Forests of Medieval Europe

About 5,000 years ago, birch trees dominated the forests of the northern hemisphere. As the climate gradually became warmer, however, other trees began to take over. By Medieval times (500–1450), many hardwood trees, such as beeches and long-lived oaks, ranged over much of central and western Europe north of the Alps and the Pyrenees Mountains, and eastward across Russia to the Ural Mountains. Oaks and beeches usually formed the canopy, with maples and birches in the secondary layer, and dogwoods, hawthorns, and hollies closer to the ground.

The forests were home to falcons, hawks, herons, owls, deer, wolves, boars, otters, squirrels, foxes, badgers, and other wild animals. Many of these were hunted, some for food and others to protect crops and domesticated animals.

For people living there, the forests were a source of timber for building houses, vines and leaves...