The Heavy Plow: Making Agriculture Not So Heavy After All

During the time between 1000 and 1300, the medieval world saw a wealth of changes, whether social, economical, or political. Between the First Crusade in 1096 and the Magna Carta in 1215, these crucial 300 years were an exciting time to be alive in the middle ages. Perhaps one of the biggest changes during this time, however, was the agricultural revolution. Various factors contributed to this agricultural revolution, which had a profound impact on the economic prosperity of the common man in the middle ages. Expansion and clearing of land for agricultural purposes, as well as new techniques and better management both helped further the agricultural revolution. On top of these improvements stands one major advancement as well: technology. Various technological improvements and inventions came around this time, such as the horse collar and horseshoes. Arguably the most important, however, was the heavy plow.


The heavy plow was a replacement for the existing scratch plow. This plow was more popular and practical in southern Europe, where the light and dry soils allowed the plows to work correctly. Further north in Europe, however, the soils were heavier, making the scratch plow fairly impractical. A number of improvements made the heavy plow more suited to this thicker, heavier soil of the north. For example, the heavy plow’s extra weight helped it to dig into the soil better. Additionally, the heavy plow included wheels not found on the scratch plow, which made the heavy plow much more easily maneuverable. Finally, the heavy plow included a metal blade, allowing more uses in the heavy, thick soil than one could get out of the old scratch plow (Bennett 140-141). In 1962, Lynn White Jr. hypothesized that the adoption of the heavy plow was one of the biggest contributing factors of increased population density and urbanization in the middle ages, in part because it allowed farmers to better utilize the more fertile clay soils. In late 2013, a group of researchers from the University of Southern Denmark investigated this hypothesis and found that the heavy plow alone was responsible for around 10% of the population increase and urbanization of the middle ages (Andersen).


Andersen, Thomas Barnebeck, et al. “The Heavy Plough and the Agricultural Revolution in Medieval Europe.” Discussion Papers on Business and Economics, University of Southern Denmark, 5 Dec. 2013, doi:https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2362894.

Bennett, Judith M. Medieval Europe: A Short History. Langara College, 2016.