieswith Manicheanproclivities.13 He carefully re-
jected those constellation names that assigned mythologicalorigins to the con-
stellationsor would imputea divine natureto the stars. In De cursu stellarumthe
celestial motions do not representpowers independentof God's dominion over
creation;they, like the other naturalwonders that Gregorydiscusses, are under
the dominionof God.
These roles of the divine lawgiver, his dominionover natureand nature's ulti-
mate dependence upon him, are found in monastic prayeras well. The predawn
office of lauds takes its name from Psalms 148-150, a series of praises of God by
his creation that form one of the earliest unvaryingelements of monasticprayer.
Throughthe centuries, every day began with praises of God for his dominion:
Give praise to the Lord in heaven;
praise him, all that dwells on high.
Praise him all you angels of his,
praise him, all his armies.
Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, every star that shines.
Praise him, you highest heavens,
you waters beyond the heavens.
Let all these praise the Lord;
it was his commandthat createdthem.
He has set them there unageingfor ever;
given them a law that cannot be altered.'4
11MartianusCapella,De nuptiisPhilologiae et Mercurii7.872, trans. W. H. Stahl and R. Johnson
(New York: ColumbiaUniv. Press, 1977);and Gregoryof Tours, Historia Francorum10.31, trans.
0. M. Dalton (Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1927).
12 De cursu stellarum 17.
13 The
semi-Manichaeanfollowers of the Spanish bishop Priscillianof Avila maintainedthat the
starsinfluencedthe fate of the humansoul. Priscillianwas executed on a chargeof sorcery, stemming
from his ritualpracticesand his Manichaeantendencies,in 386, yet he was reveredin Spainlate into
the sixth century. Henry Chadwick, Priscillian of Avila: The Occult and the Charismatic in the Early
Church(Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1976),pp. 138-148, 195-201.
14 Psalm 148, lines 1-6; the text is from Ronald Knox's translationof the Vulgate (New York:
Sheed & Ward, 1954).Medievalcommentatorscommonlyinterpretedthis passage as referringto an

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 EARLY CHRISTIAN ASTRONOMY 13

God's dominion was still questioned among the rustic populationof Gregory's
time, who continued the practices of their Germanicand Celtic forebears. Eli-
gius, Bishop of Noyon from 641 to 660, reflected Christianperceptions of the
pagan threat when he forbade the practice of addressingthe sun and moon as
"Lords," for they serve the needs of men by divine decree.15 A syncretistic
conflation of Christianitywith astral theology is found even in the Bamberg
manuscriptof De cursu stellarum. Accompanyingthe discussions of the regular
change of the length of day throughthe seasons and of the visibility of the moon
throughthe month are two crude drawingsof personifications,or even deifica-
tions, of the sun and moon set in circles atop pillars. The image of the sun
contains a bearded Christlikefigure, crowned with twelve solar rays; the figure
of the moon is feminine and crowned with a lunarcrescent.16
Equally incompatible with the norms of Christianitywere the teachings of
mathematicalastrologers who sought to foretell the future through the stars.
Gregory, with many of his contemporaries,saw this as a superstitiousart and
rejectedit, denyingespecially that the stars were causes of events on the earth.17
He nonetheless admittedthat there could be signs in the heavens. His discussion
of the constellationscloses with a brief treatmentof comets in which he acknowl-
edges them as signs of future events. As examples he describes two recent
comets, one of which had preceded a pestilence in the Auvergnewhile the other
precededthe death of King Sigibertin 575. In the same passage he quotes a poem
for the Epiphanyby Prudentius(348-ca. 410), whose more stridenttone reflects
his conflict with a still-active Roman paganism. Prudentius interpreted the
Christmasstar as both foretellingthe coming of Christ and symbolizinghis do-
minion over the heavens. To him the Christmasstar was like a royal banner of
that greatrulerwho commandsthe stars, before which the other stars give way. 18
The Christiandispute with astrologywas not merely a dispute with pagan super-
stition; it was also a dispute over a concept of the universe. To the pagan or the
Manichaeanthe world was an arena of conflict among opposing forces; to the
Christianall creationwas ruled by a single supremeLord.
To the extent that the Christianuniverse operated under the dominion of a
unchangingnaturalorder.Augustine,Enarrationesin Psalmos, Psalm 103, Sermo4, 2; Psalm 148, 3,
ed. Eligius Dekkersand JohannesFraipont,CorpusChristianorum(cit. n. 7), Vol. 40; Cassiodorus,
ExpositioPsalmorum148.1-6, ed. M. Adriaen,ibid., Vol. 97; an anonymousIrish commentator,in
Glossa in Psalmos: The Hiberno-Latin Gloss on the Psalms of Codex Palatinus Latinus 68, ed.
MartinMcNamara(Studie Testi, 310) (VaticanCity: BibliotecaApostolicaVaticana, 1986),p. 307;
and Remigius of Auxerre, Enarrationes in Psalmos, Psalm 148, in Patrologia latina, ed. Migne (cit. n.
5), Vol. 131, col. 840. See also Robert M. Grant, Miracle and Natural Law in Graeco-Roman and
EarlyChristianThought(Amsterdam:North-Holland,1952),pp. 19-28.
15 Vitae Eligii Episcopi Noviomagensis Liber II, in Monumenta Germaniae historica (cit. n. 6),
Vol. IV (Hannover:Hahn, 1902),p. 707.
16 BambergStaatsbibliothek,MS Patres61, fol. 79r. The twelve rays are an iconographicconven-
tion, representingthe months or the signs of the zodiac and reflectingthe sun's role as governorof
the year. On early Christiansymbolismof the sun and moon see Hugo Rahner,S.J., GreekMyths
and ChristianMystery,trans. BrianBattershaw(New York: Harper& Row, 1963),pp. 89-176.
17 De cursu stellarum 16; M. L. W. Laistner, "The Western Churchand Astrology During the
Early Middle Ages," Harvard Theological Review, 1941, 34:251-275; and R. Bonnaud, "Notes sur
l'astrologie latine au VIe si&cle," Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire, 1931, 10:557-577.
18 De cursu stellarum 34; and Prudentius, Cathemerinon 12.5-40, in Works of Prudentius, ed. and
trans. H. J. Thomson(Cambridge,Mass.: HarvardUniv. Press, 1949).Cf. Prudentius,Apotheosis
611-630, ibid., and Gregory,HistoriaFrancorum4.36(51),4.24(31) (cit. n. 11). The monksfor whom
Gregorywas writingwere membersof a society that was at least nominallyChristian.On Gregory's
evaluationof the significanceof signs and prodigiessee Giselle de Nie, "Roses in January:A Ne-
glected Dimension in Gregory of Tours' Historiae," Journal of Medieval History, 1979, 5:259-289.

