Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Fuel, domestic
(831 words)

By domestic fuel we mean sources of thermic energy used for cooking and heating in private homes.

In medieval and early modern Europe, wood was the most commonly used fuel for hearths and furnaces. While a more extensive timber trade developed to supply wood to larger cities and trade centers, largely reliant on inland waterways (Timber floating) and sea transport (Deep sea navigation), firewood was mostly supplied through regional transportation hubs and from forest land around the settlement. In rural communities, usage rights to communal forest l…

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Heuser, Peter Arnold, “Fuel, domestic”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_SIM_020707>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20180208



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