ACTIVITY #1

MIDDLE AGES (5th to 15th Century)

Science & INVENTOR WHEN/W HISTORICAL REMARKS
Technology S HERE INTICEDENT
PRODUCTS INVENTED
Printing Press Johannes 15th Century The printing press Although Johannes
Guttenburge’ may well be the Guttenberg's famous
s most important press was developed
invention of the in the 15th century,
medieval era. It the movable type
would eventually system can be traced
wrench control of in history back to
information around 1040, in China.
distribution from Without it, the
the State and the modern world would
Church and lay be a very different
the groundwork place indeed.
for Protestant
Reformation and
the
Enlightenment.
Coffee Europeans 15th Century Coffee is thought But the real
to have been first importance of coffee
introduced to the in Europe was not the
Ottoman Empire bitter brew, but the
sometime in the coffee houses that
15th century and sprang up to serve it.
it quickly took the These quickly became
Ottoman world centers of social
by storm. activity and
Coffee was first communication, and
introduced to were some of the only
Europe in the places where different
16th century, and classes of people
by the 17th could mix freely. In
century, it had England, they were
become popular often called “penny
all across the universities,” because
continent. for the price of a
penny anyone could
purchase a cup of
coffee and engage in
 stimulating
conversation.
Heavy Plow Europeans 9th Century The widespread Heavy plows, in
introduction of contrast, introduced
the heavy plow an asymmetric
around the 9th plowshare, to cut the
century soil horizontally, a
revolutionized colter, to cut the soil
farming in vertically, and a
Europe. mouldboard, to turn
Earlier plows, the cut sods aside to
commonly called create a deep furrow.
the yard or The invention of the
scratch-plow, was heavy plow made it
suited for the possible to plow areas
sandy soils and with clay soil, which
climate of the was more fertile than
Mediterranean the lighter soil types.
but was This increased crop
unsuitable for the yields tremendously
heavy soils found and led to economic
in most of growth and the rapid
northern Europe. growth of cities and
As a result, north trade — especially in
European Northern Europe.
settlement
before the middle
ages was limited
areas with lighter
soils.
Paper Money Chinese 9th Century Although paper By the 1120s, the
"promissory Chinese government
notes" had been had started to
in existence for produce its own state-
centuries, the issued paper money
first recorded use using woodblock
of government- printing, and these
issued paper were in widespread
money was in 9th circulation.
Century China. Travelers brought
These notes were news of the
a promise by the government-issued
ruler to redeem Chinese paper
them later for currency back to
some other Europe in the 13th
object of value, century, but the notes
usually coin. wouldn't become
These early credit common in Europe
notes were until the late-1600s.
usually for a
limited duration.
They were
intended
primarily for
merchants, to
replace the need
to carry around
quantities of
metals that were
very heavy, and
could easily be
lost or stolen.
Hourglass Europeans 14th Century The hourglass By the 15th Century,
first appeared in they were common
Europe in the 8th sights on ships, in
century AD, churches, and in
however, there is industries. They were
little evidence of the first dependable,
its use there until reusable, and fairly
the early 14th accurate means of
century, when it measuring time and
first began would only be
appearing in superseded with the
European ship invention of the
inventories. It mechanical clock.
was likely first
used on ships
because the
bobbing waves
didn’t affect its
accuracy.
Wheelbarrow Medieval 15th Century The earliest- The first
Europe known wheelbarrows in
wheelbarrows medieval Europe
that there is appeared sometime
archaeological around 1170 - 1220.
evidence for, These featured a
were one- wheel at or near the
wheeled carts front, as in modern
that date to wheelbarrows.
second-century
China. These By the 15th Century,
placed the wheel they became
in the center of commonplace for
the barrow. everything from
There may have mining to
been earlier construction.
instances of
wheelbarrows in
use earlier in
China and ancient
Greece, but the
evidence is not
conclusive.
Spinning India 5th Century Spinning Wheel A series of inventions
Wheel may have their and improvements to
origin in India the spinning wheel
sometime over the next several
between the 5th centuries converted
and 10th Century the spinning wheel
AD. There is into a powered,
evidence they mechanized machine
were in use in that would help drive
China at about the Industrial
1000 AD. They Revolution.
reached Europe
via the Middle
East, by around
1400. The
spinning wheel
replaced the
earlier method of
hand spinning, in
which the
individual fibers
were drawn out
of a mass of wool
held on a stick, or
distaff, twisted
together to form
a continuous
strand, and then
wound on a
second stick.
Pintle-and- Europeans 14th Century Pintle-and- The pintle-and-
gudgeon stern- gudgeon stern- gudgeon was a hinge
mounted mounted rudders device that allowed
rudders were a major the rudder to be
innovation during mounted on the stern,
the Middle Ages. however, it took a
Prior to their change in hull design,
existence, boats and the appearance of
and large ships the full-rigged ship,
were before the pintle-and-
maneuvered gudgeon rudder could
using oars or finally supplant the
quarter-rudders. quarter-rudder in
Unlike modern
 rudders, which around the 14th
are mounted on century.
the stern, Without the stern-
quarter-rudders mounted rudder, and
were mounted on the larger, full-rigged
the sides of ships. ships, the European
Their use limited Age of Discovery
the size of ships. could not have
happened.
Eyeglass Romans 13th Century The ancient In a sermon given by a
Romans may Dominican Friar called
have used some Giordana da Pisa in
type of 1305, he wrote: "It is
magnifying glass not yet twenty years
for reading, but since there was found
the first wearable the art of making
glasses known to eyeglasses, which
history appeared make for good
in Italy during the vision..."
13th century. This invention would
English monk Sir significantly improve
Roger Bacon the quality of life for
made the first the visually impaired
definitive to this day — as the
reference to writer will attest.
eyeglasses in the
13th century,
when he outlined
the scientific
principles behind
the use of
corrective lenses
in his Opus Majus
(c.1266).

Treadmill Europeans 13th Century They were simple They were

Cranes wooden, man- reintroduced into
powered, hoisting Europe around the
and lowering 13th century, and the
devices first definitive
developed and reference to a
widely used treadwheel —
referred to as a
 throughout the magna rota — was in
Middle Ages. a French manuscript
They can often be dating to around 1225
seen depicted in AD.
images and
paintings of the In the Middle Ages,
period during the they would become
assembly of commonplace at
monolithic harbors, mines, and,
buildings like obviously, on building
castles and sites.
cathedrals.
There is evidence
that similar
treadmill cranes
were used during
Roman times, but
the technology
fell into disuse
with the end of
the Roman
Empire.
Cannons China 12th Century The earliest However, one of the
cannons may first recorded uses of
date to 12th canon in warfare was
century China, by the `English forces
where there is a of Edward III, who
depiction of what used them to help
appears to be a defeat the French in
cannon in the the Battle of Crecy in
Dazu Rock 1346.
Carvings in
Sichuan, dated Within a few decades,
around 1128 AD. most major
combatants were
The oldest using cannons. There
existing cannons are reliable reports
originate from that the French used
13th century them during a siege in
China, and 1375, Balkan gunners
include the fired on Venetian
famous Wuwei ships in 1378, and the
Bronze Cannon Ottomans reportedly
(1227 AD), the used them in 1389 at
 Heilongjiang hand the First Battle of
cannon (1288 Kosovo.
AD), and the
Xanadu Gun
(1298 AD).
According to
some Arab
historians, the
Mamluks used a
cannon against
the Mongols at
the Battle of Ain
Jalut in 1260,
although it is not
clear how
"cannon" is being
defined. In
Europe, the
French may have
used a version of
the cannon
against England's
Edward III at
Cambrai, in 1339.
Astrolobes Claudius 5th Century Astrolabes were Early astrolabes may
Ptolemy elaborate, multi- also have been in use
use tools that in the 5th Century AD,
could, in some but the devices
ways, be reached their peak in
considered early sophistication during
computers. They the Middle Ages, and
were invaluable may have inspired the
for astronomers later development of
and navigators in mechanical clocks.
working out the
altitude of a given
celestial body at
different
latitudes.
It is not known
who invented the
astrolabe, or
exactly when it
was developed.
Claudius Ptolemy,
a famous Greek
astronomer who
lived during the
2nd century AD
left records
suggesting he
used a three-
dimensional
instrument
similar to the
astrolabe to
make
calculations.