What tools were used in the middle ages?

Answer 1

The main farming implement in the medieval period was the plough, which was made in various forms. During the 12th century in England, the mouldboard plough, which had an iron share and coulter to cut the soil and a wooden mouldboard that turned it aside, created distinctive ridges and furrows. Ploughs were drawn by oxen, often four but sometimes six depending on how heavy the soil was. One man handled the plough while another goaded the oxen and controlled their speed and direction.

Harrows were a large framework of timber arranged flat on the ground, with iron or wooden spikes that raked the soil and broke up lumps - this was often drawn by a horse since the harrow could go much quicker than a plough.

All other tools were hand tools that depended on the muscles of the man or woman.

Among the tools used in the medieval period were weeding sticks (one with a hook, the other forked), the mattock or hoe, the spade, the shovel, the bill or hedging hook, the rake and the threshing flail. Pruning knives, shears, axes, scythes, sickles and seedlips were also used (a seedlip is a linen container or basket with a strap for suspending it on the chest, filled with seed for sowing by hand).

One unusual agricultural tool was the sling, which was used by small children tasked with keeping birds away from newly-planted crops; the sling allowed them to hurl small stones ("slingshot") over a large area, not to kill birds but to scare them away. Scarecrows were not yet used.

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