Michael
Jul 19th 2010, 09:21 PM
Medieval technology is not an oxymoron!
According to stereotype, the medieval era was a time of oppressive theocracy, when nothing 'new' was created and everything was always done 'exactly as it was always done before'. The medieval era is practically the stereotype definition for nasty and brutal manual labor, obfusicating theologies and a famous reputation for ignorance and superstition.
One only has to compare Europe (circa 1000 AD) with its contemporaries - either the Islamic society or the Chinese society - to see that Europe was, by every possible measure, backwards, poor and technologically limited.
The problem with this 'stereotype' is that it is categorically and massively, wrong.
By 1500 AD, the traditional 'end' of the medieval era, Europe (particularly western Europe) was militarily, scientifically and technologically more advanced in comparison with every place on the planet - by a significant margin (a position that western Europe retained into the present era).
Apparently, the medieval era witnessed one of the greatest 'leaps forward' in technology the world has ever witnessed. Some newer medieval scholars like to refer to the '1st industrial revolution' of the 12th century. This is a bit of an exageration, but it is reasonable to assert that the technological and industrial innovations developed by medievel society were as great and as far-reaching in effects of the more famous industrial revolution of the 18th century.
Here is just a short list of key medieval inventions or innovations: (please note that not every invention listed is entirely unique to Western Europe - some of them originated in China or India (in different forms), but were adapted or perfected in Europe - some others appear to duplicate Chinese inventions but lack any evidence of transmission).
Agriculture:
First and most importantly are the developments in agriculture. The padded-horse-collar and the nailed iron horseshoe (both of Chinese origin) were adopted/adapted in the early medieval era and this allowed the horse to be harnessed for labor to replace the much slower and less efficient ox for pulling plows, carts and wagons. A new plow design (with wheels and coulter) allowed deeper plowing suitable for the rich soils of the cleared fields and forests of north-western Europe. The deep 'ridge & furrow' pattern produced had additional benefits when draughts occured.
In addition to these material inventions, there were the innovations of the open-fields system, three-field crop rotation and spring vegetable plantings (to restore nitrogen in the soil) all combined to produce crop yields in north-western Europe that were several times higher than anything ever produced in the Roman Empire in their most fertile of provinces.
Water-power
The second really big and important development is in the water wheel. Again, this was not a new invention. Water wheels of various sorts had been known in Greece, Arabia, China and India - mostly used for milling grain but also as an aid for irrigation (the water-screw). Oddly enough, the Romans didn't really use the water-wheel - relying upon animals or slaves for almost all labor tasks.
What the medieval Europeans invented was the upright 'over-shot' water-wheel where the water flow is directed to flow over the water-wheel, rather than under it as was the normal case (when you put a regular water-wheel into a river, the water flows 'under' the water-wheel). This 'over-shot' technique produced a massive increase in the 'horsepower' of output when compared with any other type of existing water-wheels (5 or 6 times as much power) and was entirely unique to Europe.
These new 'high power' water-wheels enabled the driving of multiple grain mills from a single water-wheel, or the increased power was used to drive an industrial process (such as sawing lumber, drawing wire or the fulling of wool - all of which represent very physically taxing labors).
Clothmaking:
Here is another area where the medieval Europeans really benefited from the innovations of everyone else. Almost all the principles and processes of clothmaking (mostly cotton or wool) were invented in China or India long ago and well known to the Arabs, Greeks and Romans. Btw, silk making was originally a Chinese state-secret - which was subsequently stolen by just about everyone.
What was unique about the medieval European contribution to the process was in taking all the developments of ancient China, India and Arabia - and combining them into a massively improved version of the traditional process. The basic design of the new loom was originally inspired by Chinese silk looms. The Europeans turned the old loom horizontal (so it could be larger) and foot pedals were added to drive it back and forth to free the weaver's hands to handle the shuttlecock (speeding up the process enormously!). And thus the European textile industry was born in the 12th century.
Architecture:
The medieval construction of the great gothic cathedrals of Western Europe speaks for itself. These are buildings of unparalled beauty, built with remarkable craftsmanship and manual processes (wooden scaffolds). They also represent the development of several new unique building techniques including the pointed arch and the flying buttress, which are all about distributing weight with geometric principles. Btw, the beautiful stained glass windows were added as an afterthought to fill the open spaces - they weren't part of the original designs.
The Romans and Greeks, for all their brilliant constructions and engineering skills, couldn't build anything like a medieval cathedral with that high vaulted ceiling and all those big windows - it was deemed physically impossible.
