The Christian monks were able to restore civilization after the Roman Empire collapsed. The monks helped save Europe’s agriculture. The monks drained swamps and turned disease into fertile land. The monks cleared away forests, conserved forest areas, and planted new trees. They cultivated land by growing crops, such as fruit. They created new production methods and industries for agriculture. They raised bees and they also reared cattle and horses. They worked to improve breeds of cattle. The monks brewed beer and made wine. The monks also contributed to the use of technology. The monks used waterpower for grinding wheat, sieving flour, fulling cloth, and tanning. They were skilled in mining salt, lead, iron, alum, gypsum, and metallurgy. The monks ran cutler’s shops and glassworks. They used many inventions. One invention they used is the cam to brew beer. They tripped the cam’s hammer to crush the ingredients for the beer. They also built and used furnaces to heat metal, like iron. They produce a large amount of cast iron.

The first invention I learned were the gears. Gears are critical for making modern machines and without gears there would be no real clocks, cars, and washing machines. Gears are rotating devices with teeth on each edge and are important in transmitting power. The next invention I learned is the crank and connecting rod.The crank and connecting rod was discovered, mastered then lost for thousands years or so. The crank and connecting rod became the building blocks to more important inventions and allowed for large scale production facilities. The last invention I learned about is the cam. The Christian monks used the cam to make beer in the 800s AD and beyond. The cam’s basic function is a shaft with a tooth attached. A cam is a labor- saving device. My favorite invention is the gears. Why I like them is because all the stuff we have now is like clocks we didn’t have a long time ago.