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    Technology & Invention

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    Barnali Dutta
    in the Middle Ages

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    Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages Lynn White, Ir. Speculum, Volume 15, Issue 2 (Apr., 1940), 141-159. ‘Your use of the ISTOR database indicates your acceptance of ISTOR’s Terms and Conditions of Use. A copy of JSTOR’s Terms and Conditions of Use is available at hup://www,jstororg/abouvierms.himl, by contacting ISTOR at jstor-info@umich.edu, or by calling ISTOR at (888)388-3574, (734)998-9101 or (FAX) (734)998-9113, No part of a JSTOR transmission may be copied, downloaded, stored, further transmitted, transferred, distributed, altered, oF otherwise used, in any form or by any means, except: (1) one stored electronic and one paper copy of any article solely for your personal, non-commercial use, ot (2) with prior written permission of JSTOR and the publisher of the article or other text, Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the sc printed page of such transmission. Speculum is published by The Medieval Academy of America. Please contact the publisher for further permissions regarding the use of this work, Publisher contact information may be obtained at hutpulwww.jstor.org/journals’medacad.html. Speculum (©1940 The Medieval Academy of America ISTOR and the ISTOR logo are trademarks of JSTOR, and are Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office For more information on JSTOR contact jstor-info@umich edu, ©2001 JSTOR hupswwwjstor.org/ Wed Feb 21 18:37:06 2001 SPECULUM A JOURNAL OF MEDIAEVAL STUDIES ‘TECHNOLOGY AND INVENTION IN THE MIDDLE AGES* Br LYNN WHITE, JR ‘Tur history of technology and inve has been left strangely uncultivated. O cever-accelerating pace to revolutionize the world we live in; yet small effort is being made to place our present technology in the time-sequence, or to give to ur technicians that sense of their social responsibility which can only come from tn exact. understanding of their historical function — one might almost say, of their apostolic succession. By permitting those who work in shops and labora tories to forget the past, we have impoverished the present. and endangered the future. In the United States this neglect is the less excusable because we Ameri- cans boast of being the most technically progressive people of an inventive age. But when the historian of American technology tries to probe the mediaeval and renaissance roots of his subject he runs into difficulties: the materials available to him are seanty and often questionable; for professional mediaevalists have left ‘unmined this vein in the centuries on which they have staked their claim. Broadly speaking, technology is the way people do things. (In a certain sense there is even a technology of prayer.) Yet it is startling to reflect that we have, as a rule, only the vaguest notion of how the men of the Middle Ages actually did things, and how, from time to time, they learned to do them better. In our museums we cherish mediaeval textiles; we recognize the crucial importance of the cloth industry in the growth of early capitalism. But what do we know of spinning and weaving, of fulling and dyeing, and of the improvements in quality ‘and production which affected both the art and the economics of the time?! especially that of the earlier periods, ‘Tis i the second ofthe series of articles mentioned in the previous number Ganuary, 1940, 67) and designed to direct the attention of scholars toward neglected apeets of mediaeval civliza- "For the western Middle Ages there is nothing comparable to. A. Reath and E. B. Sachs, Porson tertile and thir technique from the sizth othe eghtcnthcentrice (New Haven, 1087), a history of cloth not inthe conventional terms of patter, but rather in terms of the methods of weaving, which ‘9 often underlie patter. The very competent Emile Cherblane is gradually publishing a technical stir général du tian (Pais 1995-), it thus far has deat only with ancent times J-F. Flanagan, "The (Bgyptian] origin ofthe drawloom used in making early Byzantine sills,’ Burlington Magasine, uw 14g Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages ‘We all know that St. Louis of France went on crusades. But did he sail towards Orient in the same sort of ship! which Godfrey of Bouillon might have used, hhad not this latter chosen, probably with good reason, to journey by land? How had shipbuilding changed in the intervening century and a half; under what influences had it changed; and what could a ship of 1249 do which one of 1095 could not? And more particularly, what could a ship of 1492 accomplish in addi- tion? Every textbook on American history should begin with a discussion of those mediaeval improvements in shipbuilding and navigation without which the ex- ploration and settlement of the New World would have been technically im- possible. ‘That chapter is lacking chiefly because mediaevalists themselves have not studied these matters adequately.? To offer a final example: how is it that the importance of the late thirteenth-century Italian invention of spectacles! has Sexxv (1010), 167-172 and scexvn (1020), 215, erdits the Copts rather than the Chinese with thi Dasic invention; ee also M. T, Schmitter, ‘Chine ou Proche-Orient,’ Rerue arhiolopigue, Oth series, ‘x (1089), 79-102, F. Orth, ‘Der Werdegang wichtiger Erfindungen auf dem Gebiate der Spinner und Weberei" Beirage sur Geschichte der Teck and Indutrie, xu (1922), 61-108, xvt ‘80-105 is unsatisfactory forthe earlier period. The tchnicl aspects of G. Kspinas's and H,Pirenne’ ‘work on Flemish textiles are briefly summarized by A. I. Gutmann, “Pechncal peculiarities of Fem- {sh clothmaking and