Shipbuilding:
The development of the medieval Cog gets its shape (roundship) from the Baltic and its sails from the Mediterranean (lanteen). The Europeans also figured out that ship-building is a whole lot easier (and the ships are a whole lot stronger) if you lay down the keel and ribs first and then add the hull planks afterwards, rather than laborously and skillfully building up the hull first and then adding ribs to strengthen it. The upshot of this was that shipbuilding became a whole lot easier and faster (and thus cheaper). With cheaper ships, there were a whole lot more of them out there.
Eventually, they added a second and third mast to this same design, and made the ships slightly longer by proportion (and more sails). Add the stern-rudder and the magnetic compass which came from China in the 12th century, and you have the ships that Columbus sailed across the Atlantic in 1492.
Weapons & Warfare:
Beginning with stirrups and bridles in the 7th century, chain mail & bailley castles in the 10th century, seige engines (trebuchets and mangonels) and crossbows in the 12th/13th century, and finally gunpowder and cannon in the 14th century, Europe witnessed several major military revolutions in technology of the battlefield.
Printing Press:
Gutenburg invented his moveable type printing press in 1440 (15th century). This device is similar in form to a machine invented by the Chinese in the 9th century, which was never commercially developed at all. It is generally believed that the 'western' printing press was independently developed as it followed a progression over a period of development with each new type improved upon an earlier design. Gutenburg didn't really invent the printing process (it is an invention that requires several different inventions, like papermaking and ink) - he just put it all together and perfected it for a commercial application, though he did come up with the 'moveable type' principle which was the core idea that makes the whole thing so successful.
* * *
I could add more, but I'll leave it at that, since there should be more than enough here to show that medieval Europe was a veritable hotbed of technological innovation and improvement over Roman period technology that preceeds it.
The bottom line is that Western Europe began its rise to 'planetary' power/domination in the 15th century, built on technologies developed in the 7th to 15th century period - exactly the same period that is denoted as the beginning and the end of the "medieval era" in the history books.
* * *
For anyone who is curious, I wrote this with a little help from Google and a book called Cathedral, Forge and Waterwheel, Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages, by Frances & Joseph Gies, (HarperCollins; 1994) that I have on my bookshelf.
According to stereotype, the medieval era was a time of oppressive theocracy, when nothing 'new' was created and everything was always done 'exactly as it was always done before'. The medieval era is practically the stereotype definition for nasty and brutal manual labor, obfusicating theologies and a famous reputation for ignorance and superstition.
One only has to compare Europe (circa 1000 AD) with its contemporaries - either the Islamic society or the Chinese society - to see that Europe was, by every possible measure, backwards, poor and technologically limited.
The problem with this 'stereotype' is that it is categorically and massively, wrong.
By 1500 AD, the traditional 'end' of the medieval era, Europe (particularly western Europe) was militarily, scientifically and technologically more advanced in comparison with every place on the planet - by a significant margin (a position that western Europe retained into the present era).
Apparently, the medieval era witnessed one of the greatest 'leaps forward' in technology the world has ever witnessed. Some newer medieval scholars like to refer to the '1st industrial revolution' of the 12th century. This is a bit of an exageration, but it is reasonable to assert that the technological and industrial innovations developed by medievel society were as great and as far-reaching in effects of the more famous industrial revolution of the 18th century.
Here is just a short list of key medieval inventions or innovations: (please note that not every invention listed is entirely unique to Western Europe - some of them originated in China or India (in different forms), but were adapted or perfected in Europe - some others appear to duplicate Chinese inventions but lack any evidence of transmission).
Agriculture:
First and most importantly are the developments in agriculture. The padded-horse-collar and the nailed iron horseshoe (both of Chinese origin) were adopted/adapted in the early medieval era and this allowed the horse to be harnessed for labor to replace the much slower and less efficient ox for pulling plows, carts and wagons. A new plow design (with wheels and coulter) allowed deeper plowing suitable for the rich soils of the cleared fields and forests of north-western Europe. The deep 'ridge & furrow' pattern produced had additional benefits when draughts occured.
In addition to these material inventions, there were the innovations of the open-fields system, three-field crop rotation and spring vegetable plantings (to restore nitrogen in the soil) all combined to produce crop yields in north-western Europe that were several times higher than anything ever produced in the Roman Empire in their most fertile of provinces.
