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Water Technology in the Middle Ages:

Cities, Monasteries, and Waterworks after the Roman Empire

ISBN-13: 9780801866265
Publisher: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS
Imprint: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS
By Roberta J. Magnusson
Price: AUD $111.00
Stock: 0 in stock
Availability: This book is temporarily out of stock, order will be despatched as soon as fresh stock is received.
Local release date: 16/03/2002
Format: Hardback 256 pages Weight: 0g
Categories: History of science [PDX]

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Focusing attention on gravity-fed water-flow systems in medieval cities and monasteries, Water Technology in the Middle Ages: Cities, Monasteries, and Waterworks after the Roman Empire challenges the view that hydraulic engineering died with the Romans and remained moribund until the Renaissance. Roberta Magnusson explores the systems' technologieshow they worked, what uses the water servedand also the social rifts that created struggles over access to this basic necessity. Mindful of theoretical questions about what hastens technological change and how society and technology mutually influence one another, the author supplies a thoughtful and instructive study. Archeological, historical, and literary evidence vividly depicts those who designed, constructed, and used medieval water systems and demonstrates a shift from a public-administrative to a private-innovative framework--one that argues for the importance of local initiatives. ''The following chapters attempt to chart a course between the Scylla and Charybdis of technological and social determinism. While writing them, I have tried to strike a balance between the technical and human aspects of medieval hydraulic systems, and to remember that beneath the welter of documents and diffusion patterns, configurations and components, ordinances and expenditures, lie the perceptions, the choices, and often the plain hard work of individual men and women.'' from the Preface

Contents:

Introduction

List of Abbreviations

Acknowledgments

List of Illustrations

Chapter 1: Survival and Revival

Chapter 2: Resource Acquisition

Chapter 3: Design and Construction

Chapter 4: Administration and Finance

Chapter 5: Users

Chapter 6: Epilogue

Notes on Sources

Index

""A fascinating introduction to the study of medieval complex water delivery systems.""

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Water Technology in the Middle Ages:

Cities, Monasteries, and Waterworks after the Roman Empire