Medieval Times essays

Medieval Times essays People tend to view medieval times as a period where we learned to live in towns and cities and to be comfortable with a life where technology had not yet become a dominant force. It is sometimes romanticized in movies as a time when people were closer to nature and lived more simply. As a generalization this may have been true for day-to-day life, but the medieval period was also a time of invention and resourcefulness. Some of the new technologies continue to be used to this day while others laid the foundation for greater technological advances to come. During the medieval period, from 1000 to the Renaissance, humankind actually made great technological advances that influence life to this day. Heavy plows were first used in Europe in the seventh century (Cipolla, 1994). These plows had to be pulled by beasts of burden oxen or horses. Horses were stronger, easier to manage and had more endurance than oxen, but farmers and other laborers did not come close to making use of all the power horses could offer until the harnesses used to attach them to plows or wagons were improved. The first horse harnesses used a strap that went around the horse's neck. The straps to the load to be pulled were then attached to the top of this neck strap. This arrangement actually pressed on the horse's trachea and interfered with breathing, and was an inefficient way to use horsepower (Gans, 2002). Starting in the ninth century (Cipolla, 1994), people started experimenting with design modifications to eliminate breathing problems. Harnesses were modified several times, but it was during the medieval age that the horse collar was developed. This heavy, padded piece, strapped to stay in place, distributed the horse's shoulders and chest, where the horse had its greatest pulling power. This technological advance allowed the use of horses to pull much greater loads than eve...