Technology of the Region

This period sees major technological advances, including the adoption of gunpowder, the invention of vertical windmills, spectacles, mechanical clocks, and greatly improved water mills, building techniques (Gothic architecture, medieval castles), and agriculture in general (three-field crop rotation).
The development of water mills from their ancient origins was impressive and extended from agriculture to sawmills both for timber and stone. Most large villages have turnable mills. Water-power is also widely used in mining for raising ore from shafts, crushing ore, and even powering bellows.
Technical advancements from this century are either built on long-established techniques in the past, adapted from cross-cultural exchanges through trading networks with the world. Often, the revolutionary aspect lay not in the act of invention itself, but in its technological refinement and application to political and economic power. Though gunpowder along with other weapons had been started by dwarven cultures, it is humans who developed and perfected its military potential, precipitating their expansion.
Also significant in this respect were advances in maritime technology. Advances in shipbuilding included the multi-masted ships with lateen sails, the sternpost-mounted rudder, and the skeleton-first hull construction. Along with new navigational techniques such as the dry compass, the Jacob's staff, and the astrolabe, these allowed economic and military control of the sea and enabled the global navigational achievements of the dawning age of exploration.
At the turn to this time, the invention of mechanical printing made possible a dissemination of knowledge to a wider population, that would not only lead to a gradually more egalitarian society but one more able to dominate other cultures, drawing from a vast reserve of knowledge and experience.

Civil technologies

The following is a list of some important developed technologies.

Agriculture
Types of heavy wheeled plough with a team of oxen for faster clearing of forest lands for agriculture and fields.
Horse and exotic collars and horseshoes for plowing animals.
Crop rotations (two and three-field systems)
Wine presses are expensive devices that only the wealthy can afford.
Qanats or Aqueducts (Water ducts systems that would bring water from an underground source or river source to the town. Tunnels just big enough for one person. Tunnels had gradual slopes)

Architecture and construction
Pendentive architecture (A specific spherical form in the upper corners to support a dome)
Artesian well (A thin rod with a hard iron cutting edge is placed in the bore hole and repeatedly struck with a hammer, underground water pressure forces the water up the hole without pumping)
Central heating through underfloor channels (a simpler central heating system where heat traveled through underfloor channels from the furnace room in some places. Also used a network of interconnected underfloor channels heated the 300 m2 large assembly room of workers during the winter months. The degree of efficiency of the system has been calculated at 90%)
Rib vault (An essential element for the rise of Gothic architecture, rib vaults allowed vaults to be built for the first time over rectangles of unequal lengths. It also greatly facilitated scaffolding and largely replaced the older groin vault)
Chimney and fireplace
Segmental arch bridge (bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side)
Treadwheel crane (human-powered hoisting and lowering device used in the buildings of castles and cathedrals. The often heavy charge is lifted as the individual inside the treadwheel crane walks. The rope attached to a pulley is turned onto a spindle by the rotation of the wheel thus allowing the device to hoist or lower the affixed pallet)
Stationary harbour crane (The typical harbour crane was a pivoting structure equipped with double treadwheels. There were two types: wooden gantry cranes pivoting on a central vertical axle and stone tower cranes which housed the windlass and treadwheels with only the jib arm and roof rotating. These cranes were placed on docksides for the loading and unloading of cargo where they replaced or complemented older lifting methods like see-saws, winches, and yards. Slewing cranes which allowed a rotation of the load and were thus particularly suited for dockside work)
Floating crane (a ship with a crane specialized in lifting heavy loads. The largest crane vessels are used for offshore construction Mast crane-Some harbour cranes were specialized at mounting masts to newly built sailing ships)
Wheelbarrows (proved useful in building construction, mining operations, and agriculture)

Art
Oil paint (oil was used to add details to tempera paintings and painted wooden statues)

Clocks
Hourglass (A reasonably dependable, affordable, and accurate measure of time)
Mechanical clocks (weight-driven clocks were used primarily in clock towers)

