The following systems arose from earlier systems, and in many cases utilise parts of much older systems. For the most part they were used to varying degrees in the Middle Ages and surrounding time periods. Some of these systems found their way into later systems, such as the Imperial system and even SI.
English system Before Roman units were reintroduced in 1066 by William the Conqueror, there was an Anglo-Saxon (Germanic) system of measure, of which few details survive. It probably included the following units of length:
fingerbreadth or digit inch ell or cubit foot perch, used variously to measure length or area acre and acre's breadth furlong mile
The best-attested of these is the perch which was approximately 5.03 m or 16 feet. It remained in use until the twentieth century.
Later development of the English system continued in 1215 in the Magna Carta.Magna Carta Standards were renewed in 1496, 1588 and 1758.
Some of these units would go on to be used in later Imperial units and in the US system.
Danish system
From May 1, 1683, King Christian V of Denmark introduced an office to oversee weights and measures, a justervæsen, to be led by Ole Rømer. The definition of the alen was set to 2 Rhine feet. Rømer later discovered that differing standards for the Rhine foot existed, and in 1698 an iron Copenhagen standard was made. A pendulum definition for the foot was first suggested by Rømer, introduced in 1820, and changed in 1835. The metric system was introduced in 1907.
Length
skrupel – Scruple, linie linie – Line, tomme tomme – Inch, fod palme – Palm, for circumference, 8.86 cm kvarter – Quarter, alen fod – Defined as a Rheinfuss 31.407 cm from 1683, before that 31.41 cm with variations. alen – Forearm, 2 fod mil – Danish mile. Towards the end of the 17th century, Ole Rømer connected the mile to the circumference of the earth, and defined it as 12000 alen. This definition was adopted in 1816 as the Prussian Meile. The coordinated definition from 1835 was 7.532 km. Earlier, there were many variants, the most commonplace the Sjællandsk miil of 17600 fod or 11.130 km.
Volume potte – Pot, from 1603 foot3 smørtønde – Barrel of butter, defined as 136 potter from 1683 korntønde – Barrel of corn, defined as 144 potter from 1683
Weight pund – Pound, from 1683 the weight of fot3 of water, 499.75 g
Miscellaneous dusin – 12 snes – 20 gross – 144
Dutch system
The Dutch system was not standardised until Napoleon introduced the metric system. Different towns used measures with the same names but differing sizes.
Some common measures:
Length duim –2.54 cm kleine palm –3 cm grote palm –9.6 cm, after 1820, 10 cm voet –12 duim = abt. 29.54 cm, many local variations el – about 70 cm
Volume Pint – 0.6 L
Weight Ons, Once – pond = 30.881 g Pond (Amsterdam) – 494.09 g (other ponds were also in use) Scheepslast – 4000 Amsterdam pond = 1976.4 kg = 2.1786 short tons
Finnish system
In Finland, approximate measures derived from body parts and were used for a long time, some being later standardised for the purpose of commerce. Some Swedish, and later some Russian units have also been used.
Length vaaksa – The distance between the tips of little finger and thumb, when the fingers are fully extended. kyynärä – c. 60 cm – The distance from the elbow to the fingertips. syli – fathom, c. 180 cm – The distance between the fingertips of both hands when the arms are raised horizontally on the sides. virsta – 2672 m (Swedish), 1068.84 m (Russian) poronkusema – c. 7.5 km – The distance a reindeer walks between two spots it urinates on. This unit originates from Lapland (i.e. Sápmi). peninkulma – 10.67 km – The distance a barking dog can be heard in still air.
Area tynnyrinala – 4936.5 m2 – The area (of field) that could be sown with one barrel of grain.
Volume kannu – 2.6172 L kappa – 5.4961 L
Weight leiviskä – 8.5004 kg
Miscellaneous kortteli – 148 mm (length) or 0.327 L (volume)
French system
In France, again, there were many local variants. For instance, the lieue could vary from 3.268 km in Beauce to 5.849 km in Provence. Between 1812 and 1839, many of the traditional units continued in metrified adaptations as the mesures usuelles.
