Holzversorgung, Waldentwicklung, Umweltveränderungen und wirtschaftliche Tendenzen in Spätmittelalter und beginnender Neuzeit

Preindustrial societies needed large quantities of wood for buildings, for the craftsmen and their products and as firewood. In the same way timber was in addition to water and wind the most important source of energy. Since the late middle ages Cities and industries were confronted with the (local) shortage of timber, and they searched for solutions in different ways. A high energy consumption marked mining and steelworks, smelting works or glassworks as well as salt works. In particular, smelting works polluted their milieus intensely. Most of the owners of forests tried to reduce the possibilities for people to use the woods and first forest regulations were published. Moreover, near Nuremberg first reforestations started in the second half of the 14th century. But all in all, supraregional limitations of production because of a lack of timber in Germany were not introduced before the 18thcentury.