500 First use of oil lamps. 825 Saxon Chronicle makes first note of coal in England. 900 Approximate time of Arab street paving and street lighting, by oil, at Cordoba, Spain.
Coal begins to replace wood and charcoal as preferred fuel in Britain.
1180 First systematic mining of coal in the British Isles, as fuel. 1259 Henry III grants Royal Charter for mining of coal at Newcastle, England. 1200's Oil lamps illuminate Madonnas at Paris crossroads. 1325 English coal exchanged for French corn, in sailing ships. Monks of Tynemouth Priory selling coal from their colliery, to those who would come to extract such.