List of early medieval watermills

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Tide mills, along with riverine ship mills, were a major early medieval technological advance, allowing to tap the tidal power along the Atlantic Coast for milling. Moulin maree brehat.jpg
Tide mills, along with riverine ship mills, were a major early medieval technological advance, allowing to tap the tidal power along the Atlantic Coast for milling.

This list of early medieval watermills comprises a selection of European watermills spanning the early Middle Ages, from 500 to 1000 AD.

Contents

Historical overview

German ship mills on the Rhine at Cologne, around 1411. Shipmills, Martyrdom of St Ursula at Cologne (detail).jpg
German ship mills on the Rhine at Cologne, around 1411.

Largely unaffected from the turbulent political events following the demise of the Western Roman Empire, the importance of watermilling continued to grow under the new Germanic lords. The sharp rise in numbers of early medieval watermills coincided with the appearance of new documentary genres (legal codes, monastic charters, hagiography) which were more inclined to address such a relatively mundane device than the ancient urban-centered literary class had been. [1] This partly explains the relative abundance of medieval literary references to watermills compared to former times. [2]

The quantitative growth of medieval evidence appears to be more than a mere reflection of the changing nature of surviving sources. By Carolingian times, references to watermills in the Frankish Realm had become "innumerable". [3] At the time of the compilation of the Domesday Book (1086), there were an estimated 6,500 watermills in England alone. [4]

By the early 7th century, watermills were well established in Ireland, and began to spread from the former territory of the empire into the non-romanized parts of Germany a century later. [5] The introduction of the ship mill and tide mill in the 6th century, both of which yet unattested for the ancient period, [6] allowed for a flexible response to the changing water-level of rivers and the Atlantic Ocean, thus demonstrating the technological innovativeness of early medieval watermillers.

Earliest evidence

Below the earliest medieval evidence for different types of watermills. This list complements its ancient counterpart.

DateWater-powered mill typesFind spot (or reference)Location
537 Ship mill [7] Procop V (=Goth. I), 19.19–22 Rome
6th century Sawmill; crank and connecting rod system without gear train [8] Gerasa and Ephesus Jordan and Turkey
6th century Vertical-wheeled tide mill [9] Killoteran near Waterford Ireland
c. 630 Horizontal-wheeled tide mill [10] [11] Little Island I Ireland
c. 636 Horizontal-wheeled mill (Norse or Greek mill) [10] [A 1] Ballykilleen Ireland

Written sources

In the following, literary, epigraphical and documentary sources referring to watermills and other water-driven machines are listed.

ReferenceLocationDateType of evidenceComments on
Annals of Ulster [12] 650Annal
Benedict of Nursia, Regula 66.6–7 [13] 529/547Possible watermill
Caesarius of Arles, Sermones, VIII, 4 [14] Early 6th century
Cassiodorus, Variae III, 31.2 [15] 510/511
Charter of king Childebert I [16] Paris 556CharterShip mill
Charter of king Dagobert II [17] Trier 646Charter
Charter of king Ethelbert of Kent [18] 762Charter
Charter [19] Wang-Thulbach754CharterPossible watermill
Charters [20] Lorsch Abbey 760s onwardsCharter
Edictus Rothari 149–151 [21] 643Legal code
Gregorius Turonensis, Historia Francorum III, 19 [16] Dijon c. 575HistoriographyShip mill
Gregorius Turonensis, Vitae Patrum, XVIII, 2 [3] 484/507Hagiography
Lex Alamannorum, 79–80 [22] 717/719Legal code
Lex Baivariorum, IX, 2 [22] Probably 725/728Legal code
Lex Visigothorum, VII, 2.12 and VIII, 4.30 [21] 568/586Legal code
Marius Aventicius, Chronica [16] Geneva 563AnnalShip mill
"Muliheim" [19] Near Niederalteich 731CharterLikely watermill site
Nomos georgikós 81–82 [21] Late 7th centuryLegal code
Pactus Alamannorum, V, 14 [22] Early 7th centuryLegal code
Pactus legis Salicae, Recensio Guntchramna, X, 6; XII, 1–3; XXXI, 3 [15] 567/596Legal code
Procop V (=Goth. I), 19.19–22 [16] Rome 537HistoriographyShip mills
Senchus Mòr, De ceithri slichtaib Athgabála [21] c. 600Legal code
Venantius Fortunatus, Carmina, III, 12, 37–8 [17] c. 600
Vita Haimhrammi, 37 [23] Thuringia c. 770HagiographyWatermill (?) machinery
Vita Leobae, 12 [22] c. 740Hagiography
Vita S. Orienti, II, 3 [3] c. 380/420?Hagiography
Vita Sturmi, 20 [24] Fulda c. 765HagiographyMill-channel
Vita S. Brigidae virginis, cols. 787–8 Migne [12] c. 650Hagiography
Vita S. Remigi episcopi Remensis, 17 [3] 486/511Hagiography

Archaeological finds

Watermill sites

Below are listed excavated or surveyed watermill sites dated to the early medieval period.