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14 STEPHENC. MCCLUSKEY

supreme lawgiver, its laws were potentially intelligible. Gregory followed Pru-
dentius in makingthis careful distinction:he accepted signs in the heavens, but
he would not admit that these signs were independentcauses that challenged
God's dominionover natureand mankind.

THE ASTRONOMY OF DE CURSU STELLARUM

De cursu stellarum can be divided into four sections, of which only the last two
touch our concern with astronomicalpractice. The first two sections treat what
seems to be a scarcely related topic, the wonders of the world. Here Gregory
goes beyond the immediate demands of monastic timekeeping to emphasize
God's trustworthydominionover nature.
The first section deals with the seven wonders, or miracula, of the ancient
world, and the second with seven naturalwonders created by God, which will
endure "until the Lord directs the dissolution of the world."19Gregory treats
these naturalwonders largely as spiritualallegories; some, such as the burning
springsof Grenoble, are seen as instances where the divine hand has suspended
the usual course of nature.20Yet the last two wonders, the regularmotions of the
sun and of the moon, are noted as clear expressions of a divinely established
order.2'This treatmentof the sun and moon begins the astronomicaldiscussion
and leads into the two following sections, which first describe the motions of a
numberof constellations and then show how the regularcourse of the stars can
be employed to regulate the regular course of monastic prayer. Despite their
differences, all four sections reflectthe unifyingtheme runningthroughthe entire
treatise:a considerationof how God establishedthe orderof creationand how it,
in turn, can order the worship of the creator.
The astronomicaldiscussion begins with the regularchanges of the length of
the day throughthe seasons, reckoningthis miraculum, along with the changing
phases of the moon, as the sixth and seventh wonders of God's creation. The
scheme that Gregoryprovides for the length of daylightis clearly not indigenous
to FrankishGaul. It reflects a simple methodof calculationin which the length of
daylightin December is taken as nine hours and posited to increase regularlyby
one hour per month until June, when it reaches fifteen hours. The same linear
process then reverses back to December, when the length of daylight is again
nine hours.
Such rudimentaryarithmeticalschemes were common, especially in the east-
ern Mediterranean,where they are found in such diverse sources as astrological
treatises and the menologiaof the Orthodoxchurches. Many of these schemes,
which may representa survivalof early Babylonianlinear schemes, employ the
same 15:9ratio of longest to shortest days. This ratio is more appropriatefor the
Mediterraneanregion than for the latitudeof Tours (47.3?N),where it is approxi-
19De cursu stellarum 9.
20 "'Limpharumin gremiisinimicuscondiditignis, communesqueortus imperatalta manus....
O admirabilepotentiae divinae misterium!"Ibid., 14. The opening quotationis from a poem by a
certainHilarius,usuallytakento be Bishop Hilariusof Arles (d. 449), but sometimesBishop Hilarius
of Poitiers (fl ca. 315-367). In speakingof the fire hidden in the bosom of the spring, Hilariusand
Gregoryallude to the conflict between pagan and Christianattitudestowardnature,for Lymphais
notjust a termfor a springbut the name of a goddess of such places.
21 De cursustellarum15-16. On Gregory'sacceptanceof a clearorderof naturesee de Nie, "Roses
in January"(cit. n. 18), pp. 267-279;and Gisellede Nie, "TheSpring,the Seed andthe Tree:Gregory
of Tours on the Wonders of Nature," J. Medieval Hist., 1985, 11:89-135.

