Measurements of altitude and geographic latitude in Latin astronomy, 1100--1300 (Q6050207)

This is a survey of measurements of celestial (chiefly solar) altitudes that are explicitly attested in the period spanning the 12th and 13th century in Latin Europe. It provides: (i) ``an overview of the instruments available for altitude measurements and described in contemporary sources'': astrolabes (used not only for finding the azimuthal directions of cities, for determining the ecliptic positions of planets and stars, but which also played an essential role in providing input data for the astrolabe's various horological functions), quadrants, shadow sticks, and the torquetum; (ii) ``a survey of the role played by altitude measurements in the determination of geographic latitude, which takes into account more than 70 preserved estimates''; (iii) ``case studies of four sets of measured solar altitudes in 12th century Latin sources'' (the first example of such a measurement in Latin Europe appears in an astrolabe treatise composed by Rudolf of Bruges, who was a student of Hermann of Carinthia); (iv) an analysis of the evidence regarding altitude measurements performed in Paris between 1281 and 1290, indicating that by 1290 Parisian astronomers measured the solar noon altitude with a high degree of accuracy, coming close to the accuracy achieved by Islamic astronomers in the period AD 832--1019.