CRAFTS — 195/262 — Charcoal-burners
With growing demand for processed iron, there grew a corresponding demand for charcoal, which could produce a temperature many times higher than unprocessed wood, much needed for the forging of steel weapons. The forges were supplied by charcoal-burners, who spent most of the year living in the forest by their charcoal kilns – great piles of stacked wood covered in clay with just a few vents for air, where, in an oxygen-starved atmosphere the wood slowly pyrolyzed to charcoal. Each pile would smoulder and give off much smoke for several weeks, during which time it had to be delved through repeatedly. After it burned out completely, the yield of the process – charcoal – was unearthed from beneath the clay. The charcoal was then sold at a special market bearing that name, quite separate from traders in other goods. During the reign of Wenceslas IV, the charcoal-burners already had numerous rights and freedoms regarding use of the forests, and were held in relatively high esteem. Resin was sold exclusively by wagoners and resin merchants, who themselves made pitch for greasing their wheels. The charcoal burners produced resin and pitch only as a side-line. The pitch merchants provided pitch to tanneries to impregnate leather and mixed it with tallow to grease the axles of wheels on wagons and carriages.
TRIVIA
— Charcoal was vital to all aspects of medieval domestic life and production, and each area needed different kinds of coal from different kinds of wood. Hardwood like oak and hornbeam would produce charcoal that burned the hottest and longest and could withstand the weight of iron ore during smelting, while blacksmiths would prefer equally hot, but softer charcoal as such made from sweet chestnut, which could be quickly kindled and extinguished. In domestic heating and cooking, in herbal medicine and soap, in pigments for ink, tattoos or make-up, or in gunpowder production softer charcoal from trees like ash, beech, birch or hazel was needed, which could be ground most easily. Depending on the hardness of the wood, the burning process within the kiln could take 2 to 10 days, followed by some more time in which the fire would be smothered and the heat of 400 to 800 °C would be cooled down. During the burning season of the dry summer months, the charcoal burners could therefore not just leave the site. The heat had to be kept up by constant re-kindling, the smoke escaping through the air vents had to be watched – the clouds would turn green, then white, and finally blue, indicating the state of the coal –, and the kilns were constant fire hazards. This isolation within the forests, often close to mines where their products were most often needed, gave charcoal burners an almost hermit-like reputation, and many legends and fairytales were spun around them. Within those they were associated with the dwarves and dragons of the mines, or with the evil spirits and demons of the earth and the fire. They could reach wealth as the supernatural creatures they dealed with turned their coal into gold, and were safe from bodily harm as the layer of soot on their skin offered them magical protection.
-> -> -> ->
