turned again to large assemblies after 1300, they served their traditional purpose of
celebrating royal power and majesty, presenting a consensus in the face of his
adversaries, initially Pope Boniface VIII. Philip and his sons, however, soon
experimented with other uses for assemblies, although always trying to maintain control
of the proceedings and use them to reinforce royal authority.
These assemblies of the 14th century now generally included the elected
representatives of towns, and they began to be organized as Estates. Those who attended
them were not always content with the rhetoric of consensus. Purely ceremonial
assemblies did not cease to occur, but the most conspicuous gatherings of the late Middle
Ages were those like the Estates, concerned with money and political policy, or the
Parlement, concerned with judicial matters. When judicial questions merged with
political debate, or when a ceremonial expression of royal power was called for, the kings
generally preferred to use the Parlement as their forum.
John Bell Henneman, Jr.
[See also: CONSEIL; ESTATES (GENERAL); ESTATES (PROVINCIAL);
PARLEMENT DE PARIS; PEACE OF GOD]
Bisson, Thomas N. “Celebration and Persuasion: Reflections on the Cultural Evolution of Medieval
Consultation.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 7(1982):181–204.
Henneman, John Bell. “Representative Assemblies and the Historians.” Legislative Studies
Quarterly 7(1982):161–76.
ASTRONOMICAL AND
NAVIGATIONAL INSTRUMENTS
. The Middle Ages have left a variety of instruments intended to measure celestial
phenomena. Most were based on Hellenistic predecessors, but some were invented or
developed during the medieval period. Ara-bic scholars served as the principal means of
transmitting knowledge of these instruments and their design principles to the West.
To tell time by celestial means requires at least a simple sundial, and this was
frequently incorporated into the architectural detail of churches. An excellent specimen is
the angel holding a sundial found on the south tower of Chartres cathedral (12th c.).
Portable sundials for travelers also were fabricated.
The astrolabe was the next most common instrument. By measuring the angle above
the horizon of the sun or a selected star, the astrolabe projects onto a celestial map the
position of the body and thus allows the observer to read the time of day from a dial or
graph. Indeed, the astrolabe dial is the ancestor of the analogue clock face. The most
common subtype of astrolabe was a simplified version without the celestial map, called
the mariner’s astrolabe. The spread of astrolabes stimulated interest in precise
astronomical tables giving the position of the sun, and sometimes other celestial bodies,
for each day of the year. One of the earliest was produced at Montpellier by Robert de
Montpellier in 1141.
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