dyeing, Ciba Review, No, 14 (1988), 484-487. That the northern textile art may be far more deeply rooted in history than has hitherto been suspected isindcatad by W. von Stakar, Spinnen und Weben bei den Germanen (Leipeg, 1988). B. K. Scott, ‘Barly cloth fulling and its ma- hinery,’ Tronsations of the Neweomen Society, xu (1981-82), 30-52, is less satisfactory than YV. Geran, "Hin Beitrag zur Geschichte der Walker,’ Wrtr und Sacken, x1 (1029), 37-48. On the introduction ofthe spinning wheel, se infra, ps 47,8 CER. C. Anderson's comments in Mariner's Mior, v1 (1020), 18-80 on A. Jl, Arehdaloie naval (Psi, 1840), mémoire no. 7: "Sur le vainsouss ronda de St Louis” "Despite the vast bibliography on the subject, itis evident that the whole problem of the relations ‘of hulldesign, rig, and rudder demand retxamination. F. Moll, Dae Scifi der bdenden Kunst (Bonn, 1920) furnishes muuch of the eaw material for such a study by publishing some S000 pictures of ships from contemporary sources. Recent discussion has centered on the rudder. Lefebwre des Noéttes, Dela marine antique 3 la marine modern: la rvoution du gowernail (Pari, 1095) attempt toshow thatthe introduction of the hinged stermpost or median rudder in place ofthe lateral teri ‘ar greatly increased the size and efcincy of ships.G.La Rere Les transformations du gouvernal, Annales @ histoire deonomique et sociale, vs (1935), 864-868, doubts the revolutionary importance ‘of thestempost rudder, ut eannot deny Uh it quiekly displaced the older form. also the remark of Pd Hérouville, Bruder cavoigues, v (1956), 176-20, of L Laurand, Rev. de phillopie, xm (1097), 131-188, and H. de Sasture, Reew archiloyique, 6h ares, x (1057) 90-105. Unfortunately Lefebvre des Notts missed the excliest depiction of the modern rudder, found on s Belgan font of ca. 1180 now in Winchester cathedral; cf. I. 1. Brindley, ‘Mediaeval rudders’ Mariner's Mieror, x11(1026), 11-216, 864, sam (1927), 85-88, and R. and HC. Anderson, Phe sailing ehip (London, 1980), p. 86, Likewise he overlooks the vertical ster of two clay models of oats, probably Saxon of the tenth century, now at Leyden; ef. D. Verwey, ‘An early median rudder and spritsil,’ Mariner «Mirror, 2x (1958), 280-231, 373. Van Nouhuys, ‘On early median rudders ibit, x1 (1086), 476, asserts ‘hat a Far Basten doctment of 1126 describes sich rudder and that a Japanese monument of ot 1880 shows one. The whole history of the rudders thrown into confusion bythe discovery ofa median rudder (published in Z'Tustraton, 8 De. 1958) in the famous Schefer manuscript in the Bibliotheque [Nationale iuminated in 1237 by Vabya, son of Mahmud ef B, lochet, Musulman painting (Lon- don, 1920), p 21 and plates xxv ". del Lingo Le vincende di un' imposturaerudita," Archivio storizo italiano, ceva (1020), 5-58: G. Albertotti, ettraintorno all invensione degli oochil,” Annali di oftalmoloyia ¢elinior ‘ovules, (1928), 85-108; M. von Rohr, “Aus der Geschichte der Drill’ Beitrige sur Geahioe der Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages 143 not been more generally appreciated? Anyone familiar with the crescendo of intellectual life inthe later Middle Ages would challenge that enthusiast who has ascribed the Renaissance to the discovery of eye-glasses; but surely no one in the bespectacled academic world will be sufficiently discourteous to doubt that this technical development does much to account for the improved standard of education and the almost feverish tempo of thought characteristic of the four- teenth and fifteenth centuries. People were able to read more, and to read in their ‘maturer years. Tf, then we are to understand any one of the many ‘Middle Ages’ (blessed be the pluralist bias of our tongue!) and their gradual metamorphosis into modern times, we must not neglect technology. Yet at present the laborers in this field are as few as the harvest is plenteous. Perhaps the chief reason why scholars have been hesitant to explore the sub- ject is the difficulty of delimiting its boundaries: technology knows neither chronological nor geographic frontiers. ‘Phe student of the history of invention soon discovers that he must smash the conventional barriers between Greek and barbarian, Roman and German, orien- tal and occidental. For mediaeval technology is found to consist not simply of the technical equipment inherited from the Roman-Hellenistie world! modified by the inventive ingenuity of the western peoples, but also of elements derived from three outside sources: the northern barbarians, the Byzantine and Moslem Near East, and the Far East. ‘The importance of the first of these, the barbarian influence, has been far too little inderstood even by those who have dabbled in the history of technology. Students of the fine arts have only recently led the way towards an appreciation of the essential unity and originality of that vast northern world of so-called ‘barbarians’ which, in ancient times, had its focal point on the plains of Russia, ‘and of Western Siberia, but which extended from the Altai Mountains to Treland: wo are beginning to lear how profoundly it affected the aesthetie expressions of the Middle Ages. But even before the Germanie migrations, these barbarians had begun to influence Roman technology, and in later centuries they contributed many distinctive ingredients to mediaeval life? trousers and the habit of wearing furs, the easily-heated compact house as contrasted with the Mediterranean Technik v1 (1927), 80-60, vn (1928), 95-117; N. Sealine, ‘A proposito di Alessandro della Spina ‘edistoria dela invensione degli echili? Rviste di oria dell scienae meichee natural, xv (1988), 190-189, On ancient technology, ste most recently A. Rehm, “Zur Rolle der Techni in dr griechsch- romischen Antik” Archi fr Kulburpoohoie, xxv (1088), 185-102. A. Neuburger, Techical