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 EARLY CHRISTIAN ASTRONOMY 15

Table 1. Gregory's scheme for determining lunar visibility through the month.

Day - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Hours 0 1/2 11/2 2 3 4 5 51/2 6 71/2 8 81/2 91/2 10 11 12

visible

Day 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 -

mately 15.75:8.25, but because of the simplicity of changing one hour each
month, systems employingthe 15:9ratio are widespread.22
Gregoryuses a similarlinearscheme to determinethe changingvisibility of the
moon throughthe month (see Table 1). Here the moon's visibility increases by
about an hour each day until it reaches twelve hours on the fifteenthday of the
month;it then decreases with similaruniformsteps to invisibilityon the thirtieth
day of the month. Such schematic thirty-daymonths are found in the work of
Vettius Valens, in Bede's De temporumratione, and in a numberof medieval
texts used by Bede. The method does not account for seasonal changes, and
Gregory makes no attempt at precision, roundinghis tabulated values, albeit
inconsistently, to the next lower half hour.23
De cursu stellarumtreats the stars in two separate sections. First is a general
astronomicaldescriptionof fourteen constellations;next is a discussion of Greg-
ory's primaryconcern: how the course of the stars can be used to regulate the
course of nocturnalprayer throughoutthe year. His liturgicaldiscussion con-
cerns the time to rise for the first of the two nightoffices: nocturns(called matins
in modern monastic practice), which begins a few hours after midnight, and
matins (now called lauds), which follows about dawn. Most rules stipulate an
interval of rest during winter between nocturns and lauds; from Easter to the
autumnalequinox, nocturns leads directly into lauds.24The length of the night
offices similarlyvaried to suit the seasons, being shorter in summerand longer
duringthe long nights of winter. This seasonal patterncould be furthermodified
by liturgicalrequirements.In some months-for example, the penitentialperiods
before Christmasand Easter-Gregory allows both for the regularnocturnalof-
fice and for lengthyvigils in which a hundredor morepsalms would be chanted.25
22
Otto Neugebauer, A History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy (New York: Springer-Verlag,
1975),pp. 706-711. Pliny(NaturalHistory6.216, 219)describesthe longestday appropriateto north-
ern Greece and southernItaly as 15 hours, while he gives the longest day for the Atlanticcoast of
Gaul as 16 hours, and for Britain, 17 hours. Similarlinearfunctionsappearin other early medieval
Latin texts. An anonymousmartyrologyin an eighth-centurySalzburgmanuscriptthat also contains
Bede's De temporumratione and other computisticalworks employs a similarlinearfunction step-
ping one hourtwice each month.Althoughthe text is inconsistentfor Juneand December,it appears
that the authorintendedto skip the steps at the solstices and achieve an extremevalue of 17:7.John
McCullough,"Martyrologiumexcarpstum:A New Text from the Early Middle Ages," in Saints,
Scholars and Heroes: Studies in Medieval Culture in Honour of Charles W. Jones, ed. Margot H.
King and Wesley M. Stevens, Vol. II (Collegeville,Minn.:SaintJohn'sAbbey and Univ., 1979),pp.
179-237.
23 De cursu stellarum 18; Neugebauer, History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy, p. 830; and
Bede, De temporum ratione 24, in Bedae opera de temporibus, ed. Charles W. Jones (Cambridge,
Mass.: MedievalAcademy of America, 1943), pp. 226-227, 359. Quite different,and inconsistent,
values are given in Pliny, Natural History 2.11.58; 18.65.323-325. My discussion of Gregory's prac-
tice of roundingbenefits from a reviewer's comments. Given the irregularitiesin Gregory'stable,
there is littlejustificationfor connectingit with any particularsource.
24
Regula Benedicti 8 (cit. n. 4); and Regula Magistri 33 (cit. n. 5).
25
Lengthyvigils are called for in a numberof early monasticrules but are absentfrom Benedict's
Rule, which firstappearedin southernGaulaboutthe year 625 and only became significantafter690:

