The carpentry of ‘Dark Age’ Europe is only ‘dark’ due to the lack of information available to us and the natural disappearance of all things made of wood. Woodworking by the time of the late Roman Empire was highly evolved. Most of the population were peasants and lived in small huts and houses of rough stone, branches, and mud, but the great public buildings were crafted of cut stone and oak timbers. Early ‘Romanesque’ churches in Italy, Gaul, and Spain all had masonry walls with timber roofs over the nave and the aisles. Often, the timber work is unseen, hidden above vaulted stone ceilings. As halls and churches increased in size, higher elevations and longer spans were achieved by the introduction of buttressed stone walls and trussed wooden rafters. The ancient ‘Latin’ truss used at Old Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome featured a vertical kingpost or ‘hanger’ between the ridge and the tie-beam that, rather than supporting the ridge, was held in tension and carried the tie-beam. Principal rafter pairs were joined by tie beams, collar ties, and diagonal or curved braces.
Mysteries of the Carpenter 