ate ‘and wienest ofthe ancients (New York, 190) is comprehensive rether than accurate See the judicious reflections of M. Bloch, ‘Les “inventions” médivales,’ Annales histoire économique etoile, 1 (1938), 68, snl ‘Note sue un grand probleme dinuences, ii, va (1950), [519-514. The stutua cultural relationships of the various barbarian peoples are still obscure, but see 4, Peisker, ‘Die alteren Bereihungen der Slawen 24 Turkotataren und Germanen,’ Vietliarachrift Sir Sosial- und Wirtohafopschiche (2008), 187-800, 405-833, and the eritiiams of J. Janko in ‘Wrtr und Sacken, 1 (1900), 94-108, and of L. Niederl, Reeue dee tudes lace, 11 (1922), 19-88. +n 807 and 890 the wearing of trousers and boots (Waza el zanpae) was strictly forbidden inthe di 4 Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages patio-house,! cloisonné jewelry, feltmaking,* the ski,‘ the use of soap for clean i! and of butter in place of olive oil the making of barrels and tubs,” the eul- tivation of rye,’ oats,? spelt," and hops, perhaps the sport of faleonry"* and certain elements of the number-system." Above all, the great plains invented the stirrup," which made the horse etymologically responsible for chivalry, and, perhaps even more important, the heavy plow which, as we shall see, is the technological basis of the typical mediaeval manor. Naturally the problem of diffusion to and from the Greek and Saracenie Orient constantly troubles the student of technology. Despite the laborious re- city of Rome, and in 416 Jong hai and fur garments (indumonte poli) were likewise banned: an indication that the Romans were adopting the warmer German dress; ef. Coder Theodoianus, el ‘T. Mommsen and P. M. Meyer (Belin 193), xv, 10, 2-4 "1M. Hehn, Deutsche Wokmungeeceen (Leipzig, 1809), pp. 24-89. Fora general consideration of the problems of domestic architecture, see R. Quenedey, ‘L’abitationurbain et son Evolution,” Annalee Phiatoirefeonominu et vial, vt (1984), 02-68, 198-147 #'M Rostovtzell, Zraniane and Greaks in South Rusia (Oxford 1982), pp. 181-191; H. Rupp, Die Horknft der Zllencnlage (Bonn, 1957) suggests an Tian origin for this techniques E. Margulies, ‘Cloisonné enamel, in A Survey of Persian Art (New York, 1988), 1 79-183, proposes aa Traian, DB, Laufer, “The ealy history of fl,” Amerzan Anthropologie, xxcen (1990), 1-18, points out that while the Greeks and Homans had some knowledge of felt, the word for it in all the Romane tongues is derived from the Teutonic, indicating that the effective diffusion of this form of textile shoul he erdited tothe Germanie invasions ‘0. Poulsen, Skiing (New York, 1928), pp. 170-177; A. Lunn, Hialoy af Shing (New York, 1927), pp. 8-9; D.8, Davidson, Snowshoes’ Memoir of the Amerian Philowophival Solty, v1 (1087), 198 18; R. Lauter, Sports dhiver préhstoriques,"Reewe arhfolpigu, Oth seis, xa (1030), 128-199. How profoundly even a simple technical improvement may modify the whole life of» commnity is illustrated by M. Lefourner, La vie alpeste transformed parle ki’ Rene des dows mondes, cr, vii (1085), 879-801: a description of the social elfets ofthe intraduetion ofthe ski nto the French Alps in 180, 'B. M. Feldhaus, ‘Sapo, Eauge tnd Seife unserer Altvordeen,” Chomiler-Zeitunp, xxx (1008), ‘897-838; F. W. Gibbs, ‘Tistory ofthe manufacture of soup,” Annals of Seions, 1 (1989), 169-100, V, Hehn, Kultwrjtancin und Hausthiere, Teh od. (Berlin, 1902), pp. 154-100. TEM, Feldhaus, Toinil der Vor, dr geachichichen Zit und der Natueiler(Leipig, 1918), pam, *F, Netlitzky, ‘Unser Wissen von den alten Kulturpfanven Mittelewopas," Deutsches Arcklo- lopiacer Institut, Rimish-Germaniiche Kovmtsrion, 2. Bericht (1980), pp. 89-M3 B. Schiemann, Enlatehung der Kalturgfanzen Beelin, 1982), p. 174; F. Grube, ‘Cereal foods of the Anglo-Saxons, Pilolopiea! quarterly, xs (1994), 148; B. Laufer, ‘Rye inthe Far Bast and the Asiatic origin of out ‘word eros “eye",’ Poung poo, xx (1055), 237-273. Schiemana, op. itp. 184. 3 hid, p-147, supplemented by H.L, Warveck, Zar Frage der Eatstehungsmittelpunkt des Spele- Daves int deutschen Sprachgebiet Mitteleuropas' Oserriahicke Botanische Zeitachrift, XXXVI (os), 2-8. 1 A, de Condolle, Origin of eltsated plant (New York, 1892), p. 163; Hel, op it pp. 473-40. 4B, Lauer, Chinese pottery of the Han dynasty (Leyden, 190), p. 281; 0. Janse ‘Notes sur les bractéates enor che les Seandinaves’ Reo areNoloigue, Sth ser, x1¥ (1921), 380-301;0. Schrader, Realeridon der indgerman. Altertmabunde, Sad ed. (Berlin, 1017~1023), pp. 280-884. ® HP. Lattin, ‘The originof our present system of notation according to the theories of Nicholas Bubnoy,” Fis, xt (1988), 185-196, WTefebere des Notts,’ trier travers les Ages," Larousse meneu, vr (1986), 11-14 ef R. 2schelle and R. Fores, Die Stighigel in ihrer Formentwicklung (Beli, 1808), pp. ®8, and Rox: tovtzff opt, pp. 121, 130, Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages 145 search which has been lavished on the Levant, each new wise man from the East compels us to revise prevalent notions. First Lawrence of Arabia challenges the long-accepted belief that the rapid development of western military architecture in the twelfth century was based In the crusaders’ observation of Moslem and Byzantine models;' and now Arthur Upham Pope is bent on proving that the basic principles of gothic construction were derived from Tran ‘The various portions of this Oriental legacy can scarcely be enumerated, if only because 50 few items of it have heen satisfactorily established: even the dis- tillation of alcohol, so long thought to be an art borrowed from Islam, is now believed to be a western-European invention.