Creating Heat. Though historians often think of the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth century as hinging on the invention of the steam engine and the adoption of coal as the fuel to power it, Europeans of the Middle Ages also used coal—along with prodigious amounts of wood, mainly in the form of charcoal—to power smelters, furnaces, and forges; to cook food and brew beer; and, of course, to heat dwellings.

The Demand for Wood. As the demand for wood by an exploding population grew and grew in the Middle Ages, large sections of Europe were effectively deforested. Kings and the officials of some towns enacted silvaculture (or woodland farming) laws to protect the remaining forests and to compel more efficient use of resources. To increase the amount of available wood, woodsmen developed the methods of coppicing...