In Paris, the redefinition in terms of metric units made 1 m = 443.296 ligne = 3 pied 11.296 ligne.
In Quebec, the surveys in French units were converted using the relationship 1 pied (of the French variety; the same word is used for English feet as well) = 12.789 inches (of English origin). Thus a square arpent was 5299296.0804 in2 or about 36,801 ft2 or 0.8448 acre.
There were many local variations; the metric conversions below apply to the Quebec and Paris definitions.
Length ligne – pouce 2.2558 mm pouce – Inch, pied 27.070 mm pied – Foot, varied through times, the Paris pied de roi is 324.84 mm. Used by Coulomb in manuscripts relating to the inverse square law of electrostatic repulsion. Isaac Newton used the "Paris foot" in his Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica. 1 Roman cubit = 444 mm (so 10000 Roman cubits = 4.44 km, a closer approximation to degree) toise – Fathom, 6 pieds. Originally introduced by Charlemagne in 790, it is now considered to be 1.949 m. arpent – 30 toises or 180 pieds, 58.471 m lieue de poste – Legal league, 2000 toises, 3.898 km lieue metrique – Metric system adaptation, 4.000 km lieue commune – French land league, 4.452 km, Equatorial degree lieue marine – French (late) sea league, 5.556 km, 3 nautical miles.
Area arpent – square arpent, 900 square toises, 3419 m2
Volume litron – 0.831018 litres
Weight livre – 0.4895 kg quintal – 100 livres, 48.95 kg
German system
Up to the introduction of the metric system, almost every town in Germany had their own definitions. It is said that by 1810, in Baden alone, there were 112 different Ellen.
Length Linie – Line, usually inch, but also . Zoll – Inch, usually foot, but also . Fuss – Foot, varied between 23.51 cm in Wesel and 40.83 cm in Trier. Rheinfuss – Rhine foot, used in the North, 31.387 cm Elle – Ell / cubit, distance between elbow and finger tip. In the North, often 2 feet, In Prussia feet, in the South variable, often feet. The smallest known German elle is 402.8 mm, the longest 811 mm. Klafter – Fathom, usually 6 feet. Regional changes from 1.75 m in Baden to 3 m in Switzerland. Rute – Rod, Roman origin, use as land measure. Very differing definitions, 10, 12, 14, 15, 18 or 20 feet, varied between approx. 3 and 5 m. Wegstunde – 'Way's hour', one hours travel (by foot), used up to the 18th century. In Germany Meile or 3.71 km, in Switzerland 16000 feet or 4.8 km Meile – 'Mile', a German geographische Meile or Gemeine deutsche Meile was defined as 7.420 km, but there were a wealth of variants: Anhalt – 7532 m Baden – 8889 m before 1810, 8944 m before 1871, 8000 m thereafter Böhmen – 7498 m Brabant – 5000 m Bayern – 7415 m, connected to a Equatorial degree as 25406 Bavarian feet. Hamburg (Prussia) – In 1816, king Frederick William III of Prussia adopted the Danish mile at 7532 m, or 24000 Prussian feet. Also known as Landmeile. Hessen-Kassel – 9206 m Lippe-Detmold – 9264 m Oldenburg – 9894 m Osnabrück – 5160 m Pfalz – 4630 m Rheinland – 4119 m Sachsen – Postmeile, 7500 m. Also 9062 m or 32000 feet in Dresden Schleswig-Holstein – 8803 m Westfalen – 11100 m, but also 9250 m Vienna – 7586 m Wiesbaden – 1000 m Württemberg – 7449 m Reichsmeile – 'Imperial / (The) Realm's mile', new mile when the metric system was introduced, 7.5 km. Prohibited by law in 1908. Schainos – Uncertain use, between 10 and 12 km, Stadion – Uncertain use
Norwegian system
Before 1541, there were no common definition for length measures in Norway, and local variants flourished. In 1541, an alen in Denmark and Norway was defined by law to be the Sjælland alen. Subsequently, the alen was defined by law as 2 Rhine feet from 1683. From 1824, the basic unit was defined as a fot being derived from astronomy as the length of a one-second pendulum times at a latitude of 45°. The metric system was introduced in 1887.
