A Primer on Keeping Warm in the Medieval Period

Modern life tends to go on as usual despite shifting temperatures, but what about people in the medieval period? How did the weather affect them, and how did they manage to keep warm?

Keeping warm, Medieval style

You might think in the early medieval days fireplaces would be the main source of indoor heat, but they’re not. It was actually Eleanor of Aquitaine who got the ball rolling on that one. When she married Louis VII in 1137, she had a hard time adjusting to the northern French climate so she had fireplaces put into her husband’s castles. They don’t come into wide use until the 13th century. Even at this point, they’re pretty much reserved for the upper classes.

Open hearths are what most people rely on. Located in the center of the room, ventilation shafts are placed in the roof overhead to allow smoke to escape. Soot accumulates quickly, and wood smoke is the perfume of the day.
Certainly being rich has advantages, but warmer rooms really aren’t one of them. Castles and manor homes have large great halls where most of the daily activities occur. Households even gather there to sleep by the large central hearth. Unfortunately, the hearth is covered in the evening with a clay cover to protect against fires in the middle of the night.