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Source: Medieval Technology

Background

Technology is part of a little-known story that took place between the waves of invading Germanic tribes who settled Europe after the crumbling of the Roman empire, before the rise of the cities and universities in the high middle ages. The cities (and after that, the universities) were only possible because of population growth in areas that were once untamed wilderness. In turn, the population growth was only possible because of advances in technology ranging from the use of a heavy plow (that allowed three crops to be harvested per year where only one or two crops were possible before), to the invention of the stirrup (which made it possible to defend agricultural areas on horseback, giving rise to the mounted knight), to the effective harnessing of water wheels and windmills as labor saving machinery for grinding of flour. Never before had technology elevated the standard of living for ordinary people to such an extent. The brief readings below will give you a small sample of some of these medieval revolutions in technology.

1. John H. Lienhard, "The Medieval West," "Cistercians," and "Cultural Climate and Invention," Engines of our Ingenuity, nos. 1311, 1328 and 1814 (audio versions available). (Read all three of these.)
2. Windmills
3. Heavy plow
4. Urban population
5. Spectacles

    

	HSCI 3013. History of Science to 17th century Kerry Magruder, Instructor, 2004-14 Brent Purkaple, TA Report typos or broken links	Go to this course at Janux spellcheck.net | wordcounter.net Many thanks to the pedagogical model developed in Mythology and Folklore and other online courses by Laura Gibbs, which have been an inspiration for this course.	Academic Calendar
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