ABSTRACT
A discipline whose proper methods were contested between mathematicians and practitioners until a compromise was reached in the mid-seventeenth century. Until the middle of the sixteenth century, the only instruments used by land measurers were rods or lines of variable local lengths, and the duties of surveyors involved tasks we would now associate with land stewards and overseers, as well as the measuring and plotting of land. Indeed, the first text published in English on surveying, printed in 1523, explains the laws relating to manors and the best methods of improving an estate alongside the duties of listing the state and number of buildings, a description of the lands, and the value of all of the properties. The surveying method utilized was mainly linear, except for the use of a pocket compass or a small astrolabe with a compass inset on the backside, to determine “which is East West North and South” on a cloudy day. In the late sixteenth century, however, geometers attempted to obtain control of surveying practice by situating it within the mathematical sciences and declaring their expertise necessary for formulating rules of procedure and necessary tables and designing instruments.
