In what area where there advancements in the Middle Ages?

Answer 1

There were advances in just about every area of human endeavor in the Middle Ages. Among the most impressive were advances in law in the Early Middle Ages, and politics, philosophy, science and mathematics in the High Middle Ages and Late Middle Ages.

We tend to forget about some of the advances made during this time because they seem so obvious. Someone in Northern Europe of the 11th or 12th century invented chimneys. We take them so much for granted that we act like they were always there.

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Answer 2

The scientific and cultural advances of the Middle Ages were impressive. They came from many sources, including adaptation of things known in China, India, or Muslim lands, and inventions of the Europeans themselves. Some of them went well beyond anything known to the ancient Romans. Some were very unfortunately forgotten by Renaissance thinkers.

Agriculture and FoodIn the field of agriculture, medieval advances include the horse collar, horse shoes, the European wheelbarrow, the heavy plow, and the screw driven wine press, which later developed into the printing press.

New crops were introduced to Europe, including a variety of citrus fruits, eggplant, apricots, cotton, sugar cane, rice, hard wheat, almonds, artichokes, and others. These include crops introduced to Europe for the first time or spread to new areas of Europe, where they had not previously been grown. Hops were grown for the first time agriculturally.

Whiskey and brandy were invented in the Middle Ages.

Hard soap, which was made from agricultural products, was developed during the Middle Ages.

We should not overlook the development of the three field system of crop rotation. Nor should we overlook the system of managing serfs on manors by organizing them and their fields under the guidance of a reeve, often elected by the serfs from their own number.

Metallurgy and ChemistryThe blast furnace, which provided better types of steel and more of it, was a development of the 12th through 14th centuries.

Rolling mills made it possible to produce sheet steel.

Magnets and mirrors were medieval developments as was the grinding wheel for sharpening and shaping metals.

Military ScienceThe military advancements of the Middle Ages included stirrups, the arched saddle, the couched lance, spurs, plate armor, steel crossbows, massed archery, the trebuchet, corned gunpowder, and the cannon.

Requiring peasants to practice at archery lead to the development of the English longbow as a massed weapon, which was arguably more destructive than the musket.

An interesting development of the Late Middle Ages was the wagon fort, used in the Hussite Wars, which involved the use of heavily armed wagons carrying artillery and moving with cavalry in formation as mobile forts. Wagon forts of various kinds had been known previously, but not with these tactics.

We should not overlook the European castle. Though it is certainly related to earlier walled cities, it was highly developed in medieval Europe into a unique form.

Art and MusicOil paint was developed over a long period in the Middle Ages.

Linear perspective, which is widely thought of as a Renaissance invention, was developed early enough in the Middle Ages that Giotto di Bondone was using it by 1305.

It was also during the Late Middle Ages that artists began to study and apply a realistic understanding of anatomy.

New types of glass were introduced and used for decorative purposes.

Stained glass windows were developed to a high art.

Diamond cutting was a medieval invention.

In music, polyphony and counterpoint were developed.

There were a number of important Musical Instruments, including the fiddle, the vihuela (ancestor of the guitar), the clavichord (ancestor of the piano), the sackbut (ancestor of the trombone), the portative organ, and the positive organ, both organs being significant advances from the ancient hydraulis. I am tempted to include bagpipes, but there is some indication they were used in ancient Rome, so it would be cheating.

Medieval Europeans invented and developed methods for writing music down. Earlier methods were so crude that some earlier medieval writers said accurately written music was impossible to do, which was correct in the time they were writing.

TextilesSilk manufacturing was imported from the East. New spinning wheels and looms were also imported or were developments of older equipment. An easily overlooked result of the improvements was a great increase in the production of linen, which resulted in a huge surplus of rags, and this in turn supplied the paper mills required to make printing practical.

The button had been used as an ornament in ancient times. The Middle Ages saw the invention of the buttonhole, which made the button useful as a fastening device.

PrintingWoodcut printing was developed in China and either imported to or reinvented in Europe.

