Medieval Technology and Social Change
By Lynn Townsend White Jr.
Categories: History
Lynn White Jr.'s 1962 study argues that technical inventions reshaped medieval Europe, often in ways their users never intended. In three essays, White argues that the stirrup made mounted shock combat possible and helped give rise to feudalism, shows how the heavy plough and new field systems transformed agriculture and traces the medieval development of mechanical power and machines. His stirrup thesis set off a long debate among historians.