Methodological issues of metrological analysis of planned medieval towns and villages

Abstract

In this paper, we illustrate problems related to the application of two methods used for the reconstruction of the parcellation of medieval towns: modular analysis and the cosine quantogram. We propose the usage of the cosine quantogram, which is rarely used to study urban layout, for the identification of units of measurement in regular medieval towns. Based on two examples from the region of Silesia, Poland, Namyslów and Dzierzoniów, we discuss the usefulness of both methods in the reconstruction of the original measuring system and town layout. For the first time, we have applied these two methods to the study of the layout of a regular village. Despite the limitations, such as the level of precision in the construction of a medieval town’s layout at the time of its foundation, later changes to the division of plots and the known inaccuracy of modern maps, it seems that combining both methods allows the determination of the module used for the planning of the original urban layout. The application of the cosine quantogram can be useful for improving the results of modular analysis. Nevertheless, the results of both methods should be verified against archaeological results and historical research.