Medieval summer hours were longer than winter hours
Before mechanical clocks, European cities divided daylight into equal portions regardless of the season, meaning a single hour stretched or contracted as the sun changed its path.
For centuries, the inhabitants of medieval Europe lived by a fluid system known as canonical hours. Because the day was divided into equal segments of daylight based on the sun's position, the length of an hour was never fixed. In the height of July, a single hour could be significantly longer than one in the depths of December. This elasticity made it nearly impossible for merchants to set reliable meeting times or for laborers to calculate fair wages for their time.
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