Fantasy World-Building: Time Measurements
If you are writing about characters in a world without our modern technology, how do you get those characters to meet at the same time? The most common answer is to have the characters meet at first light (to the point where it has become a bit of a joke among fans of the fantasy genre) or nightfall, but you do have more options.
Even in the middle ages, time was important. In fact, in many places, bells would ring out to alert people of the time.
“Even before clocks are invented, bells are an important means of telling the time in towns and cities. In London the great bell of St. Martin’s le Grand is the one to listen out for. It is this bell which tells you when the markets are open, and when curfew starts. In a large city like London, where many bells are rung for a wide variety of reasons, knowing the sound each bell makes represents a third method of telling the time.
— “The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England” by Ian Mortimer (2008)
It is true they might not have been as accurate as what we have today, but they did not have to be. Time was important in the middle ages, but for the average person, time was not measured right down to the minute like it is for people today. You met people or started work by the hours, not by minutes.
To start creating your own time system for your fantasy stories, you will need to know what moments of a day will be important to your people (example: the churches Canonical hours). Typically, the easiest ones are when the sun rises, when it is the highest point in the sky (noon), and when it sets. You could even add in the moon if you so chose, such as when the moon is highest in the sky (midnight).
“The first hour of their day is known as “prime.” The third hour (about 9 a.m.) is called “terce”; the sixth hour (noon) is “sext”; the ninth hour of the day (midafternoon), “nones”; and so on. The bells ring across the town for “vespers” at the twelfth hour.”
— “The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England” by Ian Mortimer (2008)
After you know those, you’ll need to name those increments. You could number them, or name them based on the sun placement, or come up with completely unique names (perhaps based on the lighting of that time, or some religious/cultural story).
Now, you have your “hours,” as well as what people will call them. However, if you want your bell towers ringing out at more accurate times, you may want some sort of device the people can use so they are not trying to make an educated guess by the shadows around them or the placement of the sun (staring at the sun is not recommended haha). So, with that in mind, here are historical examples to help get you started:
Sundials
Sundials (as you might have guessed) use sunlight to tell time. To put it as simply as possible, you have some sort of circle or half-circle marked with your system of time keeping, you add something that will cast a shadow, then you line it up so that the shadow points at the correct marker at the correct time of day.
Of course, it is worth mentioning that these only work if the sun is out.
Sundials of various styles are found all around the world, and in your stories, they might be found anywhere with enough sunlight. Perhaps there is a large sundial in the center of the town and a caller screams out the times, perhaps it is on the wall of the town bell tower, or perhaps it is a crude version a farmer made by putting a stick in the ground with stones to mark time.
A scratch dial(AKA tide dial) with a graphic and text overlay showing how to read it. This type of sundial was often found on the outer walls of churches. (Image Source)
Candles
Like other time measurements mentioned, candles also had faults for time keeping (with both wind and wax quality both possibly altering the burn rate), but they had the major advantage of being able to be used in dark locations. This had candles of various types use in places for time keeping all around the world, with the earliest mention of a candle clock dating back to AD 520 in China.
Water Clocks
For water-clocks(AKA clepsydra), time is “measured” by how long it takes water to either exit or enter a vessel.
“The Clepsydra appears to have been at first used to limit the time during which persons were allowed to speak in the Athenian Courts of Justice; ‘the first water/ says AEschines, ‘being given to the accuser, the second to the accused, and the third to the judges/ a special officer being appointed in the courts for the purpose of watching the Clepsydra and stopping it when any documents were read whereby the speaker was interrupted.”
— “Time and time-tellers” by James Benson (1875)
Some water-clocks are very small and simple (looking more like vases or bowls), while others were large and sometimes even implemented automaton. Depending on the build-style or size, water-clocks could be used for short increments, or even days.
One of the main possible faults that come with the water clock is evaporation rates.
“Diagram of a fancy clepsydra, this type being an automaton or self-adjusting machine. Water enters and raises the figure, which points at the current hour for the day. Spillover water operates a series of gears that rotates a cylinder so that hour lengths are appropriate for today’s date.” (Image Source)
Mechanical Clocks
For some reason, people often tend to think that mechanical clocks are a much more modern invention than they really were. The oldest surviving mechanical clock is from 1386 in Salisbury Cathedral, but they date back further than that. The first geared clock was actually a type of water clock that dates to 3rd century BC, and was invented by Archimedes.
Mechanical clocks are a machine that moves in equal intervals of time, and is connected to a counting mechanism which records the number of those movements. Many were weight-driven clocks, though in the 15th century, spring-driven clocks started to make an appearance.
Of course, like all the others, this has flaws as well, such as how temperatures might swell or contract metals, which might slightly alter the time for certain mechanical clocks (especially those using pendulums).
The only mechanical clocks you will come across are large turret clocks built into the bell towers of aristocratic palaces and some of the major abbeys and cathedrals. By the end of the century there are clocks in the cathedrals of Salisbury and Wells, and in several royal palaces and castles, including Westminster, Windsor, Queenborough, and King’s Langley. Chaucer refers to a clock in the abbey tower in his “Nun’s Priest’s Tale.” Obviously clocks regulate the day in a wholly different way, measuring eighteen hours of daylight and six of nighttime in summer (not twelve and twelve). For this reason there are two sorts of time in use simultaneously: clock time and solar time. So it is necessary to specify “hour of the clock” (our “o’clock”), if that is what you mean, in order to differentiate between the two. Note that clocks do not show the time; they announce it by ringing a bell on the hour. Thus you will find people speak not only of “hours of the clock” but also of “hours of the bell.
— “The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England” by Ian Mortimer (2008)
“The Prague astronomical clock (in Old Town Square) was installed in 1410 by clock-makers Mikuláš of Kadaň and Jan Šindel, and is the oldest functioning Astronomical clock in the world.” (Image Source)
And there are more options too! For three bonus inspirations, look up hourglasses, incense clocks, and Astrolabes.
Now that you have your increments, what those time increments are called, and how people will keep track of them, you are ready to use them in your world building!
#worldbuilding #writingfantasy #fantasy #writing #writer
