I was going through some old files on Word this morning, and I came across a file concerning the flora and fauna of medieval England. I’m not 100% sure where this information came from, but I thought it would be interesting to look at the various forest resources available to medieval people.
The medieval period, especially the early Middle Ages, could have been easily called the “Age of Wood.” Wood was used for just about everything, domestic and military. The most important woods in use in medieval England were oak, maple, ash, alder, linden, box, elm and yew. We can make some general statements about how these woods were used, but bare in mind these are only general statements. I’m sure that if maple or ash were the only woods immediately available for whatever reason, maple and ash would be used for purposes beyond the following generalizations.
Oak was used for buildings, furniture and ships. There are plenty of examples of English long boats made of oak, and surviving timbers from castles and other archeological finds demonstrate a predominate use of oak in construction. In the later medieval period, oak was used less, probably because of deforestation and the availability of imported woods. Benches, tables and many ornate chairs, especially surviving furniture from medieval churches and cathedrals, were predominately made of intricately carved oak.
Ash, maple, box and alder apparently were all purpose materials. They were used for turning bowls, cups and spoons, and were also used extensively for weapons, especially spear and ax hafts, and tools. To this day ash is an excellent material for making wasters (wooden practice swords). Fittingly, box wood was used for boxes, caskets and barrels.
It has been assumed by most military historians that linden was used for shields, usually planks doweled and glued next to each other, reinforced with iron banding. I think there is good evidence for this type of construction, especially during the early Middle Ages, but there are no existent examples from England either indicating the exclusive use of linden, nor indicating the exclusive use of the plank method of construction as opposed to the use of a laminated kind of plywood or a single piece of wood. The addition of concave in many period illustrations may indicate the laminate or single piece theory. (There is an example of a Viking shield from the Gokstad find, now at the University in Oslo, with its surviving wood, but I’m not sure what kind of wood it is… if someone knows please enlighten me.)
Ash, elm and, of course, yew were used for bows. Much ink has been spilt concerning English longbows made of yew, but what is often overlooked is the long tradition of archery in England. Ever since the Anglo/Saxon days, archery played an important part in military tactics, and some historians even think that the basic longbow design goes back centuries before it was once assumed, the only difference being the method of firing -- drawing back to the nose, instead of the ear.
All manner of woods were used to make charcoal, one of the most important energy sources during the Middle Ages. No village, town or city were unaccustomed to the smoking charcoal clamps that smoldered, usually on raised ground, far enough away so as not to be too much of a choking hazard for the inhabitants. The production of charcoal was so important, especially for working iron, that it seriously endangered forest growth. While a single clamp could nearly burn a whole tree, it only produced a little more than a single barrow full of charcoal on average. In order to protect their forests for hunting, nobles passed strident laws regulating the felling of trees for any purpose, but especially for the production of charcoal.
In addition to timber, the oak and beech forests of England also provided pasture for grazing swine, especially during the early Middle Ages. As forests became principally game reserves for the noble classes, however, such practices were severely curtailed. The forests were gleaned for nuts and berries at certain times of the year, which added sustenance to the stretched resources suffered by people during the winter. Moss was an important forest resource that was greedily gathered. Moss was often used like toilet paper... so it was very important, indeed! Moss could also be used as insulation and as an additive to waddle. Mushrooms were also gathered from the forest in the early fall months. Fungi could be used, not just for eating, but also as a medicine and as a dye.