* Much work remains to be done — and done over! Let one illustration suffice: the fore-and-aft rig. Until such a rig was developed, mariners were unable to tack effectively against the wind, and oarsmen remained the only dependable nautical motive power. Clearly the development of the fore-and-aft rig would mark an epoch in the history of labor by eliminating the galley, it would cheapen sea transport by increasing the aver- age speed of ships, and, by reducing the size of crews, it would vastly extend the range of ocean voyaging.‘ The earliest form of the fore-and-aft rig was the lateen sail. What is probably the most ancient picture of a lateen is found in a srafito on a ruined church at El-Auja in southern Palestine.* The church is pre- ‘Moslem, but unfortunately the seratching cannot be dated. Lateen sails suddenly ‘appear in Greek miniatures of the ninth century;# in the twelfth century they are 171, B, Lawrence, Crusader castle (London, 1996). A new edition, incorporating the latest mate- al is being prepared by A. W. Lawrence, . 8. Boase, and Mis E. Jamison. A two-volume work isannounced by B. EDhardt, Der Weirbaw Europas im Miller: eine Gesomarstelluny dor Burger: unde aller europtiochon Lande, The necessity of studying castles in elation not simply to military technology but to geography and the social structure as wel, is emphasized by W. Knapp, ‘Zum Problem des Bargenbat” Zeitschrift den Deatchen V veins fur Kunstisrnahef, x (1088), 982-825, 1A Sureey of Persian drt A. U. Pope, editor, 7 vols, (New York: American Institute fr Iranian Art and Arehacology, 1998-89). B. Lamber, ‘Les votes nervéeshigpano-musumanes di 2 sale ‘etleur influence posible sur d'art chrétien,’Heypri, vi (1928), 147-176, and ‘Les premieres votes nervéesfrangases et les origines de la existed ogives’ eeus archlopgue, Oth series, (1933), 235-244, likewise emphasizes the Isamte rots of gothic engineering. Simultaneously with these dist ‘overie,P. Abrabam, Vinee Due ele rationaliome mitral (Pais, 1988), has laxnched an attack. ‘onthe theory that gothic architecture is scholastic dialectic frozen in atone; ef. I. Lecroog, “Un roots de revision: Ie probléme de la eroisée d'ogives” Annaler histoire leonomipe ot woral, Vit (1985), 644-646, The Section on Intellectual Cosperation ofthe League of Nations has undertaken ‘study of the origins ofthe gothic. *AJ.Y, Underwood, “The historical development ofthe dstiling plant,’ Pranoactions of the Insti- ‘ution of Chemical Engineer, x1 (1956), 4-62, summarizes much ofthe eavierHiterature “Slender evidence that under certain circumstances ancient mariners cold tack is assembled by ‘T.R Hlolmes, ‘Could ancient ships work to windward?" Clasial Quarterly (1000), 6-89, and D. Vewey in Marine's Mirror, xt (1980), 117. ' Palestine Bzploration Fund Quarterly (1872), 28 and plate, Latoens may have been known in ‘tho sixth century: see J. Sotas, ‘An early ltoon sail in the Mediterranean,’ Mariner's Mirror, xxv (1939), 288-230, ‘The easiest cleanly dated lateens ar in Bibliothique Nationale, MS. gre 610, fols 3* and 867°, painted in 886 4.0. ef H. H. Brindley, ‘Bary picture of late sil’ Mariner's Mirror, x1 (1026), 12-15. A. Jal, Gloseore nastigue (Pass, 1848), p 267, published a drawing of elnteen which he claimed ‘was derived from Bil Nat. MS. gre 023, fol. 266, of the ninth cantury. Neither H. Omont nor 146 Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages found in objects of art produced at Venice, Amali, Benevento, and other Italian centers of Byzantine influence. Thence they spread to all the coasts of Europe and played a great part in speeding up commerce, in displacing rowers and in stimulating exploration, Bu creasingly Europe drew technical novelties during the Middle Ages not only from Byzantium and Islam but per- haps in even greater measure from China, Nor were these borrowings always mediated by Greeks and Moslems, as paper was:' on the contrary, Europe got some things directly, by way of the caravan routes of Central Asia. Gunpowder,? the compass and printing with cast movable type‘ were probably not derived fact, a composite of two laten rigs (of fol 207 of that manuscript cf. also fol. 947" fora smaller lateen. The Khludoy Psalter, now in Moscow, likewise has a clear ateen rg on fo. 88. Brinley datesit twelfth century, but the Princeton Index of Cristian Art places itn the ninth century. It may be added that something must be wrong vith the curent derivation ofthe word lateen from Latin: why should the Italians name a sal, which ‘leary they borrowed from the Grocks or Saracens the sla latina? One suspocts a false etymology. CE. A. Blum, On the origin of paper (New York, 1984). May not the invention of paper have boen the application to vegetable Sbres ofthe idea of Felting, so long practiced on animal hair by the noma of Central Asia, as Laufer has shown? CF, B, Rathgen, Das Geschtz im Mitelalter (Berlin, 1928), p- 065 ff; B,O. von Lippmann, “Zar Geschichte des Schiesspulvers und des Salpeter,’ Chemier-eituny, 121 (1088), @; C. Zenghelis, Le feu gelgois et les armes feu des Byzantins,’ Bysantion, vit (1082), 205-280; W. W. Arendt, ‘Zar Geschichte der Artllerie im Mittlaltr," Ariki istor nauti i tebiniti, vit (1085), 207-885, and ‘Das grechisehe Feuer, sid, nx (192), 151-204; N. D. Cheronis, ‘Chemical warfare in the Middle Ages? Journal of Chemical Education, x1 (1987), 860-84, 44, C. Moule, ‘The Chinese south-pointing euviage,’ Tung pao, xxi (1084), 88-07 showed that this war not a magnetic machine, The discussion was continued by R. Hennig, “Die Fruenntnis der magnetischon Nordweisung,'Beitige sur Geschishe der Teen, xxi (1051-2), 25-42; B.0. von Lippmann, ‘Geschichte der Magnetnadel bis zur Erfindung des Kompasses (geen 1800,” Qullen sind Studien zur Gcokikte der Naturwinenshafton wnd Medisin, ri (1992), 44 pp.:and, bes of al by A. C. Mitchell's maguicently documented “Chapters in the history of terrestrial magnet Tervetrial magntiom and atmoypheric elovreity, XXxV1 (1982), 105-146, xi (1987), 241-880, xv (1080), 77-80, Recent popular accounts are J. F. Kramer, “The early history of magnetism,” Transactions ofthe Neweomen Society, x (1988-4), 185-200, 1. Winter, "What i the present stage of research in regard to the use of the compass in Europe,’ Research and proper, (1980), 225-238, ‘so "Who invented the compass?) Mariner's Miror, xxi (1997), 85-10% and W. Ley, “The story ofthe lodestone Natural History, xt (1988), 201-207, “TF. Carter, The invention of printing in China and its spend westward (New York, 1985), pp. 182-188; tJ. Daland, “The evolution of moder printing and the diseovery of movable metal type by the Chinese and Koreans inthe fourteenth century, Journal o the Franklin Intitue, coxa (1981), 200-294. . F. Hudson, Europe and China: a eurey oftheir relations from the erie times to 1800 (London, 1981), pp. 165-168, disputes Carters contention thatthe technique of easting movable type as develope ca 1440 inthe Rhineland was unoonnected with the similar, and earlier, Korean invention, However, adaitting that contact between Europe and the Far East was not entirely broken by the elapse of the Mongol Empire, nevertheless that relation was maintained through a long ‘hain of midale-men, It is therefore improbable that so intricate an art could have been carried from the Yellow to the North Sea without leaving intermediate traces. Recent students of the European invention have emphasized its antecedents in the casting process wed by jewelers, the stamps of bookbinders and illuminators, and the printing of textiles. Articles in the Gutenberg-Jahruch (1980-) ‘are especially valuable inthis fl cf also H. Guppy, ‘Stepping stones to the art of typography, Balle ofthe John Rylande Library, xt (1928), 85-181; M. Audi, "The mystery of th origins of Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages 147 from the Far East: the latest opinion eredits them to Europe, whence they spread ‘eastward into Islam. But what of church-bells practically unknown in the Near East, but appearing at the two extremes of the Old World? Or the erossbow,? pethaps known in some form to the Romans, subsequently forgotten save in China, then introduced to Constantinople by the crusaders? Or the fiddle-bow,? which revolutionized western music; or the wheelbarrow, which cut in half the number of laborers needed to haul small loads by substituting a wheel for the front man of the hand-barrow (we have been replacing men by wheels ever since!); or the spinning-wheel which speeded up the cloth industry; or the fune- typosraphy, Lirary Association Recor, Sr series, x (1031), 158-108; K. Reinking, ‘Die Entwicklung der Technik des Handdruckes und die Beziehungen des Zeugdruckes zum Druck af Papier, Mellond ‘eatilberiht, xs (1981), 402-165. 2 Tt is sgnfcant thatthe earliest large ball ia the West, ke those of the Far Eas, did not have lappers, but were struck from the outside: of. L. Gougaud,“Clochette eeltiques,” Dictionnaire archdlopechrtionne ot de litwrpe 1, i (1014), 1989, These large bells therefore, can hardy be rere enlargements of the Romaa tntinnabulin, as H. Ledlereg, “Cloche,” ii, 1950, believes; for tintinnabulz had clapper. On Chines balls ef. A. C. Mole, Chinese musical instruments, Journal of the North China Branck ofthe Royal Avnte Sovety, xxxrx (1008), 85-46. °C. ME, Wilbur, Wistory of the erossbow,” Anmual report of the Smithsonian Inatitution (1086), 1.495; H. T. Horwitz, ‘Die Armbrust in Ostaien,'Zetechr far hietoriohe Wafentunde, v1 (1910), ir Entwieklungsgeschichte der Armbrust,” hi, vst (1080), $11-817, rx (1981), 7S, 118, 189, and Uber die Konsteuktion von Fallen und Selbetschsen,’ Beitr sur Geskiokte dor Technik, xv (1924), 86-100. The only Roman representations of the erosbow are both, by a suspicious eoin- ittelalter’ Worter und Saohon, ‘nr (1912), 69-63, maintains, by the interpectation of a highly ambiguous AnglosSeson riddle, that the erssbow continued in use during the Dark Ages, Certainly Anna Connena, Aleviad, tt. EA. ‘Dawes (Lontton, 1925), p. 285, considered the erossbow a Frankish novelty HG. Farmer, “The origin of the Arabian lute and tebe,’ Journal of the Royal Asiatie Society (1080), pp. 777-770 believes thatthe Arabs rceived the museal bow from the East and transmitted itto Europe. 0. E, Anderson, Te bowed harp (London, 1980) suggests a northern origin fr the bow. ‘The two theories are not mavtually exclusive: the bow may have traveled from Central Asa or China to both Scandinavia and Islam, The history of bowed instruments in China itil obscure f- Moule, ep. cll,p. 130-1 sof course posible thatthe bow may have reached Chine from the West, as did theorgancef. A. C. Moule, 'A Western orgun in maedieval [18th century] China,’ Journal ofthe Royal Asati Society (1020), 195-211, 725, ant eomaments by H. G. Farmer ibid, 495-100. Tt may be e- ‘marked thatthe famous object held by King David in the Utrecht Psalter (co 850) is neither a bow (supposely the fst) as K. Sachs, Handuch der Musikinetrumentnkunte (Leipzig, 1920), pp. 170 1M, thought, nor yet long sword as K. Schlesinger, Ofond history of musi, introductory volume (Oxford, 192), pp. 105-108, serts, but rather a measuring rod: e. The Utrokt Paar, ed, by E. DeWald (Princeton, 1932), plate 98 ‘Wheelbarrows appear in Western Europe atleast by the later thirteenth century ef. I Baudry de Saunier, Hiatire de lalosomoton terete (Paris, 1990), p70. One cannot resist quoting Viollet-le- Duc, Dictionnaire raisonné du mobiirfrangoe (Pari, 1874), 141: ‘Nous ne savons qui le premier ‘dit que la brouette avait 66 inveatée par un sieur Dupin en 160... C'est un question ordre public, dans un certain monde, que tout, depuis I art de penser jusqi In brouetteinelusivement, peut-ttre la hrouette qumit pu sortie du cervea dun des novateure de ett époque. Ma