The Medievalists has a short list of 10 inventions from the Middle Ages which have shaped the modern world.
The Middle Ages are often portrayed as an age of superstition and stagnation, but many of the technologies that transformed everyday life were first developed or greatly improved during this period. From eyeglasses and mechanical clocks to windmills and universities, these medieval inventions continue to shape the modern world.
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10 Medieval Inventions That Shaped the Modern World
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by Mojibake Tengu on Sunday July 05, @09:24AM (2 children)
You joke, right? All of those medieval inventions were actually used in Ancient China thousands of years before Europe's Middle Ages.
All of them.
If you wish to investigate, begin with Mohist sect of engineers, who are well documented since about 5th century, but that was only a peak of their military and political influence.
In their original tradition, Mozi was a title of their sect leader, not a name of a person.
There is a record in Imperial archives about guild of Alchemists had a state-wide privilege for lending flying machines to trading companies, mostly because of handling safety rules. Limited only for controlled transport of very precious goods, like gems.
Those flying machines were designed by engineers too of course. Hydrogen airships, mostly.
The kinder you are, the easier it is for wicked people to morally coerce you.
(Score: 3, Informative) by janrinok on Sunday July 05, @09:46AM
I get your point but where is your evidence of a printing press, eye glasses or even a mechanical clock from 'thousands of years' ago? Yes, they had a printing press but that was at least after Christ. You mention the 5th century and the first definition that I have for medieval times was "The medieval era, often called The Middle Ages or the Dark Ages, began around 476 A.D. " so it wasn't thousands of years before - it was about the same time.
Eye glasses are reported to have been first invented in 1286 in Italy.
Mechanical clocks - not water clocks - originated about the same time frame.
Balloons were also known quite some time back, but they tended to be hot-air balloons rather than hydrogen. And their security as a method of transport for gems seems doubtful as they cannot be steered reliably. If you are going to have people on the ground tracking them they might as well just carry the gems themselves.
You may be correct, but without quoting your sources it sounds doubtful.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 3, Funny) by jb on Sunday July 05, @10:20AM
Where I come from, "mozi" is short for "mosquito".
(Score: 2) by looorg on Sunday July 05, @10:18AM (3 children)
While interesting I do wonder if Libraries and Coffee houses really do count as inventions. I can sort of convince myself that the idea of a public library, and not just one for monks and scholars, might be an interesting idea apparently over 500 years old. But is it an invention? The coffee house in that regard seems odd, is it the coffee that makes it special or that it is a store where people meet, drink and do things. Cause all those things I would have assumed had happened before but possibly for other drinks, so is it the coffee that makes it an invention?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by jb on Sunday July 05, @10:30AM
No. Libraries had been around for much longer: at the very least the ancient Greeks and Romans had them; perhaps some even older civilisations too. "Letting the public in" is not an invention, it's just a natural consequence of what happens when people a few more people (beyond just scholars and the clergy, but still well short of "most people") learn to read.
The tavern would be a perfect example of such a place ... and again we know that the ancient Greeks and Romans had taverns (and it seems highly probable that the ancient Persians would have had them too, since they discovered wine before even the Greeks). Also the ancient Chinese & Japanese had tea houses (and tea is much closer to coffee than wine) ... but not sure if that counts as they were far more formal places than names like "coffee house" or the British version of "tea house" suggest.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday July 05, @12:30PM
From what i've learned, a coffee house was where Lloyd's of London first started up insuring ships and cargoes. They rated ships and captains as per how good they were and insured accordingly.
Ah, here's Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd%27s_of_London [wikipedia.org]
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 05, @03:21PM
Yeah I'd swap those out for the following instead (except they're earlier in China and only arrived later in Medieval Europe):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plough#Mould-board_ploughing [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_collar#China [wikipedia.org] (a horse collar that didn't choke the horse).
See also:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfolk_four-course_system [wikipedia.org]
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-025-05815-7 [nature.com]
The modern world has lots of people who aren't farmers. In order for this to happen, each farmer must be able to feed way more people.
That way your rocket scientists, construction workers, elevator technicians, hair stylists, etc can be fed without having to spend time working the fields.
Also at the beginning stages as your farmers start to be able to fed more and more people, those people get to do different stuff and that's how new things get invented/created/discovered.
Last but not least the potato probably played a significant part in shaping the modern world. Potatoes helped the Europeans become even more powerful (and thus colonize the world etc). With potatoes the Europeans could feed more people compared to grain crops. Potatoes have vitamin C too and are a superfood for those who require farmer level calories (eat 3000 kcal of potatoes and you meet more RDAs than if you eat 3000kcal of bread/wheat: https://www.eatthismuch.com/calories/potato-2091?a=10.84011%3A0 [eatthismuch.com]
https://www.eatthismuch.com/calories/wheat-bread-4017?a=46%3A0). [eatthismuch.com]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Gaaark on Sunday July 05, @12:32PM (3 children)
I think every one of these inventions is covered in 'BBC Connections'.
Must. watch. again....
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Sunday July 05, @12:59PM
What a good idea!
I've just started episode 1...
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 1) by RootTwo on Monday July 06, @01:58AM (1 child)
Or borrow the book from one of those new fangled libraries.
"The Day the Universe Changed" is another good one by James Burke.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday July 06, @10:03PM
Already
pwnedowned!--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --