c. 1300

HESDIN MECHANICAL PARK

Starting around 1300, the park at Hesdin, in northeastern France, evolved into a famous site for lifelike simulations of humans and animals. The Hesdin automata included androids, monkeys, birds, and a timekeeping device. The earliest Hesdin machines were built at the request of Robert II (1250–1302), Count of Artois. Examples included a bridge with six groups of mechanical monkeys covered in badger fur, to make them appear realistic. A mechanized boar head adorned the wall of a pavilion. When Robert died, his daughter Mahaut (1268–1329) became the patron of innovation and continued with the upkeep of his “engines of amusement.” For example, in 1312, the monkeys were covered with new fur, and horns were added to make them appear demonic.

The idea of the automaton park may have been kindled from Islamic culture and engineers, along with automata in French romance literature. Historian Scott Lightsey writes: “Hesdin’s centrality in the European idea of artificial marvels is indicative of the way this new phenomenon of wonder was replacing supernatural contingencies with the motives of court life. . . . Technological innovations allowed them to begin reenacting even the traditional supernatural themes of romance in their elaborate halls and pleasure gardens.”

Over the years, work continued in Hesdin, with upgrades to various mechanical marvels, including a wooden hermit who spoke to onlookers, a talking owl, and fountains with mechanical birds. The waving monkeys and other automata were most likely operated by weight-driven mechanisms, with clockwork parts and/or hydraulics.

These robotic installations offered visitors a glimpse of a future with more widespread automation. As historian Silvio A. Bedini writes: “The role of automata in the progress of technology is . . . of considerable importance. Efforts to imitate life by mechanical means resulted in the development of mechanical principles and led to the production of complex mechanisms which have fulfilled technology’s original aims—the reduction or simplification of physical labor. ”

SEE ALSO Ktesibios’s Water Clock (c. 250 BCE), Al-Jazari’s Automata (1206), Lancelot’s Copper Knights (c. 1220), Religious Automata (1352), de Vaucanson’s Duck Automaton (1738), Jaquet-Droz Automata (1774)