Page 238 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

The Elimination of Medieval Forests
One of the interesting environmental changes of the Middle Ages was the elimination of millions of acres of forest to create new areas of arable land and to meet the demand for timber. Timber was used as fuel and to build houses, mills of all kinds, bridges, fortresses, and ships. Incredible quantities of wood were burned to make charcoal for the iron forges. The clearing of the forests caused the price of wood to skyrocket by the thirteenth century. This document from 1140 illustrates the process. Suger, the abbot of Saint-Denis, needed 35-foot beams for the construction of a new church. His master carpenters told him that there were no longer any trees big enough in the area around Paris and that he would have to go far afield to find such tall trees. This selection recounts his efforts.
Suger’s Search for Wooden Beams
On a certain night, when I had returned from celebrating Matins [a prayer service], I began to think in bed that I myself should go through all the forests of these parts. . . . Quickly disposing of all duties and hurrying up in the early morning, we hastened with our carpenters, and with the measurements of the beams, to the forest called Iveline. When we traversed our possession in the Valley of Chevreuse we
summoned . . . the keepers of our own forests as well as men who know about the other woods, and questioned them under oath whether we would find there, no matter with how much trouble, any timbers of that measure. At this they smiled, or rather would have laughed at us if they had dared; they wondered whether we were quite ignorant of the fact that nothing of the kind could be found in the entire region, especially since Milon, the Castellan of Chevreuse, . . . had left nothing unimpaired or untouched that could be used for palisades and bulwarks while he was long subjected to wars both by our Lord the King and Amaury de Montfort. We however—scorning whatever they might say—began, with the courage of our faith as it were, to search through the woods; and toward the first hour we found one timber adequate to the measure. Why say more? By the ninth hour or sooner, we had, through the thickets, the depths of the forest and the dense,
thorny tangles, marked down twelve timbers (for so many were necessary) to the astonishment of all.
Q WhatdoesSuger’ssearchforwoodenbeamsreveal about the environmental problems of the Middle Ages?
Source: From Abbot Suger on the Abbey Church of St. Denis and Its Art Treasures, edited and translated by Erwin Panofsky. Copyright a 1946, renewed 1973 by Princeton University Press. Reprinted with permission of Dr. O. S. Panofsky.
of agricultural villages, towns, and cities and an increase in land under cultivation.
What accounted for this dramatic rise in popula- tion? For one thing, conditions in Europe were more settled and peaceful after the invasions of the early Middle Ages had ended. Agricultural production also rose dramatically after 1000. Without this increase in food supplies, the greater population could never have been sustained.
The New Agriculture
During the High Middle Ages, significant changes occurred in the way Europeans farmed. In addition to the improved growing conditions, another factor contrib- uting to the increased production of food was the
expansion of arable land, achieved chiefly by clearing for- ested areas for cultivation (see the box above). Land- hungry peasants cut down trees and drained swamps. By the thirteenth century, the total acreage used for farming in Europe was greater than at any time before or since.
TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGES Technological changes also fur- thered the development of agriculture. Many of these depended on the use of iron, which was mined in vari- ous areas of Europe. Iron was in demand to make swords and armor as well as scythes, axheads, and hoes for use on farms and saws, hammers, and nails for use in building. Iron was crucial for making the carruca (kuh-ROO-kuh), a heavy, wheeled plow strong enough to turn over the dense clay soil north of the Alps and allow for drainage.
200 Chapter 9 The Recovery and Growth of European Society in the High Middle Ages
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