The 10 essays here are the result of a conference devoted to the study of medieval technology in April 1995. Taken together, they aim to help dispel the common misconception that medieval people somehow had to toil in a world bereft of technical innovation and ingenuity.

These essays seek to dispel the view that medieval people had to toil bereft of technical innovation. The authors show the ways in which the technologies of building construction, manufacture and metallurgy were shaped by forces of culture, social identity, political ambition and the environment.

'A valuable feature of several of these studies is their emphasis on the relations between different craft traditions, and on their symbiosis with the natural environment.' Economic History Review, Vol. LII, No. 1