Guyot de Provins

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Guyot de Provins

fl. 1200s

French poet who provided one of the earliest written mentions of a magnetic compass. In his satire La Bible (c. 1205), Guyot described a compass used by sailors under the command of Holy Roman emperor Frederick I Barbarossa—who drowned in 1190 on his way to take part in the Third Crusade.

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