DOI Artikel:
Witthöft, Harald: Early Medieval mining and smelting in the Harz Mountains - historical perspectives
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.56859#0142
HO
dated about 1300, measuring today 575 mm, equalling 2 feet ä 287.5 mm.32 Old
measures of comparable length are for example known from Hamburg (573.1 /
286.55 mm), Lüneburg (576.0 / 288.0 mm) or from Cologne (288 mm), and a
slightly different one from Brunswick (570.7 / 285.35 mm).33
Further systematic literary sources for the early weights and measures of Goslar
are scarce34, but it seems likely that the „Krodo-Altar“ (Fig. 2) from the first half
of the 12th century, originally given to the church of St. Simon and Judas35 in
Goslar and now being kept in the Goslar Museum (SCHULZE-DÖRRLAMM 1992,
257 sq.), hands down to us a unit of length comparable with the bronze ell of
1300 - and some other units too. The upper surface of this very unusual altar
measures today c. 735 mm by 1000 mm. These dimensions more or less closely
approach a numerical and meaningful ratio of 7 to 10, as demonstrated in the
Golden Evangeliar from 1045/46 dedicated to the dome of Speyer by King
Heinrich III. (350 mm : 500 mm). They are equally related to the numerical ratio
of 5 to 7, as found in the Rammelsberg statute from 1271.36
If we interpret the Altar as having been constructed by means of whole
numbers, we discover a rectangle of 40 by 54 small units - two nearly identical
finger/digiti as modules. The length of the Goslar bronze ell and of the Brunswick
ell appear as possible multiples of each one of these:
1 module A = 1000/54 mm
= 1 digitus/fmger = 18.518 mm; 31 digiti (A) = 574.07 mm
1 module B = 735/40 mm
= 1 digitus/fmger = 18.375 mm; 31 digiti (B) = 569.62 mm.
Further multiples of for example 16, 17 or 18 digiti correspond with widely
known foot-measures of 296 296-294 000 mm (pes Romanus), 305 555—
32 Datas taken by H. Ziegler, Braunschweig. Vid. Witthöft 1986, 295; 1985c. Griep
1993, 167 sqq.
33 Witthöft 1979, 422 sqq.; 542. (Hamburg; Lüneburg); ibid., 455 (Cologne); Ziegler
1969, 152 sqq. (Brunswick).
34 Vid. weights and measures used in the Harz Mountains: Ziegler 1969, 153 sqq.
35 The church was founded by Emperor Heinrich III., under construction in 1047 and
dedicated in the year 1050.
36 Rathofer 1984, 334; 352 sqq. For the meaning of these ratios in the measurement of
fields vid. Witthöft 1984b, 256 sq.; 260. - On proportion and dimension in architectural
design, especially on the ratio of 1 : ^2 [« 7 : 10], vid. e. g. Hiscock 1996, 69 sqq.; 1999,
33 sqq. Witthöft 1984b, 256 sqq.
dated about 1300, measuring today 575 mm, equalling 2 feet ä 287.5 mm.32 Old
measures of comparable length are for example known from Hamburg (573.1 /
286.55 mm), Lüneburg (576.0 / 288.0 mm) or from Cologne (288 mm), and a
slightly different one from Brunswick (570.7 / 285.35 mm).33
Further systematic literary sources for the early weights and measures of Goslar
are scarce34, but it seems likely that the „Krodo-Altar“ (Fig. 2) from the first half
of the 12th century, originally given to the church of St. Simon and Judas35 in
Goslar and now being kept in the Goslar Museum (SCHULZE-DÖRRLAMM 1992,
257 sq.), hands down to us a unit of length comparable with the bronze ell of
1300 - and some other units too. The upper surface of this very unusual altar
measures today c. 735 mm by 1000 mm. These dimensions more or less closely
approach a numerical and meaningful ratio of 7 to 10, as demonstrated in the
Golden Evangeliar from 1045/46 dedicated to the dome of Speyer by King
Heinrich III. (350 mm : 500 mm). They are equally related to the numerical ratio
of 5 to 7, as found in the Rammelsberg statute from 1271.36
If we interpret the Altar as having been constructed by means of whole
numbers, we discover a rectangle of 40 by 54 small units - two nearly identical
finger/digiti as modules. The length of the Goslar bronze ell and of the Brunswick
ell appear as possible multiples of each one of these:
1 module A = 1000/54 mm
= 1 digitus/fmger = 18.518 mm; 31 digiti (A) = 574.07 mm
1 module B = 735/40 mm
= 1 digitus/fmger = 18.375 mm; 31 digiti (B) = 569.62 mm.
Further multiples of for example 16, 17 or 18 digiti correspond with widely
known foot-measures of 296 296-294 000 mm (pes Romanus), 305 555—
32 Datas taken by H. Ziegler, Braunschweig. Vid. Witthöft 1986, 295; 1985c. Griep
1993, 167 sqq.
33 Witthöft 1979, 422 sqq.; 542. (Hamburg; Lüneburg); ibid., 455 (Cologne); Ziegler
1969, 152 sqq. (Brunswick).
34 Vid. weights and measures used in the Harz Mountains: Ziegler 1969, 153 sqq.
35 The church was founded by Emperor Heinrich III., under construction in 1047 and
dedicated in the year 1050.
36 Rathofer 1984, 334; 352 sqq. For the meaning of these ratios in the measurement of
fields vid. Witthöft 1984b, 256 sq.; 260. - On proportion and dimension in architectural
design, especially on the ratio of 1 : ^2 [« 7 : 10], vid. e. g. Hiscock 1996, 69 sqq.; 1999,
33 sqq. Witthöft 1984b, 256 sqq.