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16 STEPHENC. MCCLUSKEY

In discussing the constellations, Gregory is careful to avoid any taint of the

astral theology or astrology of his pagan Greek and Roman predecessors. He
ignores many of the familiarconstellation names, and his constellations some-
times overlap the boundariesof several classical constellations. Consequently,
even identifyinghis asterismsrequiressome attentionto minordetails.
Gregory'sdescriptionsincludeas many as three separateelements to assist his
reader in identifyingthe constellations:A sketch of the constellation, an indica-
tion of the time of its rising or setting and, in a few cases, a description of the
place where it rises that reflects its declination.The drawingsof each constella-
tion depict them oriented as if rising on the eastern horizon. As they appear in
the Bambergmanuscriptthe illustrationsare artisticallycrude; the stars are not
connected or outlinedto indicatethe form of the constellation.Yet the configura-
tion of the stars and the brightnessof distinctive ones provide useful guides for
the monastic observer.26The sketches alone clearly identify the largerconstella-
tions, although they cannot unambiguouslydefine smaller constellations with
fewer stars (see Figure 1).
Further guidance comes from the month of heliacal rising, which Gregory
gives for most constellations. For six of them he also tabulates the number of
hours that the constellationis visible for each month throughthe year, mention-
ing, when appropriate,those months when it is invisible or those when it sets
after sunset and rises again before dawn. Some descriptionsthat do not directly
give times of risingnote that the constellationrises a given numberof hours after
another in the series. Some descriptionscontain a third element that sets limits
on the constellations'declination.In four cases Gregorynotes explicitly that the
constellation follows the path of the sun for a particularmonth; at other times
there are allusions to it following a northerlyor southerlypath.
The liturgicalsection, by discussingfive constellationsthat govern the time of
nocturnalprayers, provides furtherindirectinformationabout the rising of these
constellations. For each monthGregorygives several rules of the sort that if you
begin when a given star rises you can sing a certain number of psalms before
dawn, or if you begin when another star reaches the third hour, you can sing
anothernumberof psalms.27He gives such instructionsover several months for
stars in these five constellations,and for most months he uses several stars. This
provides enough redundantinformationto compute the time each constellation
rises, which furtherlimits its position in the heavens. Using the times of rising
determinedby this statistical analysis of the nocturnaloffices, and declinations
determinedby the conditionsof the stars' rising, I was able to identifythe major-
ity of Gregory'sconstellations.28Most of the clearly identifiedconstellationsare

Regula Magistri 49; Caesarius of Arles, Statuta sanctarum virginum 69, ed. Germanus Morin (Mare-
tioli, 1942);andRegulaBenedicti(cit. n. 4), pp. 397-398,407. See also GerardMoyse, "Monachisme
et reglementationmonastiqueen Gaule avant Benoit d'Aniane,"in Sous la Regle de Saint Benoit:
Structures monastiques et societes en France du moyen age a lYpoque moderne (Geneva: Librarie
Droz, 1982),pp. 3-19; cf. Prinz,FruhesMonchtum(cit. n. 8), pp. 267-273.
26 These figures differ from the more artistic, but astronomicallyunintelligible,drawingsof the
classical constellationsin manuscriptsof Aratus and Hyginus, e.g., Vienna, OsterreichischenNa-
tionalbibliothek387 (HMML17564;see n. 6) (ninthc.); Vienna, OsterreichischenNationalbibliothek
51 (HMML13416)(twelfthc.). This strikingdifferencereflectsthe concernwith actualastronomical
practice by readers of De cursu stellarum.
27 De cursu stellarum 36-47.
28 For details of the analysis see Stephen C. McCluskey, "The Constellationsof De cursu stel-
larum,"unpublishedpaper.

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 EARLY CHRISTIANASTRONOMY 17

= ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I Si

Figure 2. The constellations of D:e cursu stellarum, with lettered error envelopes based on the
number of psalms sung between the constellations' rising and dawn, and the constellations'
declination inferred from Gregory's descriptions. A. Signum Christi.B. Massa (Gregory gives
Pliadas and Butrio as synonyms). C. Faix. D. "Duae Falce secuntur." E. Quinlo. F. Rubeola. G.
Omega.

traditional,but few of their names are. In a few cases he appears to refer to a

new asterismthat is not mentionedin classical sources.
Gregory's constellations are here plotted on a star chart (see Figure 2).29His
Greater Cross is clearly Cygnus, his Alfa or Lesser Cross is Delphinus, and
Omega is Lyra; his R.ubeolais Arcturus, Quinio is made up of the five stars in
Canis Major surroundingSirius, and his unnamedgroup of two stars following
Falx (the Sickle) are in Canis Minor. His Falx is apparentlya group of stars in
Geminiand Monoceros. Less well definedare his SignumChristi,which may be
the constellationAurigaand the Kids, and the Bier, which may be the Hyades.
Drawnfrom classical astronomyare his Couch (Stefadium),which is our Corona
29 The constellationsof Figure2 are precessed to the epoch of AD. 600. Positions are based on a
computertape of the positions, magnitudes,and propermotions of brightstars graciouslyprovided
by the U.S. Naval Observatorythroughthe assistanceof Dr. LeRoy Doggett.