remonter fu deli, donner a la brovette une origine plus ancinne, est une de cs témerités qui tendent& rien ‘moins qued nous fire rtrograder en pleine (dal There is no evidence to support the common as 48 Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages tional button' which, about 1800, started the greatest of revolutions in the history of costume? Above all, was that fundamental invention; the casting of iron,* which appears in Europe during the fourteenth century, an importation from the Far East where it was certainly practiced much earlier? Indeed, when even the Enciclopedia italiana (se. pasta) confesses that chow-mein may well be the ancestral form of spaghetti, the whole of the Middle Ages seems to shrivel into mere appendix to China! But possibly more careful serutiny will prove that some of these were gifts of Europe to China rather than the reverse. For the expansive vitality of the late mediaeval technology of the West spread its influence round half the world, from Gardar to Cambalue: at the very time when Norse settlers in Greenland were teaching the Eskimos to make coopered tubs, saws, and screws,’ European, engineers were delighting the Great Khan with new siege-engines of western design;* while shortly thereafter China received from Europe such diverse in- but a comespondent who prefers to remain anonymous believes, from an examination of ancient tex- Ailes, Uhat sich a deve was ued in China very early. In 1208 guld-regulations at Speyer peraitted ‘the use of yarn spun with «whee in the woof of cloth, but not inthe warp: ef. FJ. Mone, Zanft- ‘organization vom 13. bis 16. Jahrbundert,” Zeitechrift fur die Geookihte dee Oberrkeine, x¥ 1868), 251; HT. Horwits, Zur Geschichte des Spinneades, Geschiehtalatir fir Technik, Induetric nd Geverbe, 1918), 85 "The thesis of A. Parent, Le bouton a travers les dpe (Pari, 1988), thatthe button was nt invented until the thirteenth ceatury, is clearly in ero: buttons were occasionally used in ancient times: cf. K. MEK. Elderkin, ‘Buttons and their use on Greek garments,’ Amerizon Journal of Archaclony, sexnrt (1028), $99-945, and for even earlier button like fastening, sid, xis (1098), 568. Howeven, the implications of the button for costume design were not realized until co 1300. That Chinese styles influenced Inte mediaeval fashions is indicated by G. I. Bratian, ‘Anciennes modes orientale a In Gin du moyen tga,’ Sominarium kondakovianam, vt (1095), 165. ¥ CL epocially TT. Read, "The early casting of iron," GcographicalReviow, xxav (1084), 54-5544 “Largest and oldest iron-nstng’ Fron Age, exXxv1t (198), 18-20; “Chinese ion, a ple,’ Hareard Journal of Asiatic Studie, x (1087), 398-407. Western developments are compactly presented by (0 Johannsen, ‘Die Erindung der Eisengustechnik,” Stal wd Bison, xxx1x (1019), 1457-1406, resting on his ‘Die Quellen rur Geschichte des Eisengussesim Mittlalter und in der neveren Zeit bis tum Jahre 1580,” Archie fir die Geschichte der Naturwistenschafen und der Teokuil, 1 (1912), 865~ 304, v (1010), 127-141, var (1918), 60-81; and ef, also his “Gab es in der Karclingereeit sehion Hlochafen,” Stal und Bison, un (1083), 1080-1040, which concludes that while Guid iron was some- ‘times produced in Burope a early athe cighth century, it was not cst in molds * B. B. Tylor, ‘Old Scandinavian civilization among the modern Esquimeus,’ Journal of the Royal Anthropological Tnstitte of Groat Briain and Ireland, rts (1884), 948-957; B. Laufer, “The Eskimo ferew as culturehistorcl problem oz), AmerisanAntiropaoys new series, x¥1 (1013), 896-4063, ‘and especially T. Mathiasen,‘Inugsuk, ¢ mediaeval Eskimo settlement in Upernivik district, West Greenland,” Moddleler om Grbaland, xx, 1 (1080), 284-803, and "Contributions to the at chacology of Disko Bay, bid, xem, ii (1984), 116-118. For a discussion of plants introduced to Greealand by the Norse colonists, ace M. P. Porsld, ‘Alen plants and apophytes in Greenland,” ‘bid xen, i (1992), 87-80. On posible Norse cultural influence upon Indians living south of Hud- ton's Bay see J. Lowenthal, ‘rokessche Wirtschaftsalterttmer: cin Untersuchung zur Geschichte der ersten Entdeckung Amerika, sp. 100," Zeitackri far EUmolopi, x (1021), 171-283 R. Hen nig, ‘Normannen des 11. Jahrhundert in der Hiudsonbai und an den Grosien Seen,” Petormaxns seopraphioke Midelungen, xxv (1980), 58-60; C. T. Curelly, ‘Viking weapons found near Beard- tore, Ontario’ Canadian Hisorizal Revi, xx (1980), 4-7. ‘A.C. Moe and P. Pellit, Marco Polo: he description ofthe world (London, 198), , 318 Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages 149 ‘ventions as firearms! and eye-glasses,* and perhaps distilled liquors. We may be sure that the merehants and missionaries who flocked to Cathay under the Yuan dynasty! went not devoid of technical skills. Perhaps when Far Eastern studies are more advanced, and particularly when the Harvard-Yenching Institute's historical dictionary of the Chinese language is completed, we may be able to deal with facts rather than with guesses. ‘The student of Buropean technics, then, is compelled to follow his subject far beyond the usual geographical limits of mediaeval research. Similarly he finds that for his purposes the customary tripartite division of history into ancient, mediaeval and modern is completely arbitrary. In particular he finds no evidence of a break in the continuity of technological development following the decline of the Western Roman Empire. ‘The Dark Ages doubtless deserve their name: political disintegration, econo- tic depression, the debasement of religion and the collapse of literature surely ‘made the barbarian kingdoms in some ways unimaginably dismal. Yet because ‘many aspects of civilization were in decay we should not assume too quickly that everything was back-sliding. Even an