I

 

’ll never forget 9/11, and not just because it was a terrible tragedy. I learned something profound during the three days that followed the attack: I learned what it sounds like to live without air traffic. For three days my world was suddenly still, and I live near a freeway. I had no idea how loud air traffic is. I couldn’t know, just as you can’t. The sound of planes in the sky is as ubiquitous to our century as the persistent clang of the smith’s hammer was to those people living in Medieval Europe. I only mention this because I now know how incredibly loud church bells must have sounded back in the Twelfth Century.

It was their very volume that made them vital to the villagers and townspeople of the Middle Ages. It was church bells that warned them a fire had started in someone’s home, or when a dam broke, or when an attack had been launched against their walls.

But, mostly they listened for the bells to tell them what time it was in their world without clocks. Now, water clocks and marked candles did exist, but these timekeepers were pricey and out of reach for most people.On a normal day the bells rang at least eight times a day at about fifteen minutes before each of the canonical hours which were the times of the day the Catholic church set aside for services. The fifteen minute time lag was to give everyone a chance to make it to church in time. If the Church had had its way, everyone would have gone to each of those services. The reality was that the priests, monks or nuns who lived in the church or cathedral were the only ones who attended all the services.

 

 

 

 

The hours used in Medieval times are:

Matins ~ around 2 A.M.

Lauds ~ dawn

Prime ~ 6 A.M.

Terce ~ 9 A.M.

Sext ~ Noon

None ~ 3 P.M.

Vespers ~ 6 P.M.

Compline ~ 9 P.M.

 

Just because they weren’t attending services didn’t mean the townsmen and women weren’t paying attention. They opened their gates at Prime and their businesses at Terce. Laborers and farmers went home for lunch at Sext, whether that meant going upstairs above the shop or waiting for a daughter to trek across the field with a basket from their cottage. In town, they went back to work until the shops closed at Vespers. The town’s gates closed at Compline during the summer and at Vespers in the darker hours of winter.

 

Denise Domning's first medieval romance, Winter's Heat, received the Romantic Times award for Best First Historical Novel in 1994. Spring's Fury, Autumn's Flame, A Love for All Seasons were respectively nominated by Romantic Times for Best Medieval Novel in 1995, 1996 and 1997. Her first Elizabethan novel, Lady in Waiting, was recommended by Publisher's Weekly as well written and researched, with an accurate portrayal of Elizabeth I. Denise is currently co-authoring an autobiography with Monica Sarli about her life entitled No Regrets. Denise's website is www.DeniseDomning.com.

 

 

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