Levels and Levelers
Surveying Irrigation Canals in Medieval Valencia
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4020529 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Thomas F Glick (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1968 |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 165 |
| Publication date | 1968-04-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Technology and Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0040-165X • E-ISSN: 1097-3729 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/3102149 |
| OpenAlex | W2322086974 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
Irrigation has always acted as a stimulus, because of its technical requirements, to the development of mathematics and surveying and, because its practice is conducive to disputes, to the evolution of common law.' Thus, it is not surprising that irrigation agriculture in medieval Valencia led to the creation of specialized categories of experts whose purpose was to provide for the smooth functioning of the system on the basis of traditional practice. The impact of irrigation was felt most palpably in two fields-technology and law-whose monuments are still visible today in the vast canal network of the Valencian huertas (irrigated areas) and in the complex body of customary water law epitomized by the renowned Tribunal of Waters. In medieval Valencia, water cases were frequently argued by lawyers who had become specialists in irrigation litigation. In a like way, the technical workings of the system were intrusted to a corps of expert surveyors-the livelladors, or levelers. Both groups had the same function: to insure the equitable distribution of an irregular supply of water. Today's works both as measurer and leveler. Thus, my translation of livellador by the general term surveyor may give grounds for misinterpretation. These medieval levelers did more than work just with the level; a great part of their energy was devoted both to general surveys of prospective canal routes and irrigation sites and to the actual construction of hydraulic works. But it must be stressed that, although the translation surveyor is justifiable, the livelladors were still not the same as, and had little in common with, the men who surveyed fields-the agrimensores (or, in medieval Valencian, soguejadors-those who worked with the soga, or cord).2
Agronomy · Archaeology · Art · Biology · Geography · Irrigation · Valencia · Water resource management · Environmental Science · Historical and socio-economic studies of Spain and related regions · Water management and technologies
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2020 - 2023 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |