Page - 217 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

13 Medieval andPost-MedievalUrbanWaterSupply andSanitation 217 Fig. 3:Göttingen, the Lohmühle (TanbarkMill, left) and theOdilien- mühleor smallmill with reconstructed woodenwheel (used for polishing metals, right) at the influxof the Leinekanal. View from rampart. tant formanaging themills. Until the steam enginewas invented, water andwindmills were important to provide energy for several early industrial processes.14 Themills served not only for grinding grain for bread, but also for chippingmalt for brewing, for producing oil or for fulling cloth in the textile production process, for grinding lime and plaster for building, for sawingwood, and forwhetting andpolishingmetal objects (Odilienmühle). In 1305, Göttingen already had fivemills,15 all of whichwerewatermills situated on the Leinekanal. Their large woodenwheels were operated by the natural flow of thewater. Only onewindmill is known, presumably of minor importance, which was erected on a former tower of the old townwall (14th century).16TheGroßeMühle (thebigmill)hadasmanyasninemillworks.Somemills also served to stampoakbark thatwasneeded for tanning. Thepurpose canoftenbe found in their names, such as inLohmühle (tanbarkmill) (Fig.3), and in some cases the guildswere respon- sible for theirmaintenance. ThenorthGermantownofStadealsohadamajorwatermill, firstmentioned in1297,which was operated by the alternating tidal stream of the river Schwinge.17 In the town of Einbeck, the ‘technicalmills’wereplacedoutside themedieval town,while the flourmills forgrainwere situated inside the fortifications.18All threewerewatermills.Thegrindingofgrain for flourand ofmalt for the famous beer of Einbeck,whichwas exported in large quantities, was kept as a monopolyof thecouncil. Inmostmedieval towns, the tax forgrindingwasan important source of incomeandgrindingathomewas forbidden.19Aswatermillsoften interferewithwaterman- agement on a broader scale, permission of the sovereignwould have been necessary inmany cases, at least in the rural areas. Inside the latemedieval towns, however, themills could be operated under communal control.20 Thewatermills not only interferedwith the natural flow 14 Prange 1989, 512–514. 15 Fahlbusch 1952, 105. 16 Fahlbusch 1952, 109;Göbel 1993, 23n. 22. 17 Lüdecke 2004, 207. 18 Heege 2002, 108. 19 Göbel 1993, 111f. 20 Petersen–Reitemeier 2017, 279f. I amgrateful toProf. C.Rohr (Bern) for thehint to this reference;Göbel 1993, 57f.