Heavy plough
Also called: Iron-tipped plough, Mouldboard plough · Topic: Medieval Europe: Feudalism and the Three Orders · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 4 "The Three Orders"
Meaning
The heavy plough was an iron-tipped plough with a mouldboard, a curved board that turns the soil over. It was in use in Europe by the eleventh century. Before this, peasants used a wooden plough pulled by oxen, which only scratched the surface of the soil. The heavy plough dug deeper and turned the topsoil properly, so crops got more of the soil's nutrients. It was one of the changes that helped farm output rise in medieval Europe.
Example
By the eleventh century, peasants on French and English manors were ploughing heavy, wet soils with iron-tipped mouldboard ploughs. The old wooden plough could not work these soils well.
Don't confuse with
- Wooden plough: the older tool. It was pulled by oxen and only scratched the soil, so fields also had to be dug by hand about once in four years.