Books, Banks, Buttons: And Other Inventions from the Middle Ages Book

Once regarded by historians as a period of intellectual stagnation, the Middle Ages were actually a period of extraordinary technological innovation. This entertaining romp through the inventions of the period tells the story of the first appearance of dozens of items of lasting significance. From the invention of eyeglasses (by a now-forgotten layperson who sought to keep his methods secret, the better to profit from them) to the creation of the fork (at first regarded as an instrument of diabolical perversion but embraced when it helped people handle another invention of the age, pasta), this beautifully illustrated volume is a fitting tribute to a misunderstood era that gave us countless items from which we still benefit today. What we owe to the Middle Ages: Eyeglasses Paper Watermarks Books Printing with movable type Universities Arabic numerals Zero in mathematics The date of the birth of Christ Banks Notaries Charitable lending societies Family tree Names of musical notes Buttons Underwear Trousers Playing cards Tarot cards Chess Carnival Anaesthetics Amulets Domesticated cats Glazed windows Fireplaces Forks Pasta Windmill and watermill Horse as labor Wheelbarrow Gunpowder Clocks Purgatory Santa Claus