Wheelbarrows in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

Additional information can be found at NewYorkCarver.com and The Medieval Technology Pages, or the Florilegium. There is also information about constructing a 16th Century Wheelbarrow or a 16th Century German Wheelbarrow.

• Detail from an illustration of Cyrus and the reconstruction of the Temple, a bible (Bibl. Sainte-Geneviève MS 1185, fol. 127v) c. 1220-1230
• St. Denis preaching (BNF Fr. 2091, fol. 111) and St. Denis imprisoned, (BNF Fr. 2092, fol. 32), The life of St. Denis, 1317
• Celebrations for Fauvel's wedding, Roman de Fauvel (BNF Fr. 146, fol. 36v), c. 1320
• A cripple in a wheelbarrow, The Luttrell Psalter (British Library MS. ADD. 42130, fol. 186v), c. 1325-1335
  Notice the strap that his caretaker uses to bear the weight across his back.
• Fols. 139v and 184 from the Taymouth Hours (British Library, Yates Thompson 13), c. 1325-1335

Therwith thai went ful yare And bought hem a gode croudewain, His lord he gan ther-in to lain, He no might him bere namare. Amis and Amiloun, ll. 1857-1860

• The Romance of Alexander (Bodl. 264), 1338-1344, fols. 22r, 98v, 133v, and 158v
• Stained glass window from York, now at Shibden Hall
• Building the Tower of Babel, Le Tresor des Histoires (British Library MS Cotton Augustus V, fol. 22), 15th century
• Construction of Bucephalia, The History of Alexander (BNF Fr. 9342, fol. 185), mid-15th century
• Construction of Alexandria Eschate, The History of Alexander the Great (BNF Fr. 20311, fol. 201v), third quarter of the 15th century
• Construction of Corunna, The History of Troy (BNF Fr. 59, fol. 191v), second half of the 15th century
• The government of cities, The Book of the Treasure (BNF Fr. 191, fol. 239), second half of the 15th century
• Publicola destroys his house, Facta et dicta memorabilia (BNF Fr. 288, fol. 198), second half of the 15th century
• The capture of Grammont, Froissart's Chronicles (BNF Fr. 2644, fol. 135), second half of the 15th century
• Salvaging from the ashes, Konzil von Konstanz (ÖNB 3044, fol. 82r), c. 1465-1475
• Sigebert III orders the reconstruction of a city in Austrasia, Chroniques de Hainaut (Bibl. Sainte-Geneviève MS 0810, fol. 148), c. 1470
• Garden scene, Livre des profits ruraux (British Library MS Add. 19720, fol. 10), late 15th century
• A woman pushes a wheelbarrow, The Huth Hours (British Library MS Add. 38126, fol. 110), c. 1485-1490
• A man with a wheelbarrow, Kuttenberger Kantionale (ÖNB Mus. Hs. 15501, fol. 92v), 1490
• An ivory writing-tablet with the Fountain of Youth within the Castle of Love, 15th or 16th century
• A knife-sharpener uses a modified wheelbarrow to make his grindstone portable in Les Cris de Paris, c. 1500
• The Fountain of Youth by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1546
  In this detail, an elderly woman is carried to the Fountain of Youth in a wheelbarrow.
• Market Scene (c. 1550) and Apostles Peter and John (1575) by Pieter Aertsen
• Enamelling work, Schwazer Bergbuch (TLF Cod. Dipl. 856, fol. 162r), 1556
• Enamelling work, Schwazer Bergbuch (ÖNB 10852, fol. 159v), 1561
• A wheelbarrow, Theatrum Instrumentorum et Machinarum by Jacobus Bessonus, 1578. "A new mode of barrow which, with the labour of a single man in a flat place, or uphill, can bring as much load as two or three others with any other type of instrument."