Mechanics
Compound crank (two simple cranks to form a compound crank for manually powering war carriages and paddle wheel boats. The devices were fitted directly to the vehicle's axle respectively to the shafts turning the paddle wheels)
Metallurgy
Blast furnace (type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. Blast refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric pressure)

Milling
Ship mill (designed to mill grains using hydraulic power)
Paper Mill
Rolling mill (Used to produce a metal sheet of an even thickness. First used on soft, malleable metals, such as lead, gold and tin)
Tidal Mills (a water mill driven by tidal rise and fall. A dam with a sluice is created across a suitable tidal inlet, or a section of a river estuary is made into a reservoir. As the tide comes in, it enters the mill pond through a one-way gate, and this gate closes automatically when the tide begins to fall. When the tide is low enough, the stored water can be released to turn a water wheel. Tide mills are usually situated in river estuaries, away from the effects of waves but close enough to the sea to have a reasonable tidal range)
Vertical windmills (efficient at grinding grain or draining water)
Water hammer (Used in metallurgy to forge the metal blooms from bloomeries (smelters for irons), they replaced manual hammer work)

Navigation
Dry compass
Astronomical compass
Stern-mounted rudders (The iron hinge system is the first stern rudder permanently attached to the ship hull and makes a vital contribution to the navigation achievements of the age of discovery and thereafter)

Printing, paper, and reading
A movable type printing press
Paper
Rotating Bookmark
Spectacles
Watermarks

Textile industry and garments
Functional button
Horizontal loom (operated by foot-treadles were faster and more efficient)
Silk
Spinning Wheel (to spin thread or yarn)

Miscellaneous
Chess
Forest Glass (This type of glass uses wood ash and sand as the main raw materials and is characterized by a variety of greenish-yellow colours)
Grindstones (rough stone, usually sandstone, used to sharpen iron)
Liquor and distilleries
Magnets
Mirrors
Illustrated surgical atlas
Quarantine periods
Rat traps

Military technologies
Armor
Quilted Armour
Cuir Bouilli (hardened leather)
Chain Mail
Jazerant (adaptation of chain mail in which the chain mail would be sewn in between layers of linen or quilted armour)
Scale Armour
Plate Armour

Cavalry
Arched saddle (enabled mounted knights to wield lances underarm and prevent the charge from turning into an unintentional pole-vault. This innovation gave birth to true shock cavalry, enabling fighters to charge on full gallop)
Spurs
Stirrup

Gunpowder weapons
Cannons
Flintlock pistols (rudimentary designs of pieces that propel balls of metal are particularly used in duels by wealthy)
Volley gun (many small-caliber iron barrels set up parallel on a platform. When the gun was fired in a volley, it created a shower of iron shots. They were employed, specifically, during the early period of this century, and continued serving, mostly, as an anti-personnel gun)
Corned gunpowder (corning the black powder allowed for more powerful and faster ignition of cannons. It also facilitated the storage and transportation of black powder)
Very large-calibre cannon (siege warfare the term superguns applies to stone-firing bombards with a ball diameter of more than 50 cm. These superguns were either manufactured by forging together longitudinal iron bars, held in place by iron rings, or cast in bronze with techniques generally similar to bell-founding)

Mechanical artillery
Counterweight trebuchet (Powered solely by the force of gravity, these catapults revolutionized medieval siege warfare and construction of fortifications by hurling huge stones unprecedented distances)

Missile weapons
Lake fire (An incendiary weapon that could even burn on the water where they installed it on their ships)
Grenade (Rudimentary incendiary grenades appeared and individuals learned that Lake fire could not only be thrown by flamethrowers at the enemy but also in stone and ceramic jars)
Longbow with massed, disciplined archery (Having a high rate of fire and penetration power, the longbow contributed to the eventual demise of the medieval knight class)
Steel crossbow (innovation came with several different cocking aids to enhance draw power, making the weapons also the first hand-held mechanical crossbows)

Miscellaneous
Combined arms tactics