The New Murrey and Blue blog

Philip the Bold and his portable clock….

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« L’istoire de Olivier de Castille et de Artus d’Algarbe, son treschier amy et loial compaignon ; » traduction française de David AUBERT
Source: gallica.bnf.fr
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits, Français 12574, fol. 1r.

The above illustration isn’t of Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, but from the time of his grandson, Philip the Good. Please don’t ask me what, exactly, the picture depicts, because I have no idea, except that it’s a story. It looks very secretive and sneaky, whatever it is. My interest is the clock. Might it be the very one Philip the Bold possessed? My reason for wondering this is that I’m reading Philip the Bold by Richard Vaughan, on page 46 of which I’ve found the following:

“….In May 1395….Philip the Bold took up his residence in the royal town of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, used a pair of embroidered scarlet leather slippers in his room, hung his portable clock on the wall and slept in a woollen night-cap….” The source Vaughan quotes is David, Philippe le Hardi, train somptuâire, 24.

What an irresistibly cosy picture those words conjure. I can see him in his favourite chair, wearing slippers, a comfortable very costly robe and his night-cap, sipping the very best Beaune vintage. A superb moment of relaxation.

However, my curiosity is aroused by this mention of a portable clock. What was it like? Did he really have it moved from room to room for his convenience? I’ve looked here, there and it seems like everywhere in an attempt to learn more about the history of such clocks, but I can’t find anything about one that could be described as portable during the lifetime of Philip the Bold, which was from 17 January 1342 to 27 April 1404. Later, yes, but not that far back. Does anyone know?

I’m hoping an enthusiastic, knowledgeable horologist will respond to this plea. Please?

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  1. A lesson in buying books online…. – murreyandblue

    […] it’s the fault of the publisher. The book is from the 4-volume Dukes of Burgundy series….Philip the Bold by Richard Vaughan, published by Boydell & […]

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  2. Cristiano Avatar
    Cristiano

    I was also puzzled by the fact that historians of the House of Burgundy, such as Bart van Loo, mention wearable watches during the time of Philip the Bold (Philip le Hardi). As far as I know, the earliest references to watches come from Northern Italy and Nuremberg in the last quarter of the fifteenth century. It is commonly accepted that the oldest still extant spring-driven clock, and therefore transportable (though not wearable), belonged to Philip the Good, the grandson of Philip the Bold. This clock is now held at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg. Perhaps, the sources used by these historians were missinterpreted, and these clocks were objects like the Burgunderuhr. Have you traced down the original sources used by David? For the Burgunderuhr see the link below:

    https://www.gnm.de/objekte/standuhr-herzog-philipps-des-guten-von-burgund

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