Waubonsee Community College

Cathedral, forge, and waterwheel, technology and invention in the Middle Ages, Frances & Joseph Gies

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 329-343) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Cathedral, forge, and waterwheel

bibliography

28293398

Frances & Joseph Gies

technology and invention in the Middle Ages

In this account of Europe's rise to world leadership in technology, Frances and Joseph Gies make use of recent scholarship to destroy two time-honored myths. Myth One: that Europe's leap forward occurred suddenly in the "Renaissance," following centuries of medieval stagnation. Not so, say the Gieses: Early modern technology and experimental science were direct outgrowths of the decisive innovations of medieval Europe, in the tools and techniques of agriculture, craft industry, metallurgy, building construction, navigation, and war. Myth Two: that Europe achieved its primacy through "Western" superiority. On the contrary, the authors report, many of Europe's most important inventions - the horse harness, the stirrup, the magnetic compass, cotton and silk cultivation and manufacture, papermaking, firearms, "Arabic" numerals - had their origins outside Europe, in China, India, and Islam. The Gieses show how Europe synthesized its own innovations - the three-field system, water power in industry, the full-rigged ship, the putting-out system - into a powerful new combination of technology, economics, and politics. From the expansion of medieval man's capabilities, the voyage of Columbus with all its fateful consequences is seen as an inevitable product, while even the genius of Leonardo da Vinci emerges from the context of earlier and lesser-known dreamers and tinkerers. Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel is illustrated with more than 90 photographs and drawings. It is a Split Main Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club

Nimrod's Tower, Noah's Ark -- The triumphs and failures of ancient technology -- The not so Dark Ages: A.D. 500-900 -- The Asian connection -- The technology of the commercial revolution: 900-1200 -- The High Middle Ages: 1200-1400 -- Leonardo and Columbus: the end of the Middle Ages