5 Medieval inventions that changed the world
Miscellaneous / / July 19, 2022
This era is considered to be the time of barbarism and ignorance. But it really wasn't all that bad.
There is an opinion that the Dark Ages did not give mankind anything new and were an era of stagnation and religious hysteria. But it's not. At that difficult time, of course, a lot of strange game happened, but people also did good things. Let's talk about them in more detail.
1. Glasses
Yes, it was in Medieval Europe - most likely in Pisa in 1284, inventedv. Ilardi. Renaissance Vision from Spectacles to Telescopes glasses to help visually impaired people read.
Prior to this, the Berber astronomer, chemist and engineer Abbas ibn Firnas in the 9th century came up with a "reading stone" - a polished piece of quartz, which had to be carried around the pages of a book in order to increase letters. But only 300 years later it occurred to the Italians to carve lenses from such a stone and place them in a frame. Presumably glasses.
inventedEyeglasses / Britannica Alessandro di Spina from Florence.At first, they were attached to the nose like a clip, and were used only to correct farsightedness. And only in the middle of the 15th century did they come up with temples and lenses for the nearsighted.
2. Mechanical watches
Mechanical clocks appeared in Europe between 1280 and 1320. No, of course, this is not the first time measuring device in general - the ancient Greeks and Chinese made water models even earlier.
But inventedA. P. usher. A History of Mechanical Inventions in Italy (most likely) the gear-wheel escapement made it possible to create a completely mechanical clock, working without any liquid, due to a weight lowered on a rope. Finally, it became possible to make chronographs that did not take up an entire room and did not freeze in winter.
This can be compared to the transition from hefty tube computers with punched cards to a device that fits on a table.
Clockmakers Guilds in Medieval Europe enjoyedA. P. usher. A History of Mechanical Inventions great respect, and their participants riveted incredibly complex and finely crafted mechanisms. Often, clocks - especially large, tower ones - not only measured time, but also showed the movement of celestial bodies.
This was important because planets foretell the future—at least according to medieval doctors. Here Jupiter enters the house of Scorpio without an invitation, and plague will happen. You need to be prepared for this in advance.
3. buttresses
Buttresses are such cunning supports that allow you to distribute the weight of the walls of large buildings and make them more stable.
These designs inventedAll About the Buttress and Other Wall Supports / ThoughtCo.com in the 12th century, and it was they who made possible the so-called Gothic architectural style. You know, all these huge temples with statues and towers, like Notre Dame Cathedral. It was simply unrealistic to build them without buttresses: the buildings would have collapsed under their own weight - strength of evidence, that's all.
Before that, really healthy architectural monuments had to be built according to the principle Egyptian pyramids - so that the base is wide and the top is small. buttresses allowedD. Watkin. History of Western Architecture turn them from dull gray heaps of stone into majestic works of art.
4. tower mills
In general, the very idea of using the wind to grind grain, pump water and lift cargo is not new. The first windmills were invented in Eastern Persia in the 9th century, and their blades were located horizontally.
But Europeans in the thirteenth century inventedJ. Langdon. Mills in the Medieval Economy: England 1300‑1540 a tower mill, which was equipped with a revolving roof and could carry really huge sails. It was much, much more effective than the previous inventions of the Persians.
For almost 600 years, the tower mill has been Europe's main source of energy.
These structures in the Middle Ages were a very valuable thing, and their construction cost a pretty penny. Therefore, they are often attachedA. Lucas. Wind, Water, Work: Ancient And Medieval Milling Technology to castles or converted ready-made watchtowers into them. As a result, the mill became not only a miracle of engineering, but also fortressready to withstand a siege.
Enemy at the gate? We take off the sails so that the adversaries do not spoil the arrows, and with one elegant movement the building turns into a battle bastion.
5. Printing press
How do you think wine and books are related? Well, drinking has not only given inspiration to some writers, but it has allowed their writing to become mainstream.
The fact is that one German engineer and engraver named Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-1440s lookedD. Childress. Johannes Gutenberg and the Printing Press on a wine press, which crushed grapes for the production of alcohol, thought about it and decided to print with a similar thing books.
The mechanism is as follows: we type the text from lead letters, as from the designer's cubes. We fasten them to the plate, it to the press, smear it with ink, and press forward page after page until you have made the required number of copies.
By the way, a couple of centuries before that, in 1282, in Europe inventedD. Childress. Johannes Gutenberg and the Printing Press factories powered by water and wind energy, which made it possible to stamp good paper in large quantities. Prior to this, the Chinese and Muslims produced it exclusively by hand, which is why the material was too expensive.
Printing and cheap paper sparked a revolution in European education, greatly increasing the number of literate people.
And yes, as books became more accessible, it was in Medieval Europe appearedD. Childress. Johannes Gutenberg and the Printing Press public libraries. The first was founded in 1452 by Malatesto Novello, ruler of the Italian city of Cesena.
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