The Wheel of Fortune

Chapter 4 looks at the early development of the mechanical clock. The fully mechanical clock may have been invented in southern England around 1280, possibly at Dunstable Priory in Bedfordshire. One line of evidence derives from a commentary on Sacrobosco’s De Sphaera Mundi by Robertus Anglicus, written in 1271. The chapter discusses subsequent developments and, in particular, the life and work of Richard of Wallingford, who rose from humble beginnings to become Abbot of St Albans. In 1327 he wrote Tractatus Horologii Astronomici (Treatise on the Astronomical Clock). The manuscript was rediscovered by John North in 1965, and it has been used to reconstruct Wallingford’s clock, which is now on display in St Albans Cathedral.