History of Wind Power - Late Middle Ages

Late Middle Ages

The first windmills in Europe appear in sources dating to the twelfth century. These early European windmills were sunk post mills. The earliest certain reference to a windmill dates from 1185, in Weedley, Yorkshire, although a number of earlier but less certainly dated twelfth century European sources referring to windmills have also been adduced. While it is sometimes argued that crusaders may have been inspired by windmills in the Middle East, this is unlikely since the European vertical windmills were of significantly different design than the horizontal windmills of Afghanistan. Lynn White Jr., a specialist in medieval European technology, asserts that the European windmill was an "independent invention;" he argues that it is unlikely that the Afghanistan-style horizontal windmill had spread as far west as the Levant during the Crusader period. In medieval England rights to waterpower sites were often confined to nobility and clergy, so wind power was an important resource to a new middle class. In addition, windmills, unlike water mills, were not rendered inoperable by the freezing of water in the winter.

By the 14th century Dutch windmills were in use to drain areas of the Rhine River delta.