Research Catalog

The medieval military engineer : from the Roman Empire to the sixteenth century

Title
The medieval military engineer : from the Roman Empire to the sixteenth century / Peter Purton.
Author
Purton, P. F. (Peter Fraser)
Publication
  • Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK : The Boydell Press, 2018.
  • ©2018

Items in the Library & Off-site

Filter by

1 Item

StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library U37 .P87 2018Off-site

Details

Description
xiii, 351 pages : illustrations, facsimiles; 25 cm.
Summary
"The results of medieval engineering still surround us - cathedrals, castles, stone bridges, irrigation systems. However, the siege artillery, siege towers, temporary bridges, earthwork emplacements and underground mines used for war have left little trace behind them; and there is even less of the engineers themselves: the people behind the military engineering achievements. The evidence for this neglected group is studied here. The author begins by considering the evolution of military technology across centuries, and the impact of new technologies in the context of the economic and social developments which made them possible. He looks at how military engineers obtained their skills, and the possible link with scholastic scientific awareness. With the increased survival of government records from the middle ages, engineers acquire names and individuals can be identified. And the fifteenth century - the age of polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci - saw a new type of literate military engineer, part of a recognized profession, but with its roots in a thousand years of historical development." -- Publisher's description
Series Statement
Armour and weapons, 1746-9449
Uniform Title
Armour and weapons
Alternative Title
  • From the Roman Empire to the sixteenth century
  • From the Roman Empire to the 16th century
Subject
  • To 1500
  • Military engineering > Europe > History > To 1500
  • Military engineers > Europe > History > To 1500
  • Military engineering
  • Military engineers
  • Ingenieur
  • Europe
Genre/Form
History.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 289-336) and index.
Contents
1. Military Engineers in the Middle Ages -- 2. Late Antiquity and the Early "Middle Ages": Were the "Dark Ages" Really Dark? -- 3. Anonymous but Effective: The Engineers and Technicians of the Ninth to Eleventh Centuries -- 4. The Engineer Recognised -- 5. Engineers in Demand: Innovation and Development in the Thirteenth Century -- 6. Old and New Technology and its Operators in the Fourteenth and Early Fifteenth Centuries -- 7. Polymaths and Specialists in the Fifteenth Century.
ISBN
  • 9781783272785
  • 1783272783
LCCN
2017277324
OCLC
  • ocn995287896
  • 995287896
  • SCSB-8999661
Owning Institutions
Princeton University Library