Water-power
The second really big and important development is in the water wheel. Again, this was not a new invention. Water wheels of various sorts had been known in Greece, Arabia, China and India - mostly used for milling grain but also as an aid for irrigation (the water-screw). Oddly enough, the Romans didn't really use the water-wheel - relying upon animals or slaves for almost all labor tasks.
What the medieval Europeans invented was the upright 'over-shot' water-wheel where the water flow is directed to flow over the water-wheel, rather than under it as was the normal case (when you put a regular water-wheel into a river, the water flows 'under' the water-wheel). This 'over-shot' technique produced a massive increase in the 'horsepower' of output when compared with any other type of existing water-wheels (5 or 6 times as much power) and was entirely unique to Europe.
These new 'high power' water-wheels enabled the driving of multiple grain mills from a single water-wheel, or the increased power was used to drive an industrial process (such as sawing lumber, drawing wire or the fulling of wool - all of which represent very physically taxing labors).
Clothmaking:
Here is another area where the medieval Europeans really benefited from the innovations of everyone else. Almost all the principles and processes of clothmaking (mostly cotton or wool) were invented in China or India long ago and well known to the Arabs, Greeks and Romans. Btw, silk making was originally a Chinese state-secret - which was subsequently stolen by just about everyone.
What was unique about the medieval European contribution to the process was in taking all the developments of ancient China, India and Arabia - and combining them into a massively improved version of the traditional process. The basic design of the new loom was originally inspired by Chinese silk looms. The Europeans turned the old loom horizontal (so it could be larger) and foot pedals were added to drive it back and forth to free the weaver's hands to handle the shuttlecock (speeding up the process enormously!). And thus the European textile industry was born in the 12th century.
Architecture:
The medieval construction of the great gothic cathedrals of Western Europe speaks for itself. These are buildings of unparalled beauty, built with remarkable craftsmanship and manual processes (wooden scaffolds). They also represent the development of several new unique building techniques including the pointed arch and the flying buttress, which are all about distributing weight with geometric principles. Btw, the beautiful stained glass windows were added as an afterthought to fill the open spaces - they weren't part of the original designs.
The Romans and Greeks, for all their brilliant constructions and engineering skills, couldn't build anything like a medieval cathedral with that high vaulted ceiling and all those big windows - it was deemed physically impossible.
Shipbuilding:
The development of the medieval Cog gets its shape (roundship) from the Baltic and its sails from the Mediterranean (lanteen). The Europeans also figured out that ship-building is a whole lot easier (and the ships are a whole lot stronger) if you lay down the keel and ribs first and then add the hull planks afterwards, rather than laborously and skillfully building up the hull first and then adding ribs to strengthen it. The upshot of this was that shipbuilding became a whole lot easier and faster (and thus cheaper). With cheaper ships, there were a whole lot more of them out there.
Eventually, they added a second and third mast to this same design, and made the ships slightly longer by proportion (and more sails). Add the stern-rudder and the magnetic compass which came from China in the 12th century, and you have the ships that Columbus sailed across the Atlantic in 1492.
Weapons & Warfare:
Beginning with stirrups and bridles in the 7th century, chain mail & bailley castles in the 10th century, seige engines (trebuchets and mangonels) and crossbows in the 12th/13th century, and finally gunpowder and cannon in the 14th century, Europe witnessed several major military revolutions in technology of the battlefield.
Printing Press:
Gutenburg invented his moveable type printing press in 1440 (15th century). This device is similar in form to a machine invented by the Chinese in the 9th century, which was never commercially developed at all. It is generally believed that the 'western' printing press was independently developed as it followed a progression over a period of development with each new type improved upon an earlier design. Gutenburg didn't really invent the printing process (it is an invention that requires several different inventions, like papermaking and ink) - he just put it all together and perfected it for a commercial application, though he did come up with the 'moveable type' principle which was the core idea that makes the whole thing so successful.
* * *
I could add more, but I'll leave it at that, since there should be more than enough here to show that medieval Europe was a veritable hotbed of technological innovation and improvement over Roman period technology that preceeds it.
The bottom line is that Western Europe began its rise to 'planetary' power/domination in the 15th century, built on technologies developed in the 7th to 15th century period - exactly the same period that is denoted as the beginning and the end of the "medieval era" in the history books.
* * *
For anyone who is curious, I wrote this with a little help from Google and a book called Cathedral, Forge and Waterwheel, Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages, by Frances & Joseph Gies, (HarperCollins; 1994) that I have on my bookshelf.