Date: Thursday April 30th at 04:00 p.m. 

Format: hybrid; meeting room at Palau Cerveró and Zoom (access code 460114)

This seminar addresses the life and work of Antonius Bovelli, master watchmaker responsible for the first known mechanical clock in the Crown of Aragon, built in Perpignan in 1356. Bovelli worked at the courts of Popes Clement VI and Innocent VI in Avignon, as well as for King Peter III the Ceremonious. During the session, unpublished documents will be presented that allow us to locate their origins and confirm their prolonged presence in the royal court. In addition, a summary of the archival documentation collected and recorded in the publicly accessible MedCat database will be offered. This is a case study that allows us to learn about one of the first examples of a medieval artist-engineer linked to mechanical watchmaking. i

Javier Serna Box has a degree in History from the University of Alicante and a master's degree in History of Science and Scientific Communication. She is currently doing her PhD in the Doctoral Programme in Historical and Social Studies on Science, Medicine and Scientific Communication at the University of Valencia, thanks to a CIACIF contract funded by the Generalitat Valenciana and the European Union. At the same time, he works as an external professor at the same university. His academic work focuses on the history of eyeglasses and the telescope, as well as the history of mechanical watchmaking during the Middle Ages and the early modern age.