SiteCountryDateIdentification/Remains
Ebbsfleet [25] England Early 8th centuryHorizontal-wheeled tide mill
Old Windsor I [10] England Probably late 7th centuryMill-channel, woodwork of three vertical water-wheels
Old Windsor II [10] England 9th or 10th centuryMill-channel, horizontal-wheeled mill
Raunds, West Cotton [26] England Late SaxonLeat, sluice gate, chute, stake and wattle lined and stone surfaced wheel-pit
Tamworth [10] England Between 846 and 864Entire establishment
Dasing [27] Germany 696/697Vertical-wheeled undershot or breastshot mill, mill-pond, mill-race, fragments of mill-stones
Ballykilleen [10] Ireland c. 636Horizontal-wheeled mill
Cloontycarthy [10] Ireland c. 833Entire establishment
Drumard [10] Ireland c. 782Horizontal-wheeled mill
Killoteran near Waterford [9] Ireland 6th centuryVertical-wheeled tide mill
Little Island I [10] [11] Ireland c. 630Horizontal-wheeled tide mill
Little Island II [10] [11] Ireland 7th centuryVertical-wheeled tide mill
Morett [10] Ireland c. 710Vertical-wheeled undershot mill
Gerasa [28] Jordan 6th centurySawmill; crank and connecting rod system without gear train
Nendrum Monastery mill [29] Northern Ireland 619 & 789Horizontal-wheeled tide mill
Ephesus [30] Turkey 6th centurySawmill; crank and connecting rod system without gear train; multiple mill complex with at least five watermills

Millstones

The following list comprises stray finds of early medieval millstones. Note that there is no way to distinguish millstones driven by water-power from those powered by animals turning a capstan. Most, however, are assumed to derive from watermills. [31]

SiteCountryDate (or find context)Remains
Stroud [32] England Probably Anglo-Saxon Mill-paddles from horizontal wheel
Moycraig [32] Ireland 9th centuryHorizontal paddle-wheel, hub and shaft, complete with pebble bearing

References

  1. ↑ Wilson 2002 , p. 3
  2. ↑ Wikander 2000 , pp. 372f.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Wikander 1985 , p. 170, fn. 45
  4. ↑ Holt 1988 , pp. 7–8, 11
  5. ↑ Wikander 2000 , p. 400
  6. ↑ Wikander 2000 , pp. 379 & 383f.
  7. ↑ Wikander 2000 , pp. 383f.
  8. ↑ Wilson 2002 , p. 16; Ritti, Grewe & Kessener 2007 , pp. 149–153; Kessener 2010; Mangartz 2010
  9. 1 2 Murphy 2005
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Wikander 1985 , pp. 155–157
  11. 1 2 3 Rynne 2000 , pp. 10, fig. 1.2, 17, 49
  12. 1 2 Wikander 1985 , p. 168, fn. 18
  13. ↑ Wikander 2000 , p. 399
  14. ↑ Wikander 2000 , p. 399, fn. 121
  15. 1 2 Wikander 2000 , p. 400, fn. 123
  16. 1 2 3 4 Wikander 2000 , p. 384
  17. 1 2 Wikander 1985 , p. 169, fn. 42
  18. ↑ Wikander 1985 , p. 169, fn. 26
  19. 1 2 Wikander 2014 , p. 212
  20. ↑ Wikander 2014 , p. 214
  21. 1 2 3 4 Wikander 2000 , p. 400, fn. 124
  22. 1 2 3 4 Wikander 1985 , p. 168, fn. 14
  23. ↑ Wikander 2014 , pp. 214f.
  24. ↑ Wikander 2014 , pp. 213f.
  25. ↑ Watts 2006 , p. 6
  26. ↑ Windell, Chapman and Woodiwiss (1990). From Barrows to Bypass, Excavations at West Cotton Raunds Northamptonshire 1985-1989. Northamptonshire County Council. pp. 29–32.
  27. ↑ Czysz 1994 , pp. 152–154
  28. ↑ Wilson 2002 , p. 16; Ritti, Grewe & Kessener 2007 , pp. 149–151; Kessener 2010
  29. ↑ McErlean & Crothers 2007
  30. ↑ Ritti, Grewe & Kessener 2007 , pp. 151–153; Mangartz 2010; Kessener 2010
  31. ↑ Wikander 2000 , p. 372
  32. 1 2 Wikander 1985 , p. 165

Notes

  1. ↑ Archaeology has unearthed in recent years increasingly more evidence for the existence of this wheel-type in the imperial Roman period.

Sources

Further reading

See also

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