God's Clockmaker: Richard of Wallingford and the Invention of Time
Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2019 5:20 am
John North describes the astronomical clock built at St. Alban's abbey. How did the abbey pay for such a feat of engineering? One important source of funds was the monopoly on milling wheat. Farmers might find it cheaper to build their own hand-mills, but if they did the abbot would send in the heavies to destroy them.