Includes bibliographical references and index.

List of Illustrations -- List of Contributors -- Introduction / Paolo Squatriti -- Ch. 1: Waterpower in Medieval Ireland / Colin Rynne -- Ch. 2: Medieval England's Water-Related Technologies / Richard Holt -- Ch. 3: Hydraulic Engineering in the Netherlands during the Middle Ages / William H. TeBrake -- Ch. 4: Water Technology in Medieval Germany / Klaus Grewe -- Ch. 5: Medieval Hydraulics in France / Paul Benoit, Josephine Rouillard -- Ch. 6: The Technologies of Water in Medieval Italy / Roberta Magnusson, Paolo Squatriti -- Ch. 7: Hydraulic Systems and Technologies of Islamic Spain: History and Archaeology / Thomas F. Glick, Helena Kirchner -- Ch. 8: Medieval Fishing / Richard Hoffmann -- Bibliography -- Index.

A collaborative study of the uses of water and the technologies employed to use it in medieval Europe. Experts on different areas of water use and of the European continent contribute separate studies to it so as to produce the first comprehensive survey of the techniques people used to harness, and defend themselves from, water in western Christendom between 500 and 1500. Each chapter sets the technologies of fishing, land drainage, irrigation, flood control, urban, domestic, and ecclesiastical water supply within a social and cultural context. Of interest to historians of technology and science, social historians, and all medievalists.

Description based on print version record.