They are unequal duration periods of time because days are longer and nights shorter in summer than in winter.
Their use in everyday life was replaced in the late Middle Ages by the now common ones of equal duration.
A similar division of day and night was later made in the Mediterranean basin from about Classical Greek Antiquity into twelve temporal hours each (Ancient Greek: ὥραι καιρικαί, romanized: horai kairikai).
For the display of temporal hours[1] almost exclusively the sundial with Nodus [de] as hand was once used.
For the latter, the speed of the verge escapement (Waag) was changed, for example, in 26 steps (i.e., half the numerical value of 52 weeks).