People tend to view medieval times as a period where we learned to
             live in towns and cities and to be comfortable with a life where technology
             had not yet become a dominant force. It is sometimes romanticized in
             movies as a time when people were closer to nature and lived more simply.
             As a generalization this may have been true for day-to-day life, but the
             medieval period was also a time of invention and resourcefulness. Some of
             the new technologies continue to be used to this day while others laid the
             foundation for greater technological advances to come. During the medieval
             period, from 1000 to the Renaissance, humankind actually made great
             technological advances that influence life to this day.
             Heavy plows were first used in Europe in the seventh century (Cipolla,
             1994). These plows had to be pulled by beasts of burden -- oxen or horses.
             Horses were stronger, easier to manage and had more endurance than oxen,
             but farmers and other laborers did not come close to making use of all the
             power horses could offer until the harnesses used to attach them to plows
             or wagons were improved. The first horse harnesses used a strap that went
             around the horse's neck. The straps to the load to be pulled were then
             attached to the top of this neck strap. This arrangement actually pressed
             on the horse's trachea and interfered with breathing, and was an
             inefficient way to use horsepower (Gans, 2002).
             Starting in the ninth century (Cipolla, 1994), people started
             experimenting with design modifications to eliminate breathing problems.
             Harnesses were modified several times, but it was during the medieval age
             that the horse collar was developed. This heavy, padded piece, strapped to
             stay in place, distributed the horse's shoulders and chest, where the horse
             had its greatest pulling power. This technological advance allowed the use
             of horses to pull much greater loads than eve...