Abstract

The idea that agricultural technology was both the driver and a constraint on social development was a theme highlighted in the 1960s with the work of Lynn White, especially Medieval Technology and Social Change (1964), and the debate that followed. However, more recent work suggests a mosaic of different receptions of innovations and different pathways to agrarian development appear over Europe. The uptake of agrarian technologies is a problem which is rather more complex than was once thought and took various different forms. The papers which follow in this volume reflect both on the changes in technology and the reasons for their adoption.