Timber House

The timber-framed house of the Early Middle Ages is a structural achievement that shaped the face of European towns for nearly a thousand years. Oak posts and beams were jointed by skilled carpenters using mortise-and-tenon techniques, then the panels between were filled with wattle — woven hazel or willow branches — daubed with a mixture of clay, dung, and chopped straw that hardened into a rigid, insulating surface. Upper stories often jetted outward over the street to maximize floor space within tight urban plots, creating the cantilevered silhouettes still visible in Quedlinburg, York, and Colmar. Multiple floors allowed separation of commercial ground-floor space from domestic upper rooms. In the game the timber house significantly expands your population capacity, enabling the larger armies and worker forces required for medieval warfare. Its relatively modest stone requirement makes it the workhorse residential building of the Early Medieval era.