Lynn Townsend White Jr. facts for kids

Lynn Townsend White Jr. (born April 29, 1907 – died March 30, 1987) was an American historian. He taught about the Middle Ages at Princeton University and Stanford University. He was also the president of Mills College in Oakland, California, and later a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Lynn White helped start the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) and was its president for a time. He won important awards like the Pfizer Award and the Leonardo da Vinci Medal for his work on how technology changed history. He also led the History of Science Society, The Medieval Academy of America, and the American Historical Association.

About His Life

Lynn White first studied the history of monasteries in Sicily during the Norman period. But he soon realized that problems in Europe would make it hard to get his research materials. While at Princeton, he read works by other historians like Richard Lefebvre des Noëttes and Marc Bloch. This led him to start studying the history of technology. His first work on this topic was "Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages" in 1940.

Noëttes was a retired French army officer who loved studying the history of horses. He wrote that ancient people didn't use animals very well because they lacked good technology, like horseshoes and proper harnesses. White took Noëttes' ideas further. He showed how the new, more efficient use of horses helped bring about a big change in farming during the Middle Ages.

White pointed to new farming methods, like different ways to rotate crops and better plowing tools. He connected these changes to the rise of large farms called manors. He also showed how these changes shifted wealth and power in Europe from the Mediterranean area to the North. White also wrote about other inventions like the stirrup, the lateen sail (a type of boat sail), the wheel barrow, the spinning wheel, the hand crank, and water-driven mills and wind mills.

He believed that the greatest achievement of the later Middle Ages wasn't just its cathedrals or stories. Instead, it was building a complex society that didn't rely mainly on slaves. It used non-human power, like animals and machines, for the first time in history. He thought this was a key reason for Western Europe's lead in technology.

White also wrote about how women's education was changing. Some of his articles included "Women's Colleges and the Male Dominance" (1947) and "Educating Women in a Man's World" (1950). He was chosen as a member of important groups like the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.

Medieval Technology and Social Change

At UCLA, Lynn White turned some of his lectures into his most famous book, Medieval Technology and Social Change, published in 1962. This book looked again at many ideas from his earlier work. It included a debated idea about the stirrup. White suggested that the stirrup made a new way of fighting possible, called "shock combat." He thought this new fighting style played a big role in shaping the feudal system, where knights served lords in exchange for land.

In another part of the book, White explained how power shifted from Southern Europe to Northern Europe. He believed this happened because of new technologies that made farming much better. These included a "heavy plow," better harnesses for horses to pull the plow, and a "three-field crop rotation" system. He also looked at medieval machines that changed motion and energy, like the compound crank.

Many people reviewed his book, and some disagreed strongly with his ideas. However, the book is still important today and is considered a key work in the field.

The Roots of Today's Environmental Problems

In 1967, Lynn White suggested that Christian ideas from the Middle Ages might be a cause of the ecological crisis we faced in the 20th century. He gave a famous lecture called "The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis." This lecture was later published in the journal Science.

White believed that all living things change their environment. He thought that humans have always interacted with nature, even in the Middle Ages. But he saw the Industrial Revolution as a major turning point. At this time, scientific ideas combined with new technologies. This greatly increased our ability to change and use the environment.

However, White also thought that the idea of Earth being just a resource for humans was much older than the Industrial Revolution. He traced this idea back to medieval Christianity and its views on nature. He suggested that "what people do about their ecology depends on what they think about themselves in relation to things around them."

He pointed to the Bible's creation story, arguing that Judeo-Christian beliefs removed older pagan ideas that saw spirits in nature. He said this led to people using nature without much thought because:

• The Bible says humans have power over nature, focusing on humans as most important.
• Christianity separates humans (made in God's image) from the rest of creation, which is seen as less important.

White believed these ideas led to people not caring enough about nature. He thought this attitude continued even in a modern, "post-Christian" world. He concluded that simply using more science and technology wouldn't solve the problem. Instead, he felt that humanity's basic ideas about nature needed to change. We must stop seeing ourselves as "superior" and "contemptuous" of nature, willing to use it for "our slightest whim."

White suggested that Saint Francis of Assisi could be a good role model. Saint Francis respected all creatures and saw them as part of a "democracy" of creation. He believed that humans should not rule over creation without limits.

The Debate About His Ideas

Lynn White's ideas started a big discussion about how religion might have shaped Western attitudes towards using nature. His work also made people more interested in the links between history, nature, and how ideas develop. This led to new areas of study like environmental history and ecotheology.

However, many people saw his argument as an attack on Christianity. Others thought his understanding of the Bible, especially the Book of Genesis, was wrong. They argued that Genesis actually teaches humans to be "stewards" of the Earth, meaning they should take care of it.

Other critics, like Lewis W. Montcrief, argued that our relationship with the environment is shaped by many different and complex cultural and historical things. They felt it couldn't be simply blamed on Judeo-Christian traditions.

There was also debate about White's suggestion to make Saint Francis of Assisi a "patron saint for ecologists." Some historians, like Jan J Boersema, found little historical proof that Francis himself or early writings about him supported this idea.

Technology and Religion in the Middle Ages

Lynn White was a historian, but he also studied religion. His father was a professor of Christian ethics. White believed that religion was a very important part of how Western technology developed.

In his books, like Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages (1940) and Medieval Technology and Social Change (1962), he challenged a common idea. Many people thought the Middle Ages were too focused on religion or knights to care about technology. White showed that this was not true. He argued that the Middle Ages were a time of important technological progress.

How Lynn White Saw History Writing

White's work brought together ideas from many earlier historians, especially Marc Bloch. White believed that "technology was chiefly the concern of groups which wrote little." This meant that the role of technology in human history had often been overlooked.

He declared that if historians want to write the full story of humankind, they need to look at old records in new ways. They should ask new questions and use clues from archaeology (studying old things), iconography (studying images), and etymology (studying word origins). This is especially important when written records don't provide all the answers.

See also

• Deep ecology
• Religion and environmentalism