The Groundbreaking Water Supply Systems of Central and Eastern European Cities, 1300–1580

The late Middle Ages brought about technical innovations in machinery and the use of flowing water as a prime mover. It was mainly in Central Europe that the rediscovery, renewal, and improvement of ancient water-raising methods took place in the late Middle Ages, thus enabling urban consumption from adjacent rivers. The roughly 300 years covered by this study represent a formative phase in the history of water supply systems, from the first large-scale European urban water raising device, built in Lübeck around 1300, to the construction of the London Bridge Waterworks in the 1580s. Historians have generally viewed the London project as one that revolutionized attitudes toward water supply, transforming water into a commodity and water supply into a business. I contend that several water-lifting installations in Central Europe substantially preceded the London device, not only chronologically, but also in social conceptions of their role and commercial implications of their construction.