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18 STEPHEN C. MCCLUSKEY

Borealis (Stephanos), and the Wain, our Ursa Major. Also classical, but less
certain, are the stars he calls Massa, Pliadas, or Butrio, which are probablythe
Pleiades but may be the Hyades instead.30
Since the problemof monastictimekeeping,Gregory'sdiscussion of the length
of days, and some of his constellation names all reveal oriental influences, we
cannot tell a prioriwhether the techniques in the liturgicalsection reflect obser-
vations actually made in his see in northernGaul or are merely adaptationsof
values originatingin a center of astronomicalor monastic activity to the south.
The statisticalanalyses mentionedabove, fittingthe time between the computed
appearanceof the five constellations (as specified in Gregory's instructionsfor
each month) and the computed time of sunrise for that month to the numberof
psalms Gregorystated could be chanted in that time, resolved this question.
By performingseparate analyses for differentplaces and epochs (Table 2), I
found the sum of the squaredresiduals(a measureof error)for these analyses to
increase south of the latitudeof Tours;for the analysis two centuries earlier, the
erroralso increases. To the northof Tours, stars that Gregorydescribes as rising
become circumpolar,and such analyses are impossible.
In sum, these data place the observations employed in De cursu stellarum in
northernGaul near the end of the sixth century. This result strengthensthe case
for Gregory's authorship, demonstrates that he was not merely repeating re-
ceived astronomicalmaterial, and, most significantly,documents the continued
practice of astronomicalobservations duringa time of supposed scientific inac-
tivity.
Observationsof the kind that Gregoryprescribesto regulatethe time of prayer
are best carried out when the observer has an unobstructedview of a fairly
distant horizon. At Gregory's time monks frequentlyresided in scattered build-
ings or caves; Jean Hubertmaintainsthat the quadrangularcloister, walled in by
a church, dormitory, refectory, and other buildings, did not become the domi-
nant monasticform in Gaul before the eighth century. St. Martin'sfoundationat
Marmoutier,a few kilometersfrom Tours, provides a prime example of the ear-
lier buildingpractice. This site on the north bank of the Loire offers the unre-
stricted view of the horizon that Gregory'sastronomypresumes.31
This kind of astronomyand this attitudeto natureare widely disseminatedand
generallyexpressed in the monasticliteratureof the fifthto the eleventh century.
Mere similaritycannot prove direct influenceupon or by De cursu stellarum,but

30 The identificationsof Omega,Rubeola,Quinio,and the two starsfollowingthe Sickle agreewith

the traditionalidentificationsof the astronomerJ. F. Galle, which appearas commentsto Haase's
edition of De cursu stellarum and as brief notes in Krusch's edition (both cit. n. 6). Galle also
identifiedSignumChristias Capellaand the Hyades and Gregory'sMassa as the Pleiades; see De
cursu stellarum,ed. Haase, pp. 42, 44-47. A recent controversysurroundsGalle's identificationof
Rubeolaas Arcturusand of Quinio.See WolfhardSchlosserand WernerBergmann,"An Early-Medi-
eval Account on the Red Colourof Siriusand Its AstrophysicalImplications,"Nature, 1985,318:45-
46; and the discussion between Stephen C. McCluskey,R. H. van Gent, and Schlosser and Berg-
mann, "TheColourof Siriusin the Sixth Century,"Nature, 1987,325:87-89.
31 Claire Stancliffe, St. Martin and His Hagiographer: History and Miracle in Sulpicius Severus
(Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1983),pp. 22-26; and Jean Hubert, "L'eremetismeet l'archaeologie,"in
L'eremetismo in Occidente nei secoli XI e XII: Atti della seconda Settimana internazionale de studio,
Mendola, 30 agosto-6 septembre 1962 (Milan: Vita e Pensiero, 1965), pp. 473-475, reprinted in
Herbert, Arts et vie sociale de la fin du monde antique au moyen age (Geneva: Droz, 1977), [pp.
204-206]. Martin'searlier foundationat Liguge, near Marseilles, however, was in the ruins of a
formerRomanvilla and employedthe enclosed quadrangular plantypicalof Romanarchitecture.See
Stancliffe,St. Martin,p. 23.

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 EARLY CHRISTIAN ASTRONOMY 19

our concern is less with Gregory's sources and influence than with how the
concepts found in De cursu manifested themselves in the monastic astronomy
duringthis period, even as more reliablemeans of timekeepingappeared.
Table 2. Analysis of Gregory's figures to test for
latitude and epoch.
Place Latitude Epoch Error
Tours 47.30 590 142.2
Lerins 43.50 590 163.7
Seville 37.50 590 175.5
Tours 47.30 390 149.8

MONASTICISM AND ASTRONOMY AFTER DE CURSU

Gregory's instructionssuggest that implicitin the earliest monastic rules was an

institutionalframeworkfor the practice of astronomy. This traditioncontinued,
and the practice of astronomicalobservationwithin monasteriesprovidedfertile
groundfor the reemergenceof dormantastronomicaltheory. In this regard, we
must not forget that the many writingsof Bede and his successors on astronomy
and computusemergedfrom monasticcommunitiesand reflect a similarconcern
with keeping ritual time, although more in a calendrical than a horological
aspect.32
The continuing importance of this tradition of monastic timekeeping is re-
flected in the commentarieson Benedict's Rule emergingout of the Carolingian
monastic reform. Smagardusof St. Mihiel quoted (after 816) John Cassian's Re-
gula on the importanceof accuracy in calling the monks to prayer. Unlike Cas-
sian, Smagardusdoes not propose any method of timekeeping.He mentions the
existence of a horologium,apparentlya sundial, only in a criticismof those who
treat fasting as a punishmentand "frequentlylook at the horologiumand often
lift their eyes to heaven, noting the course of the sun."33
The commentaryof Abbot Hildemar(fl. ca. 850) expresses astronomicalcon-
cerns more directly, in his discussions of the liturgical hours and matters of
monastic discipline. In winter Benedict's Rule requires that monks rise at the
eighth hour of the night. Hildemar notes that some consider this excessively
harsh, since in winter the night is eighteen hours long, which seems to require
that monks rise before midnightand pray ten hours until dawn. He resolves this
problemby noting that at the equinoxes night and day each have twelve hours,
and that Benedict intendedthis patternof twelve hours of night to be continued
throughoutthe year.34
Hildemaralso comments specificallyon the practiceof timekeeping,makingit

See Jones's notes in Bedae Operade temporibus(cit. n. 23), pp. 125-129.