Printing by engraving was developed in Europe before the end of the Late Middle Ages.

There were a number of separate developments that led to printing with movable type. These included paper, the paper mill, oil based inks, the printing press, movable type, and the type casting mold. The mold was a particularly complicated piece of equipment, and particularly important, as movable type cast without it will not work in a printing press, though it can be used for hand printing. (This is an issue that is widely misunderstood. The Chinese and Korean inventions of movable type were for hand printing, and the type was not used with a printing press.)

MedicinePerhaps the most impressive medieval advancements were made in the field of medicine in Muslim countries and imported into Europe. These included development of the scientific method, based on postulation and experimentation, studies on animals, clinical trials, statistical analysis of results, and peer review. New science included understanding of anatomy, epidemiology and pathology. Dental surgery and restoration were introduced. Pharmacology developed, including analgesics, diuretics, antiseptics, and the production and use of medicinal alcohol. Anesthesiology was developed. The hypodermic needle and syringe were invented, as were adhesive bandages with cotton dressing. Treatments for cancer were introduced. There was early study of psychology, endocrinology, sexual health, geriatrics, and other fields. Information on all of this was available in medieval Europe, where it was studied and used, only to have much of it forgotten in the course of the Renaissance, with the result that it took until the 19th century to recover. My own belief is that it was tossed because Renaissance thinkers disdained the Middle Ages and wanted to return to what they regarded as the more enlightened practices of ancient Rome.

Quarantines were first used in the Middle Ages.

Eye glasses were invented in medieval Europe.

Economics and PoliticsThe Early Middle Ages had economic and political developments, including the the manorial and feudal systems, which may not seem all that desirable today, but were effective responses to the difficulties of the times; and it should be pointed out that under the manorial system, serfs had the important guarantees of a job, a home, and protection, and were in many respects free to do as they wished.

The advancements in economics and politics of the High Middle Ages included the development of banks and international banking. Guilds developed. Confederacies of guilds began to manage the economic affairs of town and cities, and this developed into the republican municipalities called medieval communes and the free cities within such monarchies as the Holy Roman Empire. The communes and free cities confederated into leagues, most importantly the Hanseatic League, which was an international organization that entered into its own treaties, had its own military capacity, and waged its own wars, independently of any individual nation. Separately from all of this was the simultaneous development of the parliamentary system.

MathematicsArabic numerals, imported from the East, allowed the development of mathematics as it had never been before. An improved algebra, based on Arabic numerals, rather than geometry as ancient European algebra had been, was also imported from the East, leading to a number of further improvements in Europe. EducationNew kinds of schools were introduced, including the European university with a design based on the guild system, though it was almost certainly influenced by Muslim and Byzantine universities. The novel concept of transferable academic credentials was essential for the spread of higher education, and this required another novel concept of chartered institutions with set standards.

Another advance in education was the 13th century development of the abacus schools, which were designed to teach boys and girls mathematics using Arabic numerals, reading and writing in the vernacular, geometry, and basic business management; these schools were intended to educate the children of merchant families and were especially common in Italy.

Navigation and Time KeepingHourglasses were invented in the Middle Ages.

Different kinds of clocks were introduced.

There were several different types of compasses introduced or invented in Europe of the Middle Ages.

The stern mounted rudder was a great improvement over earlier rudders.

Engineering and ArchitectureEngineering and architectural advances included the rib vault, the segmental arch bridge, the artesian well, the compound crank, the water hammer, a number of different types of wind, water, and tidal mills, and about half a dozen different types of cranes.

My personal favorite medieval advancement is the invention of the chimney, which was done in Northern Europe some time in the 11th or 12th century. Prior to this, there were no fireplaces as we know them. Fires were built on hearths or braziers in the middles of rooms, and the smoke was allowed to rise through the room and go out vents in the roof or under the gables. Heated rooms were nearly always as drafty as a room with an open window, and a heating a room without drafts could only be done at great expense or difficulty. Medieval people made possible something the ancient Romans never had, which was a cozy nap by a fireplace in the privacy of your own room.