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Darrera modificació: 2010-01-19
Bases de dades: Sciència.cat
Frugoni, Chiara, Medioevo sul naso: occhiali, bottoni e altre invenzioni medievali, Roma, Laterza, 2001, vi + 184 pp., il.
- Resum
- Un Medioevo inaspettato dalle mille invenzioni: occhiali e bottoni, ma anche forchetta e spaghetti, note musicali e polvere da sparo. Un racconto affascinante, una storia documentata di sorridente ironia e di immagini colorate.
Once regarded by historians as a period of intellectual stagnation, the Middle Ages were actually a time of extraordinary cultural and technological innovation. This entertaining romp through the inventions of the period tells the story of the first appearance of dozens of items and ideas of lasting significance.From this misunderstood age we get our buttons, our underwear, and our trousers; we entertain ourselves with medieval playing cards, tarot cards, and chess. It was during the Middle Ages that domesticated cats first found their way into our houses, along with glazed windows, dining tables and chairs, and fireplaces. Numerous labor-saving devices originated then as well, including the wheelbarrow, the windmill and watermill, and the effective use of the horse. War became more deadly with the introduction of gunpowder, while travel over water became less so thanks to the compass and the rudder. Time itself emerged into recognizably modern form, with the advent of clocks -- based on the escapement mechanism -- that measured hours of equal length independent of the changing seasons. More cosmic notions of time developed as well, as the new realm of purgatory broke the traditional dichotomy of heaven and hell. Even Santa Claus first captured the imagination of children during the Middle Ages.Ranging from the invention of eyeglasses (by a now-forgotten layperson who sought to keep his methods secret, the better to profit from them) to the creation of the fork (at first regarded as an instrument of diabolical perversion but embraced when it helped people handle another invention of the age, pasta), this beautifully illustrated volume is a fitting tribute to an era from which we still benefit today.
La Edad Media de las mil invenciones. Este libro recoge, a través de un relato fascinante, la historia documentada de esa Edad Media con sonriente ironía y ricas ilustraciones. La Edad Media es recordada con demasiada frecuencia como una época oscura, llena de guerras, epidemias, superstición e ignorancia, sin embargo esta imagen responde a un prejuicio que merece ser desterrado. La Edad Media fue el período de las grandes catedrales, del arte bizantino, los monasterios, las monarquías feudales y el nacimiento de la vida urbana.
Indice:
* Premessa
* I. Leggere e fare di conto
* II. Di tutto un po’
* III. Vestirsi e svestirsi
* IV. E venne la forchetta
* V. Per fare la guerra
* VI. Per terra e per mare
* Note - Bibliografia - Referenze iconografiche - Indice degli argomenti
- Matèries
- Història de la tècnica
Divulgació
- Notes
- Reimpr.: Roma, Laterza, 2004, 2007, 2010; Milà, Mondolibri, 2003, 2004.
Trand. angl.: Books, Banks, Buttons and Other Inventions from the Middle Ages, Nova York, Columbia University Press, 2003; Inventions of the Middle Ages, Londres, The Folio Society, 2007.
Trad. esp.: Botones, bancos, brújulas y otros inventos de la Edad Media, Barcelona, Paidós Ibérica (Paidós Orígenes, 66), 2008.
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