32

Smagardi abbatis exposito in Regulam S. Benedicti, ed. A. Spannageland P. Englebert(Corpus

33
ConsuetudinumMonasticarum,8) (Sieberg:Schmitt, 1974),pp. 270, 96-97.
34 Regula Benedicti 8.1-3 (cit. n. 4); and Expositio regulae ab Hildemaro tradita et nunc primus
typis mandata, ed. RupertusMittermuller,O.S.B. (Regensburg/NewYork/Cincinnati:F. Pustet,
1880);pp. 277-279. Cf. the shortersouthernItaliancommentaryin Pauli Warnefrididiaconi Casin-
ensis in Sanctam Regulam Commentarium (Monte Cassino: Typis Abbatiae, 1880). On Hildemar's
commentary see Wolfgang Hafner, Der Basiliuscommentar zur Regula S. Benedicti: Ein Beitrag zur
Autorenfrage karolingischer Regelkommentare (Munster: Aschendorff, 1959), pp. 110-111, 143.

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20 STEPHENC. MCCLUSKEY

clear that observation of the stars was the primary means. In discussing the
passage where Benedict imposes the responsibilityfor announcingthe time for
prayerupon the abbot or a responsiblebrotherappointedby him, Hildemarnotes
that the brother should not be chosen arbitrarilybut should be responsible and
know well the hours of the night. Where Benedict had stipulatedthat a monk
who wakens the communitylate for prayershould "makedue satisfactionto God
in the oratory," Hildemartakes the opportunityto discuss how the severity of
the offense can vary with circumstances. The least severe penance would be
assigned for a case in which clouds obscuredthe stars and the monk, throughhis
concern about sounding the signal too early, instead sounded it too late. It is
strikingthat Hildemardoes not mention any alternativetimekeepingdevice or
techniquethat this conscientious monk could have consulted. Peter Damian (ca.
1067)recommendswhat was probablythe more commonpractice-that when the
stars were not visible, the significatorhorarumshould chant psalms to note the
passage of time.35
The obligationof keeping time by watching the stars is also seen in rules de-
rived from the Cluniac reform, which specifically assigned this duty to the sa-
cristan. As pointed out above, the sacristanas timekeepercan be traced back to
Isidore of Seville (see note 5). The sacristanis given similarresponsibilitiesout-
side the Cluniac houses, as in a tenth-centuryrule and in Lanfranceof Canter-
bury's Monastic Constitutions, where the sacristan sounds the call to prayer.
When clocks became available, the sacristan's special responsibility for time-
keepingexpandedto includethem. Later monasticcustomariesassign the regula-
tion of the horologiumto the sacristan, and there are many details concerning
clocks in sacristans' records from Norwich Cathedral(1290, 1322), Ely Abbey
(1291), St. Albans Abbey (ca. 1327),and DurhamCathedral(1360).36
Observationof the stars without instruments,however, seems to have been
the principalmeans of nocturnaltimekeepingat most ninth-centurymonasteries,
and to have persisted at least into the thirteenthcentury. An eleventh-century
collection of liturgicalcantica from a French monastery, in a pocket-sized vol-
ume apparentlyintendedfor a monk's private use, includes descriptionsof how
to observe the changingazimuthof stars over the buildingsof the monastic en-
closure to determinethe time of nocturnalprayers throughoutthe year. Monas-
teries that did possess water clocks, such as the prosperousmonasteryof Fleury
(St. Benoit-sur-Loire),still regulatedthe clepsydraby observingthe stars without
instruments.37A set of instructionswrittenon loose pieces of slate at the Abbey

35 Regula Benedicti 11.11-13, 47.1; Hildemar,Expositio regulae, pp. 288-89, 475; and Peter Da-
miani, De perfectione monachorum 17, in Patrologia latina, ed. Migne (cit. n. 5), Vol. 145, col. 315).
36 For the Cluniacrules see Giles Constable,"Horologiumstellaremonasticum(saec. XI)," in his
Consuetudines Benedictinae variae (Saec. XI - Saec. XIV) (Corpus Consuetudinum Monasticarum,
6) (Sieburg:Schmitt, 1975),pp. 1-18, on p. 5, n. 8. For the non-Cluniacrules see Regularisconcordia
Anglicae Nationis Monachorum Sanctimonialumque 1.27, 2.29, ed. and trans. Thomas Symons (New
York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1953);and Lanfrancof Canterbury,Monastic Constitutions,ed. and
trans.David Knowles(New York:OxfordUniv. Press, 1951),pp. 82-85. For the sacristanand clocks
see P. F. Lefevre, A. H. Thomas, eds., Le coutumier de l'Abbaye d'Oigny en Bourgogne au XIIe
siecle (SpicilegiumSacrumLovaniense, Etudes et Documents, 39) (Louvain, 1976),pp. 50-52; and
G. F. C. Beeson, English ChurchClocks (London:AntiquarianHorologicalSociety, 1971),pp. 15,
16, 18, 20.
37 See Giles Constable,"Horologiumstellaremonasticum"(cit. n. 36); RachaelPoole, "A Monas-
tic Star Time Table of the EleventhCentury,"Journalof TheologicalStudies, 1915,16:98-104;and
Consuetudines saeculi XIXIIXII; Monumenta non-Cluniacensia, 1. Consuetudines Floriacenses anti-

