Technology of Middle Ages

ESCABARTE, Jay
BELANO, Christine
ALERIA, Diana Grace
TECHNOLOGY OF MIDDLE AGES
Many historians mention the medieval
period of Europe as "Dark Age" a period
when reason and logic was sideline with
belief and religion. However the late
medieval period offered a great
advancement of medieval Europeans
they successfully refined these
technological and benefitted immensely
by using them politically and
economically.
MEDIEVAL
MEDIEVALTECHNOLOGY
Refer to the technology used in medieval Europe
under Christian role. After the Renaissance of the
12th century medieval Europe saw a radical change
in the rate of new inventions innovations in the way
of managing traditional means of production, and
economic growth. The period saw major
technological advance, including the adootion of
gunpowder, the invention of vertical windmills,
spectacles, mechanical clock, and greatly improve
water mills,building techniques (Gothic architecture,
medieval castles). and agriculture in general.
The development of water mills from
their ancient origin was impressive by
the time of the Domesday Book, most
large village, around 6,500 in England
alone. Water power also widely used in
mining for raising ore from shafts,
crushing ore, and even powering
bellows.
Europeans technical advancement
from the 12th to 14th century were
either built on long established
techniques in medieval Europe,
originating from Roman and
Byzantine antecedent,or adapted
from cross-cultural exchange throug
trading network with the Islamic
world, China, and India.
In advance in ship building the multi-
masted ships with lateens sails the
sternpost-mounted rudder and the
skeleton first hull construction. Along
new navigation techniques such as the
dry compass, the Jacob's staff and
astrolabe, these allowed economic and
global navigation achievement of the
dawning Age of Exploration.
At the turn to the Renaissance
Gatenberg's invention of mechanical
printing made possible dissemination of
knowledge to a wider population, that
would not only lead to a gradually more
egalitarian society.But one more abke to
dominate other cultures, drawing from
late medieval artist- engineers Guido da
Vigeno and Villardde Honnecourt can be
viewed as fore runner of laten
Renaissance work such as Taccola or da
Vinci.
INVENTIONS
HEAVY PLOUGH (5th to 8th centuries)
-The heavy plough with a mouldboard appears in the
5th century in Slavic land it was then introduce inti the
Northern Italy (the Po Valley) and by the 8th century it
was used in the Phineland Essential in the efficient use
of the rich, heavy, often wet soil of Northern Europe, its
use allowed the areas forest and swamps to be brought
under cultivation.
HOPS (11th century)
-Added to beer, it importance lay primarily in its ability
to persevere beer and improve transportability for
trade.
HORSE COLLAR (6th to 9th century)
- Multiple evolution from classical harness
(Antiquity), to breant straps harness (6th
century) to horse collar (9th century), allowed
more horse pulling power, such as with heavy
ploughs.
HORSESHOES (9th century)
-Allowed horse to adopt to non-grassland
terrain in Europe (rocky, terrain, mountains)
carry heavier loads. Possibly known to the
Roman and Celts early AS 50 BC.
MEDIEVAL HORSESHOE
 Central heating through under floir channel (9th
century)
-In early medieval Alpine upland, a simpler central
heating system where heat travelled through under
floor channel from the furnace room replaced the
Roman hypocaust at the same place.
Rib vault 12th century)
-An essential element for the rise of Gothic
architecture, rib vaults to be built for the first time
over rectangles of unequal length. It also greatly
facilitated scaffolding and largely replaced the older
grin vault.
WINE PRESS (12th century)
-The first practical means of applying pressure on a
plane surface. The principle later used for the
printing press.
An authentic wine press that was actually
used in the medieval period to crush
grapes.
Qanat (water ducts) (5th century)

A medieval aqueduct unearthed

A quant is a tunnel that is just big enough that a
single digger could travel through the tunnel and
find the source of water as well as allow for water to
travel through the duct system to farm land or
villages for irrigation or drinking purposes.

