Medevil Machine

Paul Basisty

The Medieval Period begun in Europe with the end of Dark Age. It lasted from the 10th century to the 14 century Europe. In this period people gradually recovered and build a new culture. This period combined the ancient cultures of Greece and Rome and those of the life of Barbarians. Medieval Age was a dynamic and progressive period. Western Europe went through a kind of industrial revolution that was as significant as that of the nineteenth century. This first revolution gave way to a road of global dominance of that continent. The two recently read works: The Medieval Machine by Jean Gimpel and A Rise and Fall of the Manorial System by Douglass C. North and Robert Paul Thomas illustrate the beginning of revolution mainly due to the boost of agriculture, technology and population. It also displays the reasons for the fall of the revolution itself.

At the beginning of the medieval period much of the land was still unsettled and the central government was weakened by centuries of wars and invasions. People lived in scattered regions in small communities all over Europe being governed by their local leaders like knights or kings. The leaders formed something called Manorial Systems under which peasants' land and production were regulated, and local justice and taxation were enforced. The peasant was to provide the Lord with the labor services in an exchange for justice and protection. The revolution itself gave way to advances in the agricultural field. Three field rotations replaced two field rotations. In the tree field system a plot of land is divided equally into tree fields. In the first year the first field is planted with a winter crop, such as wheat, the second field is planted with a spring crop, like oats, and the third field is left fallow. Sometimes peasants planted clover on the field that was left follow, it helped to oxidize and fertilize the soil. The second year the field that was fallow is planted with the winter crop. This system was created to reduce risk of failing of crop. Introduction of plowing brought about substantial increase in the grain yield. Cultivation became far more intensive both to serve the growing population and to provide surplus to commerce. An important factor in this change was climate, it was milder and dryer. Critical contribution also came from exploitation of another source of energy, the horse, which substituted oxen. Horses were used for plowing and their power was later increased by nailing of iron shoe to the horses' hooves as protection of wear and tear. The advances in agriculture gave way to bigger production of food and population.

The medieval revolution gave way to great technological advances that helped people of that period develop. The middle ages introduced machinery into Europe on a scale no civilization had previously known. Medieval population was surrounded by machinery. The most common was the Mill, converting the power of water or wind into work: grinding corn, grain, olives. Productivity was increased because of those mills and majestic dams [The higher the dam, the higher the water fall, the faster the grain would be ground]. Do to the growing technology some industries were developed like: textile manufacturing, fulling (cloth making), and mining of natural resources like: stone, iron, gold, and silver. Stone and iron were most important vital raw materials.