@mangeurdenuage the paper gets replaced every spring, sometimes multiple times before then in winter because they would allow a draft. even more if there is much rain or mold or if they get broken. probably happened before they are about to get replaced, but yeah.. those cats will do it again. :ULTRACATE:

before we had cheap glass in Europe, which we only got late 1700s after industrialization, common people used to use greased paper windows too, or sometimes greased linen, or sheets of flattened animal horn to let in sunlight while at the same time keeping the cold out. some people still used greased paper right up until the early 1900s. only the rich could afford the spun glass windows before the 1700s. of course this is just the official story, post-Roman medieval collapse. Ancient Rome had high quality cheap and highly transparent plate glass very comparable to modern glass, even in large pane sizes. They also used thin plates of transparent crystal in some instances. And before them there were other Empires who had cheap glass windows too. People forget that glass is an imitation of crystal. crystal windows are the real thing.

youtube.com/watch?v=FVyH5JnZG1w

romansociety.org/Portals/0/M_Carroll_2016_Report.pdf