These tunnels had a gradual slope which used

gravity to pull the water from either an aquifer or
water
well .
ARCHITECTURE & CONSTRICTION
Artesian Well (1126)
-a thin rod with a hand iron cutting edge is
placed in the bore hole and repeatedly struck
with a hammer underground water pres--sure
forces the water pumping Artesian well are name
often the town of Artois in Frane, where the first
one was drilled by Carthusian monks in 1126.
Chimney (12th century)
-the earliest true chimney appeared in
Northern Europe during the 12th century
and with themcame the first true
fireplace
Segmental arc bridge (1345)
-The Ponte Venchio in Florence is
considered medieval Europe's first stone
segmental arc bridge.
Pendentive architecture (6th century)
A specific spherical form in the upper
corners to support a
dome. Although the first experimentation
was made in the
3rd century, it wasn't until the 6th century in
the Byzantine
Empire that its full potential was achieved.
Threadwheel crane
Treadwheel crane (1220s)
-the earliest reference to a treadwhel in archival
literature is in France about 1225, followed by an
illuminated depiction in a manuscript of probably
also French origin dating to 1240. Apart fron tread-
drums, windlasses and occasionally crank were
employed for powering crane.

Floating crane
-Beside the stationary crane, floating crane which
could be flexibly deployed in the whole port
basin came into use by the 14 century.
Stationary harbour crane (1244)
-considered a new development of the
Middle Ages; its earliest use being
documented for Utrecht in 1244

Mast crane
-some harbour cranes were
specialished at mounting mast to
newly built sailing ship, such as
Gda'nsk, cologne and, Bremen.
Wheel barrow (1170s)
-the wheel barrow proved useful in buildings
construction, mining operation, and agriculture.
Literary evidence for the use of wheelbarrow
appeared between 1170 and 1250 in Northern
Europe.
ARTS
Oil paint (by 1125)
-As early as the 13th century, oil was use to add
details to temper a paintings and paint wooden
statues. Flemish painter Jan Van Egck developed
the use of stable oil mixture fir panel painting
around 1410.
Portrait of a Man in a Turban,
oil painting by Jan van Eyck
(1433)
Clocks
Hourglass (1328)- Reasonably dependable,
affordable and accurate measure of time. Unlike
water in clepsydra, the rate low of sand is
independent of the depth in the upper reservoir,
and the instrument is nit liable to freeze,
hourglass are a medieval innovation.

Mechanical Clock (13th to 14th centuries)-a

European innovation, these weighty-driver
clocks were used primarily in clocks towers.
MECHANIC
Compound crank- the Italian physicians Guido da
Vigevano. combines in this 1335 Texaurus a collection
of war machine intended for the recapture of the
Holy land, two simple cranks to from a compound
crank fir manually powering war carriages and paddle
wheel boats. The devices were fitted directly to the
vehicles axle respectively to the shafts turning the
paddle wheel.
Metallurgy
Blast furnace (1150-1350)
-European cast first appears in Middle Europe around
1150 in some places according to recent research even
before 1100. The technique is considered to be and
independent European development.
Paper mill (13 century)
-The first certain use of water-power paper mill,
evidence for which is elusive in both Chinese and
Muslim paper making dates to 1282.
Rolling mill (15th century)-used to produce metal sheet
of an even thickness. First used on soft, malleable
metals, such as lead, gold and tin. Leonardo da Vinchi a
rolling mill for wrought iron.
Tidal mills ( 6th century)-the earliest tidal mill
were excavated on the Irish coast where water
mills knew and employed the two men water
wheel type.

Vertical wind mill (118os)-invented in Europe as

the pivotable post mill, the first surviving mention
of one come from Yorkshine in England in 1185.

Water hammer (12th at the last)-use in

metallurgy to forge the metal blooms from
bloomeries and Catalan forge, they replace
manual hammer work.
NAVIGATION
Dry compass (12th century)-the first European
mention of the directional compass is in Alexander
Neckam's On the nature of things, written in Paris
around 1990.
Astronomical compass (1269)-the French scholar
Pierre de Macourt describes in his experimental
study Epistola damagnete (1296) three different
compassdesign he has devised for the purpose of
astronomical observation.
Stern-mounted rudder (1180s)-the first depiction of
a pintle-and-gudgeon rdder on churh carving to
around 1180.
Printing, paper and reading

