What do yew, war and deforestation have to do with each other?

More than you think, because nowadays people go to war with tanks and helicopters, in the Middle Ages they mostly used bows and arrows. And let these bows be made mainly of Yew wood. Read more.
A Yew wood handbows (longbow) made the difference in the Middle Ages. Yew wood is pre-eminent for making handbows. The heartwood is best compressed, while sapwood is superior in tension. These properties allowed these longbows to shoot further than bows made from other woods. Because there was a lot of warfare (‘t has never been otherwise), there was also a huge demand for wood. In England the yew forests disappeared noticeably and they ran out of wood. Therefore, in the 15th century it was determined that import duties had to be paid in the form of Yew wood. But also on the mainland Taxus wood became scarce. Entire forests were cut down and the Taxus population in Western Europe never recovered. But fortunately something can be done about it.

With a few weeks new batches of Yew will become available. And if they are not used for the recovery of Taxus forests then they are always suitable as conifer hedges.
Want to know more about Yew and war in the Middle Ages?stringfixer.com.