Lecture 4 – Medieval Technology and Society II
European Agricultural Revolution (6th – 14th century)
- plough, horse collar, field rotation, water and windmills
- Population increase
Technology and Warfare in the Middle Ages
- Horses, crossbows, ballistae, catapults and trebuchets
- Lords, mounted knights and agricultural surplus
- Stirrup and horseback combat
- Decentralized system of Feudal lords, landless knights and crusades
- Gunpowder 13th century, cannons 14th century
- Cannons and guns aided with shift to large centralized states
- Muskets 1500’s, knights slowly disappeared
Guns and Warfare
- Warfare and European monarchy, early “arms race”
- 15th century: artillery overcame advantages of fortifications
- Artillery increased army sizes, started shift to defensive combat:
o Similarity of technology and combat advantages
o Size increase of armies to gain advantage, casulties
o Building and maintaining defenses
o Personnel, gunners, powder-makers, gun-smiths, founders,
foreign experts
- Cannons decreased in size over time, pig iron, bronze, cast iron
- Lighter cannons and Naval combat
- “Gunpowder revolution” eventually replaced knight and Feudal lord
- The knight and combat advantages, accuracy and power of guns
- Large armies with artillery required resources of centralized state
- By 1600’s infantry armed with handguns and muskets
- Trace Italienne as a defense against new artillery
- Local Feudal lords gave way to wealthy centralized states
- European military technology and ancient hydraulic technology,
European military conscription and ancient corvee / slave labor
The Gunpowder Revolution
- Changes brought about by firearms and artillery were gradual
- Technical changes in firearms, organization, administration and
transport changes in artillery
- Gradual, hybrid changes: Hussite wars, Jan Zizka, “Wagenburg”
- Larger Wagenburgs: 180 wagons chained together, 35 large guns
- Wagenburg gave defense and mobility
- French: artillery service, procurement and administration, organized
personnel, arsenals and magazines
- Firearms considered humane, surrender only option
- Siege tactics (earthworks, trenches, parapets, wooden shields)
- Technical improvements came after military success, success based
on logistics (supply, distribution, organization), and tactics
- Small guns and cumulative effects, logistics of transport, repair and
operation for small guns, protecting gunners
Hydraulic Engineering During the Middle Ages
- Holland and the expansion of European agriculture
- Settlements in Holland before hydraulic engineering was used
- Drainage produced flooding, which required more drainage
- Unexpected consequence of further flooding led to complex
hydraulic engineering
- End 13th century: dikes (embankments to hold in water), dams
(blocking rivers), sluices (canal with gate for flow regulation), and
drainage canals
Coordination and Control
- Autonomous water boards, organization, Dutch government
- No central co-ordination, local organizations collected taxes and
performed public works to maintain the waterways
- Technological development to aid with agriculture in Europe
- Between 1100 and 1300 hundreds of dikes and dams built
- External water and internal water, sluices
- “Polders” units of land at same elevation with common drainage
systems, labour and capital intensive
- Water pumps to drain Polders by 15th century
- Water boards responsible for: inspection of facilities, repair,
supervising and organizing labour and materials, collecting taxes to
pay for work, dispute resolution
Pressures on the System
- 13th century merchant trade, water barriers and transport of goods
- Demand on wood (ship construction, fuel and buildings), peat
consumption for heating, led to: water collection, erosion, dam and
canal attrition, flooding, private profit and public costs, decreased
tax revenue,
- Water boards survived until 19th century
General Points
- Flooding is still a problem in Holland
- When a technological system is sufficiently complex and tightly
coupled, accidents will happen on a regular basis
- Unintended consequences important to development of technology
- Significant alteration of the environment before industrial revolution
- Complex hydrological engineering does not require a large,
centralized state