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Reviews
| Water Technology in the Middle Ages: Cities, Monasteries, and Waterworks after the Roman Empire. By Roberta L. Magnusson. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 2001. xv+238 pp., illus., notes, bibl. essay, index. $38 hb (ISBN 0-8018-6626-X).
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Roman civilization was defined by its plentiful supply of free, clean public water. If fountains and aqueducts epitomized the organized Roman world, ruined public works and severed watercourses are among the standard symbols of the Middle Ages. In her lucid and well-reasoned work, Water Technology in the Middle Ages: Cities, Monasteries, and Waterworks after the Roman Empire, Roberta L. Magnusson, assistant professor of history at the University of Oklahoma, reaches a different conclusion. Many Roman water supply systems continued to function well into the medieval period, Magnusson says. More importantly, her intensive research shows that the technical knowledge of how to use, expand, and maintain them also survived the demise of Roman civil authority.
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Because construction and upkeep of water supply systems was (and still is) both capital- and labor-intensive, virtually all of the water supply systems that were constructed during the Middle Ages were built either by monastic orders or municipal authorities. Reservoirs had to be designed and built, ditches dug, and pipes of lead, earthenware, and wood had to be laid before water could be delivered to the desired locations. Magnusson's text is well supplemented with illustrations of construction methods and water flow charts. The delivery systems varied—faucet-type arrangements predominated in northern Europe, while free-flowing fountains were the norm in the south.
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Although water and waste disposal systems provided long-term benefits to communities, both secular and monastic, their construction and maintenance were substantial and immediate drains on municipal and ecclesiastical budgets. The communities that constructed them often demonstrated an innovative flair when it came to financing these projects, and most ended up being joint collaborations between cities and the religious houses within their walls. Particularly in Italy, segments of old Roman aqueducts were refurbished and incorporated into new medieval systems. Ultimately, the adoption and continued success of complex systems rested on the willingness of the communities to bear the costs, whether through increased levels of taxation or through the generosity of private individuals.
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Just as in the modern world, the construction and administration of water supply (and waste disposal) systems ignited many disputes in medieval Europe. Water Technology in the Middle Ages contains numerous graphic descriptions of struggles over water between church and secular interests, and landowners and peasants. Many 14th-century English court cases dealt with water theft, for even the simplest folk quickly figured out how to lay and connect pipes. On a broader scale, Magnusson describes the quarrel between the citizens of Carlisle and monks of that city's Dominican priory, which raged through most of the 13th century. The priory's waste was deposited just outside the city walls, with predictable effects on the local environment. When the monks could not be persuaded to alter their system, the townspeople blocked the outlet drain with a large heap of stones and timbers. While the ensuing backup had the gratifying result of making the monastery uninhabitable, the mound against the city walls proved to be a convenience for Scots marauders who invaded the city.
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Ironically, says Magnusson, the majority of medieval water systems went out of use as the result of gradual decay and abandonment. Some were replaced by new waterworks in the post-medieval period. These new water systems were almost invariably the creations of private entrepreneurs who had different priorities than the builders and operators of the medieval systems. Magnusson writes:
The backers of the new systems responded to the clamor for more fountains and private pipes by refining their priorities. Instead of providing a restricted quantity of pure water at a few outlets, they aimed for the widespread distribution of a plentiful supply of lower-quality water (p. 167).
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The ultimate result was that the medieval social ethic, which had worked to supply water to all classes, fell by the wayside, and the public health of cities rapidly declined.
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| Roberta Magnusson has written a cogent and authoritative text. I am sure that it will serve for many years as the starting point for those scholars who wish to study and interpret the rise, operation, and decline of water supply systems in medieval Europe. |
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