Cathedral, Forge and Waterwheel by Frances Gies

Cathedral, Forge and Waterwheel by Frances Gies

In this account of Europe's rise to world leadership in technology, Frances and Joseph Gies make use of recent scholarship to destroy two time-honored myths. Myth One: that Europe's leap forward occurred suddenly in the -Renaissance, ' following centuries of medieval stagnation. Not so, say the Gieses: Early modern technology and experimental science were direct outgrowths of the decisive innovations of medieval Europe, in the tools and techniques of agriculture, craft industry, metallurgy, building construction, navigation, and war. Myth Two: that Europe achieved its primacy through -Western' superiority. On the contrary, the authors report, many of Europe's most important inventions-the horse harness, the stirrup, the magnetic compass, cotton and silk cultivation and manufacture, papermaking, firearms, -Arabic' numerals-had their origins outside Europe, in China, India, and Islam. The Gieses show how Europe synthesized its own innovation-the three-field system, water power in industry, the full-rigged shit, the putting-out system-into a powerful new combination of technology, economics, and politics.