TOP 7 INVENTIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES
1. HEAVY PLOUGH
FIFTH CENTURY AD
While primitive ploughs had been in use since perhaps the late Stone Age, they were usually fragile and ill-suited for heavy soils. Moreover, the only way to adjust the depth of a furrow was for the ploughman to physically lift the plough as it cut. With the introduction of wheels (replacing the runner), the weight of the plough could be increased, and ploughs could be sheathed with metal to increase their strength. Furrows could be cut to uniform depths, with less physical exertion by the operator. The heavy plough thus led to more efficient farming, increased food production, and, in turn, allowed the population of Europe to increase.
2. TIDAL MILLS
SEVENTH CENTURY AD
Tidal mills are driven by the tidal rise and fall of water and are thus more efficient than mills that rely strictly on the flow of water from streams and rivers. A body of water affected by tides is dammed, and a one-way sluice gate allows for water to enter a millpond with the high tide. As the tide falls, the gate closes, and the stored water is then released at will to work the water wheel. The tidal mill dates back to at least as early as AD 787 in Northern Ireland.
3. BLAST FURNACE
TWELFTH CENTURY AD
The Cistercian monks, known for their skills in metallurgy, are believed to be responsible for transmitting the technological know-how behind the blast furnace, with every monastery possessing a factory and water system to drive the machinery therein. For several centuries they were leading producers of iron in France.
4. LIQUOR
TWELFTH CENTURY AD
While true distillation dates back to Babylon in the fourth millennium BC, it wasn’t until the time of the Muslim alchemists in the eighth and ninth centuries that alcohol distillation became truly efficient and allowed for the invention of liquor as we know it today.
5. EYEGLASSES
THIRTEENTH CENTURY AD
Historians argue whether lenses for eyeglasses were first developed in the West or in China, but in any case, they appear in the thirteenth century and are first remarked upon, in print, by Roger Bacon. They also appear in Italian art of the time, and it was because of a Ghirlandaio painting showing St. Jerome with a pair of eyeglasses that the saint became the patron of opticians. Convex lenses for farsightedness were apparently developed first, while concave lenses (for nearsightedness, or myopia) do not appear in print or art until a portrait done by Raphael in 1517 of Pope Leo X.
6. SPINNING WHEEL
THIRTEENTH CENTURY AD
It’s believed that the spinning wheel has its origins in India, though this is uncertain. At any rate, it came to Europe in the Middle Ages and replaced the handheld distaff, which had been in existence perhaps since the late Stone Age.
7. QUARANTINE
FOURTEENTH CENTURY AD
The first quarantine we know of occurred in Venice in the fourteenth century, and was, of course, an attempt to stem the spread of the plague. Ships arriving from the East were held in isolation for a period of time sufficient to indicate whether plague was aboard and if so, to allow it to dissipate. The period of time designated for this was a quarantine, or “forty days.” Supposedly, this was settled on as an appropriate period because it was the amount of time that both Christ and Moses had spent alone in the desert.