Length
skrupel – Scruple, linje or approx. 0.18 mm. linje – Line, tomme or approx. 2.18 mm tomme – Thumb (inch), fot, approx. 2.61 cm. This unit was commonly used for measuring timber until the 1970s. Nowadays, the word refers invariably to the Imperial inch, 2.54 cm. kvarter – Quarter, alen. fot – Foot, alen. From 1824, 31.374 cm. alen – Forearm, 62.748 cm from 1824, 62.75 cm from 1683, 63.26 cm from 1541. Before that, local variants. favn – Fathom (pl. favner), 1.882 m. stang – Rod, 5 alen or 3.1375 m lås – 28.2 m steinkast – Stone's throw, perhaps 25 favner, used to this day as a very approximate measure. fjerdingsvei – Quarter mile, alt. fjerding, mil, i.e. 2.82375 km. rast –Lit. "rest", the old name of the mil. A suitable distance between rests when walking. Believed to be approx. 9 km before 1541. mil – Norwegian mile, spelled miil prior to 1862, 18000 alen or 11.295 km. Before 1683, a mil was defined as 17600 alen or 11.13 km. The unit survives to this day, but in a metric 10 km adaptation landmil – Old land-mile, 11.824 km.
Area kvadrat rode – Square stang, 9.84 m2 mål – 100 kvadrat rode, 984 m2. The unit survives to this day, but in a metric 1000 m2 adaptation. tønneland – "Barrel of land", 4 mål
Volume skjeppe – tønne, i.e. 17.4 L. tønne – Barrel, 139.2 L. favn – 1 alen by 1 favn by 1 favn, 2.232 m3, used for measuring firewood to this day.
Weight ort – 0.9735 g merke – From Roman pound, (pl. merker), 249.4 g, 218.7 g before 1683. pund – Pound, alt. skålpund, 2 merker 0.4984 kg, was 0.46665 kg before 1683 bismerpund – 12 pund, 5.9808 kg vette – 28.8 mark or 6.2985 kg. laup – alt. 'spann', used for butter, 17.93 kg (approx. 16.2 L). våg – skippund, 17.9424 kg. skippund – Ships pound, 159.488 kg. Was defined as 151.16 kg in 1270.
Nautical favn – Fathom (pl. favner), 3 alen, 1.88 m kabellengde – cable length, 100 favner, 185.2 m kvartmil – Quarter mile, 10 kabellengder, 1852 m sjømil – Sea mile, 4 kvartmil, 7408 m, defined as Equatorial degree.
Monetary skilling – Shilling, see riksdaler and speciedaler. ort – See riksdaler and speciedaler. riksdaler – Until 1813, Norwegian thaler. 1 riksdaler is 4 ort or 6 mark or 96 skilling. speciedaler – Since 1816. 1 speciedaler is 5 ort or 120 skilling. From 1876, 1 speciedaler is 4 kroner (Norwegian crown, NOK).
Miscellaneous tylft – 12, also dusin snes – 20 stort hundre – Large hundred, 120 gross – 144
Portuguese system The various systems of weights and measures used in Portugal until the 19th century combine remote Roman influences with medieval influences from northern Europe and Islam.The Roman and northern European influences were more present in the north. The Islamic influence was more present in the south of the country. Fundamental units like the and the were imported by the northwest of Portugal in the 11th century, before the country became independent of León.
The gradual long-term process of standardization of weights and measures in Portugal is documented mainly since the mid-14th century. In 1352, municipalities requested standardization in a parliament meeting (). In response, Afonso IV decided to set the () of Lisbon as standard for the linear measures used for color fabrics across the country. A few years later, Pedro I carried a more comprehensive reform, as documented in the parliament meeting of 1361: the of Santarém should be used for weighing meat; the of Lisbon would be the standard for the remaining weights; cereals should be measured by the of Santarém; the of Lisbon should be used for wine. With advances, adjustments and setbacks, this framework predominated until the end of the 15th century.
Further information: Portuguese customary units.
Romanian system