How did peasants heat their homes?

Peasants of theses ages normally used a fire pit in the middle of the room to keep warm. Smoke would blow out of a hole in the middle of the roof. The home was usually quite smoky, but that was a small price to pay to keep their families warm. Other than having a fire, people had animal heat to depend on.



In the medieval period, peasants primarily heated their homes using a central open hearth or fire pit located in the middle of the main living area. Because most peasant huts (crofts) lacked chimneys, smoke would circulate through the rafters and eventually seep out through a hole in the thatched roof or through the porous walls. While this made the air smoky, the soot actually helped preserve the roof timbers and acted as a natural pesticide against insects. Beyond fire, peasants relied heavily on "animal heat." It was common for livestock, such as cows or pigs, to be kept in an attached section of the house or even in the same room behind a low partition; the collective body heat of the animals provided a significant thermal buffer against the cold. Additionally, families would sleep together on straw pallets or "featherbeds" to share body heat, and homes were often built with low ceilings and thick wattle-and-daub walls to trap as much warmth as possible during the harsh winter months.

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In the chamber – the more private rooms of the castle – there were beds with curtains, giving an extra layer of warmth, and these rooms largely had fireplaces. When there were no fireplaces rooms were heated with moveable fire stands.

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But due to the expense of clothing and the limited wardrobe of the working class, it is quite possible that many laborers and peasants slept naked, at least during warmer weather. On cooler nights, they could wear shifts to bed, possibly even the same ones they'd worn that day under their clothes.

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Surprisingly, well-fed monks did not necessarily live as long as some peasants. Peasants in the English manor of Halesowen might hope to reach the age of 50, but by contrast poor tenants in same manor could hope to live only about 40 years. Those of even lower status (cottagers) could live a mere 30 years.

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In addition to keeping active, people wore thick layers of woolen clothing and often slept in them along with flannel night shirts and caps on the coldest nights. Most people, including the wealthy, went to bed in unheated bed chambers.

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Castles and manor houses often smelled damp and musty. To counteract this, herbs and rushes were strewn across the floors.

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The first stone castles built were cold, dark, smelly and damp. Inside the castle walls, floor coverings consisted of straw rushes and, later, sweet smelling herbs to mask the smell of animal excrement, grease, rotting food and beer.

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For the vast majority of medieval Europeans—about 85%— work meant farming. Peasant women worked alongside men doing almost exactly the same jobs in the fields. Some more physically demanding jobs such as plowing were at times more likely to be performed by a man than a woman.

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There were heating elements—fireplaces, stoves—that were very hot. Near them you would be hot, far from them you would be cold. There was little insulation and homes were drafty. On the other hand, in cold places homes might be built with very thick walls and roofs, or dug into the ground.

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