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 EARLY CHRISTIAN ASTRONOMY 21

of Villiers about 1267indicates how many uniformunits of time, as measuredby

a clepsydra, should pass before rising for psalms on differentnights of the year.
The slates specify how the sacristanwas to reset the clepsydraby watching the
sun as it appearedat various windows. The hourglasswas not used until much
later. The earliest evidence of it comes from the beginning of the fourteenth
century and in a nautical, ratherthan monastic, context.38
In the matterof astronomicalpractice, as opposed to astronomicaltheory, the
techniquesdescribedhere representa willingnessto adapttraditionalpractices to
the new conditions of northernEuropeanmonasteries. Gregory's earlierGreco-
Roman technique of watching risings is more precise with nearly vertical rising
over a clear and unobstructed horizon. Now observations were made over
nearby structures,employingthe more rapidchange of azimuthat northernlati-
tudes to compensate for the restrictions on the horizon imposed by the new
design of monastic cloisters.
Such openness to change is also reflected in the intellectualcuriosity of those
monks who did much to recover the astronomyof the Islamic world. Abbot John
of Gorze's study of Arabicastronomyduringa diplomaticmission to Spain in the
950s is creditedwith stimulatingthe earliest disseminationof Arabic science.39
The studies of Gerbertof Aurillac(laterPope Sylvester II) connect this interest
in Hispano-Arabicscience to the traditionof monastictimekeeping.In the 980s,
when Gerbert was abbot of Bobbio, he tabulated, somewhat incorrectly, two
simple arithmeticschemes, derived from MartianusCapellaand more advanced
than the linear scheme of De cursu stellarum,for computingthe changinglength
of daylight at regions with longest days of eighteen and fifteen hours. His con-
cern with timekeepingis furtherattested by reportsthat he constructeda horolo-
gium for the monastery at Magdeburg, a horologium arte mechanica compositum
when he was bishop of Rheims, and a horologiumvero aquaticum(clepsydra)at
Ravenna. The first two instrumentswere most likely astrolabes, although they
might have been sundials.40

quiores (Saec. X), ed. A. Davril and L. Donnat (CorpusConsuetudinumMonasticarum,7.3) (Sie-

burg:Schmitt, 1984),p. 42. The subsequentsignificanceof the clepsydrais arguedby JohnD. North,
"Monasticismand the First MechanicalClocks," in The Study of Time,ed. JuliusT. Fraserand N.
Lawrence, Vol. II (New York: SpringerVerlag, 1975). Fleury's clepsydra may have been fairly
rudimentary,unlikeearlierGreekand Romanmodels. Abbo of Fleury (ca. 945-1004)discusses how
to use a clepsydrato time the rising of the signs of the zodiac; the clepsydrahe describes has no
pointerattachedto measurethe flow of time, still less an analemmaticdial to accountfor the varying
lengthof seasonalhours:see G. R. Evans andA. M. Peden, "NaturalScience and the LiberalArts in
Abbo of Fleury's Commentaryon the Calculusof Victoriusof Aquitaine,"Viator, 1985,16:108-127
(A. M. Pedenhas graciouslyprovidedme with a copy of her transcriptionof this passagefromBerlin,
MS Phillipps,1833,fol. 13v.)
38 Albert d'Haenens, "La clepsydrede Villiers (1267),"in Klosterliche Sachkultur des Spdtmittel-
alters (Sitzungsberichteder OsterreichischenAkademie der Wissenschaften,Philosophisch-histor-
ische Klasse, 367) (Vienna:OsterreichischeAkademieder Wissenschaften,1980),pp. 321-342;and,
on the hourglass,R. T. Balmer, "The Operationof Sand Clocks and TheirMedievalDevelopment,"
Technology and Culture, 1978, 19:615-632.
39 James Westfall Thompson, "The Introductionof Arabic Science into Lorraine in the Tenth
Century,"Isis, 1929,12:184-193.
40 Gerbert, Epistola de horologiis duorum climatum ad fratrem Adam, in Gerberti Opera mathe-
matica (972-1003), ed. Nicolaus Bubnov (Hildesheim:Georg Olms, 1963),pp. 38-41; Thietmarof
Merseburg, Chronicon, ibid., p. 382; William of Malmesbury, De rebus gestis regum Anglorum 2.168,
ibid., p. 388; Gesta epp. Halbertstadensium, ibid., p. 391; and Martianus Capella, De nuptiis 7.878
(cit. n. 11). Bubnovinterpretsthe Magdeburgand Rheimsaccountsas referringto astrolabes;as does

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22 STEPHEN C. MCCLUSKEY

Monastic interest in timekeepingalso extended to the planisphericastrolabe.

