Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel, Frances Gies
Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel, Frances Gies
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Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel
Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages

Author: Frances Gies, Joseph Gies

Narrator: Anne Flosnik

Unabridged: 9 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/30/2022

Synopsis

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 innovations—the three-field system, water power in industry, the full-rigged ship, the putting-out system—into a powerful new combination of technology, economics, and politics.From the expansion of medieval man’s capabilities, the voyage of Columbus with all its fateful consequences is seen as an inevitable product, while even the genius of Leonardo da Vinci emerges from the context of earlier and lesser-known dreamers and tinkerers.

About Frances Gies

Frances Gies (1915–2013) and Joseph Gies (1916–2006) were the world’s bestselling historians of medieval Europe. Together and separately, they wrote more than twenty books, which collectively have sold more than a million copies.

About Anne Flosnik

Anne Flosnik is an accomplished, multi-award-winning British actress, with lead credits for stage, television, commercials, industrials, voice-overs, and audiobooks. She has garnered three AudioFile Earphones Awards, an ALA Award, and four Audie Award nominations.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Mary on March 05, 2019

An incredibly important, valuable book that I could barely finish. Oy. Love these. Gies has chosen what I think is an extremely important topic to research: Medieval technology. In popular understanding, Medieval Europe was a 'dark age' where much was lost of Classical knowledge and close to no new i......more

Goodreads review by Jared on December 09, 2022

Wow! What an explanatory and illuminating walk through the centuries of human technological advance. Any one of the advances and discoveries pointed out by the author could easily deserve a book on its own. My favorite chapter covered the years 1200-1400. An amazing time in Europe and the world to b......more

Goodreads review by Erik on January 22, 2023

This is a non-fiction book about a subject that I would expect to be very dry, namely medieval technology, but I found it to be compelling reading. The authors make a thesis that the "Dark Ages" were not, in fact, as dark as popularly believed. They show the ways that technology was invented, borrow......more

Goodreads review by Warren on June 08, 2012

The Middle Ages are often considered a time of stagnation in human cultural and scientific development. In Cathedral, Forge & Waterwheel: Technology & Invention in the Middle Ages, author Frances Gies proposes that quite to the contrary, the period of history between 500 AD and 1500 AD led to the de......more

Goodreads review by Edoardo on December 20, 2020

The received wisdom, derived largely from Renaissance propagandists and their amplifiers during the Enlightenment, was that Europe, after the end of the Western Roman Empire, entered a period of savagery and civilisational decline arrested only by the Renaissance that enabled Europe to cast off the......more

Quotes

“[A] lively history of medieval technology.” Amazon.com

“The authors…demonstrate not only their remarkable well-informed and articulate mastery of technical detail but also their command of the historiographical issues that continue to enliven this field of study.” Historian magazine

“The Gieses work century by century through the Middle Ages (from 500 to 1500), listing new tools and methods, each page full of attractive detail and anecdote…A mine of information.” Kirkus Reviews

“Informative, readable, enjoyable, and well written, this work is directed to general readers. Highly recommended for all collections.” Library Journal

“The flame of human ingenuity burned with surprising intensity during the medieval centuries…The Gieses here explode the myth of the Dark Ages, showing that the Fall of Rome did not plunge Europe into stagnation and lethargy.” Booklist

Awards

  • Book-of-the-Month Club Selection
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