Movable type printing press (1440s)-Johannes

Guntenberg's great innovation was not the
printing itself but instead if using carved plates as
in wood block painting he use separate letter s
from which the page were made up.
Paper (13th century)-paper was invented in China
and transmitted through Islamic Spain in the 13th
century in Europe, the paper making processes
was mechanized by water-power mill and the
paper presses.
Rotating bookmark (13th century)-a rotating disc
and stirring device used to mark the page, column
and precise level in the text were a person left off
reading in a text. Materials used often. leather or
paper.
Spectacles (1280s)-the first spectacles, invented in
Florence, used convex lens which were of help only
to the far-sighted. Concave lens were not
developed prior to the 15th century.
Watermark (1282)-this medieval innovation was
used to mark paper products and to discourage
counterfeiting. Its was first introduce in Bologna,
Italy.
Textile Industry and garments

Functional button (13TH century)-German

buttons appeared in 13th century as an
indigenous innovation.
Horizontal loom (11th century)-operated by
foot-treadles were faster and more efficient.
Silk (6th century)-manufacture of silk begun in
Eastern Europe in the 6th century. Silk Road
been imported over the silk road since
antiquity.
Knights Templar playing chess, Libro de los
juegos (1283)
Miscellaneous
Chess (1450)-the earliest predecessor of
the game originated in the 6th century AD
India and spread via Persia and the Muslim
World to Europe. Here the game evolved
into its current from in the 15th century.

Forest glass (1000)-this type of glass use

wood ash and sand as the main raw
materlias and is characterised by a variety
of greenish yellow colours.
Grindstone (834)-are rough stone,
usually, sandstone, used to sharpen iron.

Liquor (12th century)- Early evidence of

distillation also comes from alchemists
working in Alexandria, Roman Egypt, in
the 1st century. The medieval Arabs
adopted the distillation process, which
later spread to Europe.
 Magnets (12th century)-were first reference in
the Roman d'Ene'as, composed between 1155
and 1160

Mirror (1180)-the first mention of a "glass"

mirror is in 118p by Alexander Neckham who
said "Take away the lead which is behind the
glass and there will be no image of the one
looking in".
Illustrated surgical atlas (1345)-Guido da Vigenoz
(c. 1289-1349) was the first author to add
illustration to his anatomical descriptions. His
Anathomia provides pictures of neuroanatomical
structures and techniques such as the dissection
of head by means of trephination, and depictions
of the meninges, cerebrum, and spinal cord.

Quarantine (1377)-Initially a 40-day period, the

quarantine was introduced by the Republic of
Ragusa as a measure of disease presentation
related to the Black Death.
Rats traps (1170s)-the first mention of a rat traps
is in the medieval romance. Yvain, "The Knight of
the lion by Chre'tien de Tropes.

Soap (9th century)-came into wide soeard

European use in the 9th century in semi-liquid
form. with hard soao perfected by the Arads in
the 12th Century.

Military Technologies
Cavalry
Arched saddle (11th century)-enable mounted
knight to wield lance, underarm and prevent the
changed from turning into an unintentional pole-
vault. This innovation gave birth to true shock
cavalry, enabling fighters to change on fall gallop.
Spur (11th century)-were invented by the
Normans and appeared at the same time as the
cantled saddle.
Stirrup (6th century)-were invented by steppe
nomads in what is today Mongloia and Northern
China in the 4th century.
Gunpowder-weapons

Cannon (1329)-are first recorded in

Europe at the siege of Metz in 1324.
Corned gunpowde2 (late 14th century)-first
practiced in Western Eu2, corning the black
powder allowed fir more powerful and faster
ignition of cannons.
Supergun (late 14th century)-Extant example
include the wrought-iron Pumhart Von Steyr,
Dulle Griet and Mons Meg as well as the cost-
bronze Faule Mett and Faule Grete.
Scottish bombard Mons Meg
Mechanical artillery

Counterweight trebuchet (12th century)-

Powered soley by the forvmce of
gravity,these catapults revolutionized
medieval siege warfare and construction of
fortification hmby hurting hugestone
unprecendented distance.
Missile Weapons
Longbow with massed, discipline archery (12th
century)
-having a high rate of fire and penetration power, the
longbow contributed to the eventual demise of the
medieval knight class.
Steel crossbow (late 14th century)- European
innovation came with several different cocking aids it
enhance draw power, making the weapons also the
first hand-held mechanical crossbow.
Miscellaneous

Combine arms tactics (14th century)

-the battle of Halidon Hill 1333 was the first battle
where intentional and combine arm infantry tactics
were employed.
That’s all, thanks for listening.