Astrolabe, English, c.1370 (Inv. 47869)
From the time of Chaucer
The rete is typical of English astrolabes of the later fourteenth century, resembling illustrations in early manuscripts of Geoffrey Chaucer's treatise on the instrument. Note the dragon's head on the edge of the rete. The plates are marked as being for the latitudes of Toledo, Rome, Cologne, Paris, London and Berwick.