apparent coarsening may indicate merely a shift of interest: in modern painting we recognize that Van Gogh's technical methods were not those of David; so, when we contrast « Hellenistic carved gem with « Merovingian enamel, our judgment should be cautious. Few will dispute that the Irish illumination and the Scandinavian jewelry of the seventh and ‘ight centuries stand among the supreme arts of all time; yet they are far from classical eanons of taste, being rooted in an ancient, and quite separate, tradi- tion of Northern art. So in the history of technology we must be discriminating, Changing tastes and conditions may lead to the degeneration of one technique while the technology of the age as a whole is advancing. The technology of tor- ture, for example, which achieved such hair-raising perfection during the Renais- sance,* is now happily in eclipse: viewed historically, our modem American “third degree’ is barbaric only in its simplicity. Indeed, a dark age may stimulate rather than hinder technology. Economie castrophe in the United States during the past decade has done nothing to halt +B. elliot in Toung pao x21 (1922), 492-454, shows that while explosives were known in Chin as early a8 1102, G. Sehlege, ‘On the iavention and use of frearms and gunpowder in China prior to the arsval of Buropenns” ibid, 2nd series 1 (1003), 1-11, s wrong in believing that cannon were tse in 1292 Cf. B. Rathgen, ‘Die Pulvervafein Indien’ Ostaratische etch, x1 (1925) 11-80, 106-217, and the comments of H. Goes, ti, 286-280. . T. Read, in Geographical reson, xxav (004), 588 pictures « Chinese cast-iron cannon dated 1977. A Chinese handgun dated 1421, now in the Berlin Museum fr Velkerkunde, is anaainaly Ike thove manufactured at Nuremberg at that time; W. Gohlke, ‘Das iltetedatierte Geweh,’ Zeitschrift istoricheWgfentunde, vs (1910), 205-200. 4G. P. Rakusen, ‘History of Chinese spectacles,” Chinese Medical Journal 21 (108), 870-890, isinferoetoK. Chis, The introduction of spectacles into Ching, Horeard Jounal of Aviat Stale, 980), 180-1 RP, Hommel, China at Work (Doylestown, Pay 1887), p. 145. ‘Cis most recently, TV: Bousyna, La Chine Tale tee debuted a Rentueance (Pais 1888), and P.M. Sykes, Quest for Cothay (London, 1090). *F,Helbing, Die Torte Berlin, 101) 1 208, 150 Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages invention — quite the contrary; and it is a commonplace that war encourages technological advance. Confusion and depression, which bring havoe in so many areas of life, may have just the opposite effect on technics. And the chances of this are particularly good in a period of general migration, when peoples of di- verse backgrounds and inheritances are mixing. ‘There is, in fact, no proof that any important skills of the Graeco-Roman world were lost during the Dark Ages even in the unenlightened West, much less in the flourishing Byzantine and Saracenie Orient. To be sure, the diminished wealth and power of the Germanic kings made engineering on the old Roman seale infrequent; yet the full technology of antiquity was available when re- quired: the 276-ton monolith which crowns the tomb of Theodoric the Ostrogoth was brought to Ravenna from Istria;! while more than two centuries later Charlemagne transported not only sizable columns but even a great equestrian statue of Zeno from Ravenna across the Alps to Aachen. Incidentally, we should do well to remember that the northern peoples from remote times were eapable of managing great weights, as witness Stonehenge and the dolmens. In military machines especially we might expect the barbarians to fall below the ancient standard; but at the siege of Paris in 886 we discover the Vikings, who presumably would be as untouched by Roman methods as any western people, using elaborate and powerful artillery; while the city itself was defended with eatapults* However, the Dark Ages do not seem to have improved on ancient artillery: the Roman level was not surpassed until the twelfth century when the trebuchet,t worked by counterweights, began to drive the less efficient, tension and torsion engines from the field. If the political and economie decay of the Dark Ages affected any technique adversely, it. was that of road-building. Yet even here the case is not clear. For northern climates at least, the technical excellence of Roman roads has been cexaggerated.* ‘They had massive foundations, which sometimes survive to the 1, M, Feldhaus, ‘Die Tngeniure des Theoderch: die Hebe-Osen am Grabmal des Theoderich,” Una, xavier (1984), 696-898. E. Peichter, ‘Die Lisung des Ritsels vom Theoderich-Grabmel in Ravenna,’ Zetechrft de Deutschen Verein fr Kunatwinenshaf, x (1987), 1-15, interprets this remarkable stricture as « Germanic chieftains Hunengre. * Aguelus, Liler pontfcale eclesiae ravannatc,e. 94, ed. O. Holder-Bgge, in Seripfores rerum Langobardicaram of ialcarum, see. VI-IX (Hanover, 1878), p. 388; Binhaed, Vila Kool, c. 26, ed L Halphen (Pris, 1923) p76 4 Abbe af St Germain, De bill porixiaco od G-H. Perts (Hanover, 187), lines 196-157, 218-215, 500-866. The contention of B. Sander, ‘Der Verlll der rimischen Belagerungskuns,” Historische Zeiteckrfecxisx (1984), 497-476, thatthe Romans did not transmit their siegeraftto the Middle ‘Ages is refuted by F, Lanumert, ‘Die antike Polionkatik und ihr Weiterwisken” Kl, xxxr (1088), 30-411. “ Rathgen, Das Geuchits, pp. 610-G11; R. Payne-Gallway, Projectiletirowing engines of the an cients (London, 1907), p. 2 R. J. Rorbes, Note on the history of anciont roads and thie construction (Amsterdam, 1984), PP 100-164, confms the strictures of Ct Lefebvre des Nodttes, ‘La voieremaine et I route modern,” arouse mensul, vt (1025), 771-772. The date of the invention of the more exible pavement is ‘obscure; buts Flemish miniature asures us thet oa 1450 it was being