The De utilitatis astrolabii, sometimes attributedto Gerbert, is first found in a
late tenth- or early eleventh-centurycollection of astronomicalworks from the
monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll. The author notes that this new Islamic
import can be used by his monastic readers to regulate the celebration of the
divine office. Before 1048 another monk, Hermannthe Lame, wrote one of the
first Latin descriptions of the construction of the planisphericastrolabe, that
pocket watch of the Middle Ages.41 Those concerned with the reckoningof time
in monasterieswere more than ready to accept a new astronomicaltimekeeper,
just as they would later accept the mechanicalclock that succeeded it.42
The changes described here in astronomicaltimekeepingfrom the fifth to the
eleventh centuriesreflect an open and evolving tradition.Althoughsuch concern
with practical astronomy does not exclude the parallel influence of the learned
astronomicaltradition,monasticresourcefulnessin practicalmattersseems more
innovativethan does the contemporaneousstudy of the received corpus of astro-
nomical texts.43These connections between astronomy and monasticismmight
seem fortuitous, since monks or those educatedin monasteriesconstitutedmuch
of the educatedclass in Latin-speakingEurope. Yet we must recall that of all the
possible areas of study, educated Latins first chose to focus their scientific inter-
ests upon astronomy and the related mathematicaldisciplines.44 If Christian
monotheism undergirdedthe faith in an orderly universe, it was monasticism
that, through its commitment to reproduce that celestial order in an orderly
round of prayer, directedthat faith towardthe study of the heavens.

Werner Bergmann, Innovationen im Quadrivium des 10. und 11. Jahrhunderts: Studien zur Ein-
fiihrung von Astrolab und Abakus im lateinischen Mittelalter (Sudhoffs Archiv, Zeitschrift fur Wis-
senschaftsgeschichte,Beihefte, 26) (Stuttgart:Franz Steiner, 1985), p. 159. Bergmannconcludes
from its descriptionthat the Magdeburginstrumentwas an astrolabecorrectly constructedwith a
plate for the latitudeof Magdeburgafter observationsof "quadamstella nautarum,"apparentlythe
pole star. Althoughthis descriptioncould applyequallyto the constructionof a sundialfor a specific
latitude, there is no evidence of Gerbert'sfamiliaritywith their construction.The phrase arte me-
chanica commonlyrefers to the techniqueof dividingthe face of a sundial-see Jerome, Commen-
tariorum in Esaiam 11.38.4/8 in Corpus Christianorum Series Latina, Vol. 73, ed. G. Morin (Turn-
holt: Brepols, 1963); and Bede, In Regum Librum XXX Quaestiones 25, ibid., Vol. 119, ed. D. Hurst
(1962)-but it could applyequallywell to dividingthe face of an astrolabe.
41 Gerbert,De utilitatibusastrolabii1.2, 5.4, 6.1, in Opera,ed. Bubnov, pp. 116, 129-130;Werner
Bergmann, "Der Traktat 'De mensura Astrolabii' des Hermannvon Reichenau,"Francia, 1980,
8:65-103;and MaryCatherineWelborn,"Lotharingiaas a Centerof Arabicand ScientificInfluence
in the EleventhCentury,"Isis, 1931,16:188-199.For two views on the attributionof the firstitem to
Gerbertsee David C. Lindberg,"The Transmissionof Greek and ArabicLearningto the West," in
Science in the MiddleAges (Chicago:Univ. ChicagoPress, 1978),pp. 60-61; and Bergmann,Inno-
vation im Quadrivium(cit. n. 40), pp. 148-155,and the sources cited there.
42 The thesis that monastictimekeepingwas the initialdrivingforce behindthe late medievaldevel-
opmentof clockworkis convincinglypresentedin David S. Landes, Revolutionin Time:Clocks and
the Makingof the ModernWorld(Cambridge,Mass.: BelknapPress, 1983),pp. 53-70.
43 The practicalfocus of early medievalscience in a numberof differentareashas been discussedin
A. C. Crombie,Medievaland EarlyModernScience, Vol. I (GardenCity, N.Y.: DoubledayAnchor,
1959),pp. 18-25. Constable,"Horologiumstellaremonasticum"(cit. n. 39), p. 5, considersthat "the
practicalneeds of daily life in the monasteryhelp . . . explain the interest in astronomyshown by
many medievalmonks."
44The centralityof astronomyin this process has been most persuasivelyadvocated by Richard
Lemay, Abu Macshar and Latin Aristotelianism in the Twelfth Century: The Recovery of Aristotle's
Natural Philosophy through Arabic Astrology (American University of Beirut, Publication of the
Faculty of Arts and Sciences, OrientalSeries, 38) (Beirut, 1962),pp. xiii-xxviii.

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