technological innovations

[Mark Harris]

Siobhan declared:

Concerning A World Lit Only By Fire:

I think that my eyes started rolling somewhere about the point when
Manchester made the comment that there were no significant technological
innovations of note between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance.
 Admittedly, you could dance around all day trying to define "significant" or
"technological," but please!  

By 700, water wheels for mill drive are in use all over Europe; in 750, hops
as beer wort used for the first time in Bavaria (just for you, Barat); 800,
development of a miniscule handwriting at Charlemagne's court; 870,
development of "musica enchiriadis, a musical manuscript using Latin letters
for musical notation; factories are producing linen and wool in Flanders by
942;  980, an organ with 400 pipes at Winchester Monastery in England, etc.,
etc., etc.
>>>>>>>>

An even bigger one, at least one that had a far greater impact on
the image that most of us think of as the Middle Ages: the stirrup.

The stirrup allowed mounted horseback combat using lances and thus
the armored knight. Before this time, most combat was by local
militia. After the invention of the stirrup and the development of
the armored horseman, the feudal system evolved to help pay for the
huge increase in military spending needed to equip such forces.

The stirrup is probably a much better representative of the knight
than either spurs or a white belt IMHO.

Stefan li Rous
markh at risc.sps.mot.com

PS: I've bought this book but haven't read it. Guess I'm going to
have to. Some many books, so little time.