used to pave highways con- necting cities: ef. J. W. Thompson and B. N, Johnson, Introduction othe Middle Ages (New York, Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages I present day; but the surface, consisting of slabs of masonry cemented together, made no provision for contraction or expansion. Heat made the slabs buekle and crack; water seeped under them and froze, separating them from the foundation. Repairs were difficult and expensive: no moder road-builder would consider imitating Roman methods. It was the Middle Ages which developed the cheaper ‘and more efficient method of laying cubes of stone in «loose bed of earth or sand which permitted expansion and made repairs easy: a type of paving still common. Indeed, the technical skill of classical times was not simply maintained: it was considerably improved. Our view of history has been too top-lofty. We have been dazzled by aspects of civilization which are in every age the property of an élite, and in which the common man, with rare exceptions, has had little part. The so-called ‘higher’ realms of culture might decay, government might fall into anarchy, and trade be reduced to a trickle, but through it all, in the face of tur- ‘moil and hard times, the peasant and artisan carried on, and even improved their lot. In technology, at least, the Dark Ages mark a steady and uninterrupted advance over the Roman Empire. Evidence is accumulating to show that a sert in the turbulent and insecure tenth century enjoyed a standard of living con- siderably higher than that of a proletarian in the reign of Augustus. The basie occupation was, of course, agriculture. We have passed through at least two agricultural revolutions: that which began with “Furnip’ Townshend and Jethro Tull in the early eighteenth century, and another, equally important, in the Dark Ages. ‘The problem of the development and diffusion of the northem wheeled plow, equipped with colter, horizontal share and moldboard, is too thorny to be dis cussed here.! Experts seem generally agreed: (1) that the new plow greatly in- creased production by making possible the tillage of rich, heavy, badly-drained river-bottom soils; (2) that it saved labor by making cross-plowing superfluous, and thus produced the typical northern strip-system of land division, as distinct, from the older block-system dictated by the cross-plowing necessary with the lighter Mediterranean plow; (3) most important of all, that the heavy plow needed such power that peasants pooled their oxen and plowed together, thus laying the basis for the mediaeval codperative agricultural community, the manor. But whatever may be the date and origin of the fully developed heavy plow, its effects were supplemented and greatly enhanced in the later eighth 1007), p. 504, o the Propylon Weltgesshioke: Das Zotar dor Goi (Berin, 182), p- 288. The most ‘complete recent discusion of mediaeval roads ie A. Bik, Die Stas: tee verkehe- und bautechnische Enteisklang im Rahmen der Menschhcteeachickte (Karsbad-Drabovits, 1984), pp. 140-282, *E, C. Gurwen, ‘Prehistoric ageeultue in Britain,’ Antiuity, 1, (1927), 261-880, maintains that the heavy plow was brought to England by the Anglo-Saxons. However, B. Bargers excellent “The present position of studies in English feld-ystems' English Historical Review, it (1088), 885-411, ‘offers evidence indicating thatthe heavy plow and the stip-ystem were used in Britain and on both ides of the Roaan-German frontier as early as the first century 2. If this be true, then we must revise drastieally our preeat notions both of the contrast between Roman Gaul and barbarian Germany and of the beginnings of the manorial system. Ct. also H. Grosser, Die Herkunft der {francivischen Gewannfuren (Berlin, 1992), and ME. Bloch, Lex caratresoripinaus de Phitive rurale ‘Srangaie (Oso, 1881), pp. 49-85. 12 Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages century by the invention of the three-field system, an improved rotation of crops and fallow which greatly increased the efficiency of agricultural labor.! For ex- ample, by switching 600 acres from the two-field to the three-feld system, a community of peasants could plant 100 acres more in crops each year with 100 acres less of plowing. Since fallow land was plowed twice to keep down the weeds, the old plan required three acres of plowing for every acre in erops, whereas the new plan required only two acres of plowing for every productive acre. Ina society overwhelmingly agrarian, the result of such an innovation could be nothing less than revolutionary. Pirenne® is only the most recent of many historians to speculate as to why the reign of Charlemagne witnessed the shift of the center of European civilization, the change of the focus of history, from the Mediterranean to the plains of Northem Europe. The findings of agricultural history, it seems, have never been applied to this central problem in the study of the growth of the northern races. Since the spring sowing, which was the chief novelty of the three-feld system, was unprofitable in the south because of the 2 Pliny, Natural History xv, 2, ells how the people of Trier sowed wheat in March after theit ‘intr grain had been destroyed, and how they got good cops; but the indent i cleasly exceptional 4. Hoops, Realeion der gemanischen Altertunekunde, x (Strassburg, 1911), 2, finds no indication ofthe spring planting asa regular custom before documents of 785 and 771; thereafter itis frequently mentioned. The problems of mediaeval sgricltural productivity have scarcely been formulated, ‘much less solved. The question of inereasing productivity per peasant (hati the numberof acres a peasant could til at any given period) has received no attentions a little work has been done on pro-

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