The data that you show looks very similar to the Venerable Bede's shadow length tables (though the values are slightly different). This gives the length of a person's shadow on the assumption that their height is equal to six of their own feet (tall people generally have big feet!). But the hours are probably not the modern equal ones. ----------------------
Dear friends, can I suggest you the reading of an exellent and almost complete article about "shadows schemes" written by Karlheinz Schaldach? The article is found in Gnomonica Italiana n. 16, november 2008. In this article Schaldach analize more than 40 medieval shadows schemes putting them into distinct models classified by the numerical sequence. As John wrote this is a simple shadow sheme common in medieval time up to the 16th century, usually called Horologium or horologium viatorum. The numerical sequence given by Bill is not the sequence written by pseudo-Beda (I say pseudo-Beda just because is not sure at all that the sheme that we usually say is from Beda is really from Beda. That scheme is usual in the Fleury manuscripts). The sequence that we call "from Beda" has been categorized by Schaldach in a Saint Gallen model (because is very common in the manuscripts present in that abbey and commonly of Irish origin), variant C1. In the scheme written by Bill we can recognise a rare scheme: the model of Flavigny, and Karlheinz Schaldach knows only one example (Leiden, UB Scaliger 28, fol. 2v) dated to the 9th cent. The model of Flavigny is really very similar to the famous, and almost unique, shadow scheme of Palladius, but it changes the Dec-Jan and Nov-Feb colums --------- Palladius: Dec-Jan hour 1 29 feet hour 2 19 feet hour 3 15 feet hour 4 12 feet hour 5 10 feet hour 6 9 feet Nov-Feb 1 27 2 17 3 13 4 10 5 8 6 7 ------------ Flavigny: 27 feet 17 feet 14 feet 10 feet 8 feet 7 feet Nov-Feb 1 26 2 16 3 13 4 9 5 7 6 6 ---------- As we can see the sequence is very similar to the one shoed by Bill, but one difference: the shadow lengthf the 3-9th hour is major of one unit. The sequence of the 3d and 9th hour in the Flavigny scheme is:14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9 - while in the Bill sheme is: 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8. So the sequence of the intervals for Flavigny is (-10, -3 -4 -2, -1) while for the Bill text is (-10, -4, -3, -2, -1). This sounds as the scheme from Bill is the more correct Flavigny model, but to prove this we should find another ms with correct sequence daded bak almost to the 9th century. Bytheway the Leiden ms is earlier than the Bill written scheme, so we can surely say that this last scheme is not from John of Murs, but older. Thanks Mario Arnaldi
--------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
