Medieval technology is the technology used in medieval Europe under Christian rule. After the Renaissance of the 12th century, medieval Europe saw a radical change in the rate of new inventions, innovations in the ways of managing traditional means of production, and economic growth. The period saw major technological advances, including the adoption of gunpowder, the invention of vertical windmills, spectacles, mechanical clocks, and greatly improved water mills, building techniques, and agriculture in general.
Pumhart von Steyr, a 15th-century very large-calibre cannon
Medieval port crane for mounting masts and lifting heavy cargo in the former Hanse town of Gdańsk
Carruca (Heavy Plough )
Medieval plough and oxen team
Guido da Vigevano or Guido da Vigevano da Pavia was an Italian physician and inventor. He is notable for his sketchbook Texaurus regis Francie, a catalog of military equipment, and his Anothomia Philippi Septimi, an illustrated work on dissection. Each provides insight into the state of medieval technology and medicine. As an inventor, Guido can be regarded as a distant forerunner of later Renaissance artist-engineers like Taccola, Francesco di Giorgio Martini and Leonardo da Vinci. As an anatomist, Guido documents the practices of the fourteenth-century Bolognese school and its esteemed doctor Mondino de Luzzi.
Anatomy of the uterus by Guido da Vigevano, Anothomia Philippi Septimi Chantilly, Musée Condé, Ms. 334, fol. 281v.
Guido da Vigevanos sketch of a crank wagon, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris
