page_title: Science and technology in Spain
section_title: Medieval science
hierarchical_section_title: Science and technology in Spain / History / Medieval science
caption_attribution_description: Español: España y el Atlántico en el Atlas catalán de Cresques Abraham. Copia de 1959 del original de 1375.
context_page_description: The presence of science and technology in Spain dates back to Spain's prehistoric period. It is taken to include firstly an account of the historical development of these fields of study, and secondly a description of the current institutional and regulatory framework for continuing this development into the future.
context_section_description: It was in the Iberian peninsula that medieval science saw some of its greatest developments.  These were achieved under both Christian and Muslim rule, with an important Jewish contribution. Already during the "Dark Ages", some of the few scholars were located within the Visigothic kingdom of Toledo and Hispanic monasticism: in particular San Isidoro with his Etymologiae.
  The transition from feudalism to capitalism implied technological changes driven forward or hindered by the different socio-economic structures, which in Spain were made manifest in the different forms of innovation in agriculture, livestock farming, food production and other crafts.  In some cases these were promoted by institutions – monasteries or craft guilds; in other cases they arose from within the productive activities themselves, which to a greater or less extent kept their “trade secrets” and in the stratified society of the time were deprecated as “vile and mechanical trades”.  The most spectacular examples of the technology of this period are the water wheels of South-eastern Spain, together with other irrigation techniques introduced or perfected by the Arab-Hispanic civilisation.
  The incorporation of the later medieval kingdoms of Spain into European trade routes between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean stimulated not only seafaring technology and the associated map-making and astronomical studies, but also the introduction of new commercial and financial institutions.  Examples from the Kingdom of Aragón include trading halls (es:Lonja de la Seda), money-changing tables (es:Taula de canvi), and codes of law governing maritime trade (es:Consulado del mar); and from the Kingdom of Castile, trade fairs such as those of Medina del Campo, Medina de Rioseco and Villalón, where the first bills of exchange were drawn up.
caption: Excerpt from the Atlas catalán de Cresques Abraham, 1375.
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