Very few people, rich or poor, had any timekeeping device. A monastery might use a sundial or water clock or a candle to keep track of time. If they had a bell, they would ring it at certain times. If you lived in a city where a church or monastery rang bells, you would have some idea of what time it was. The church divided the day into eight time periods at which prayers were said.
Matins (at sunrise)
Prime (during the first hour of daylight)
Terce (at the third hour ~ 9 am)
Sext (at the sixth hour ~ midday)
None (at the ninth hour ~ 3 pm)
Vespers (at the end of the day ~ 6 pm)
Compline (upon retiring ~ 9 pm)
Vigils (sometime during the night)
Interestingly, in the Middle Ages there was “first sleep” and “second sleep,” between which there was a wakeful period during the night. People would visit with bedmates, pray, and do chores or other activities. See https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220107-the-lost-medieval-habit-of-biphasic-sleep I believe this is why Vigils existed, rather than some callous or malicious motivation by the church fathers.
Everyone without access to a timekeeping device or within earshot of monastery bells had no concept of time as modern people do. It was morning, midday, afternoon, and night (with first and second sleeps). Terms like soon, a little or a long while, shortly, etc. were used. They could mean anything from a couple of seconds to a few hours, depending on the context. Burning a rush for a little while might be a few minutes, but a cow in labor for a little while might be four or five hours (it usually takes a cow nine to twelve hours to give birth). Both indicate a short period of time relative to the activity.
A “moment” was used in Chaucer’s writings in the 13th century, but a “minute” did not come along until the use of modern mechanical clocks.
Medieval Germany 