How was heating accomplished in the medieval halls?

Answer 1

The great halls of the Middle Ages were heated with open fires on hearths or braziers in the middle of the room. The smoke rose through the hall to the roof, and was vented outside through a vent called a louver, basically a hole in the roof with a cover to keep rain out, or through large vents under the gables.

It was the heating that brought the great hall into being. The problem of heating with an open fire meant that rooms had to be as large and well ventilated as possible, otherwise people would die of what was called suffocation, a common problem in ancient Rome. The ceilings had to be high.

There was an alternative, which was to use a thing called a smoke canopy, which was a hood over a fire that gathered the smoke and put it out through a hole in a wall or the roof, but these were really preferred in kitchens, where the amount of heat was too much for the size of the room.

The invention of the chimney, which happened in the late 11th or 12th century, made real fireplaces possible. This, in turn, made it possible to have heat in smaller rooms. Chimneys were expensive to build and difficult to maintain, so they were rather a luxury for most people of the later part of the Middle Ages, but they did gradually make the great hall unnecessary in most manor houses. This, in turn, led to Tudor architecture, and was what differentiated it most from medieval architecture.

Answer 2

The great halls of the Middle Ages were heated with open fires on hearths or braziers in the middle of the room. The smoke rose through the hall to the roof, and was vented outside through a vent called a louver, basically a hole in the roof with a cover to keep rain out, or through large vents under the gables.

It was the heating that brought the great hall into being. The problem of heating with an open fire meant that rooms had to be as large and well ventilated as possible, otherwise people would die of what was called suffocation, a common problem in ancient Rome. The ceilings had to be high.

There was an alternative, which was to use a thing called a smoke canopy, which was a hood over a fire that gathered the smoke and put it out through a hole in a wall or the roof, but these were really preferred in kitchens, where the amount of heat was too much for the size of the room.

The invention of the chimney, which happened in the late 11th or 12th century, made real fireplaces possible. This, in turn, made it possible to have heat in smaller rooms. Chimneys were expensive to build and difficult to maintain, so they were rather a luxury for most people of the later part of the Middle Ages, but they did gradually make the great hall unnecessary in most manor houses. This, in turn, led to Tudor architecture, and was what differentiated it most from medieval architecture.