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  • Water Technology in the Middle Ages: Cities, Monasteries, and Waterworks after the Roman Empire
  • Steven D. Sargent
Water Technology in the Middle Ages: Cities, Monasteries, and Waterworks after the Roman Empire. By Roberta J. Magnusson (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002) 238 pp. $38.00

This informative monograph presents a synthesis of the documentary and archaeological evidence pertaining to complex, gravity-flow water systems in late medieval Europe. Although the project has "the potential to provide a longitudinal case study for the evolution of technological systems in a premodern society" (ix), Magnusson recognizes the difficulty of applying theoretical models to medieval evidence and avoids forcing her data into any specific framework. Nevertheless, she acknowledges her debt to innovation-diffusion theory, the ideas of Thomas Hughes, and proponents of the social construction of technology. Although she uses evidence from every part of Europe, the book focuses chiefly on England and northern Italy.

Magnusson begins by discussing the continuity of Roman water systems into the early Middle Ages. Although the evidence is sparse and difficult to interpret, she concludes that, on the whole, Roman water systems gradually decayed and were abandoned, and that, beginning in the early eleventh century, a new phase of "readoption and diffusion of complex water systems" began in Europe (7). Monastic houses, especially the Cistercians, took the lead in this revival before innovative building techniques and specialized craft knowledge spread to towns, which used them to promote public health, economic growth, and civic pride.

Following a chapter on the problems associated with acquiring both [End Page 287] a source of fresh water and a right of way with a suitable gradient for building, Magnusson turns to the details of construction and conduit design, including intake systems, types of pipes, provisions for maintenance, and techniques for distributing water at the final destination. From a technological perspective, this chapter is the heart of the book, synthesizing the fragmentary knowledge provided by documentary, cartographical, and archaeological evidence into a coherent picture of medieval hydraulic systems.

After a useful chapter on the costs of building and maintaining conduit systems, Magnusson considers how people adapted to the new water technologies, changing their behavior patterns to take advantage of expanded opportunities. Keeping water systems pure and unpolluted, limiting overuse or misuse by industries, and controlling traffic around the conduit sometimes became major problems and led to bitter disputes. In the end, however, people's enthusiasm for the new systems fostered the acceptance of collectively sanctioned rules of behavior and strong measures to punish violators.

Magnusson concludes by surveying the gradual decay and abandonment of medieval water systems in postmedieval Europe. New solutions to the problem of providing plentiful water at low cost emerged, including artificial lifting devices such as waterwheels, pumps, and engines. Privately financed and constructed water systems became more common in the seventeenth century, threatening the medieval commitment to pure water for all social classes. Although new technologies increased the quantity of water available, quality declined, as private companies supplied polluted water to the public. Not until the nineteenth century did governments advocate building new water systems at public expense.

Overall, this volume provides an admirably comprehensive and systematic summary of the technology of medieval water systems. While acknowledging the influence of new theoretical perspectives on her work, the author recognizes the limits of their usefulness for this particular project. The result is a well-balanced and informative piece of scholarship.

Steven D. Sargent
Union College
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