At the time of the Conquest the condition of the people in France and Normandy differed little from what it was in our own country, though superior refinement reigned at the courts. The nobles and higher ecclesiastics, all who possessed wealth, or who were in a position to seize it by force, inhabited their castles and country houses, where they collected about them whatever the age could afford of objects of luxury and elegance. Solitude and discouragement reigned around their dwellings. Industry and the arts languished obscurely in the towns, and commerce, restrained in its developments, was often conducted in secrecy and danger. The merchant was compelled to travel with his goods from the castle of one baron to that of another, and, living without a fixed residence or depôt for them, he could by this means escape the exactions of the nobles, who, in fact, were to some extent dependent upon his services. Frequently the baron would cause some of his serfs to learn the mechanical arts, so that the several labours of the carpenter, the armourer, the tailor, &c., might be available at once when required. [Illustration: ENGLISH SHOES.] [Illustration: ENGLISH DINNER PARTY. (_From Cotton MS. Tib. C._ 6, _fol._ 5 _b._)] From an early period the Franks of noble race wore long hair and beards, and the custom of Christian priests was the same until the third and fourth centuries. In the time of Charles the Great the costume was still simple. The Franks piqued themselves upon their elegance; of which an example may be found in the journey of Rigonda, daughter of Childeric, to visit the king of the Spanish Goths, to whom she was betrothed. "Rigonda, daughter of Childeric, arrived at Tours with her treasures. Seeing that she had reached the frontier of the Goths, she began to retard her march, and so much the more because those about her said it was necessary for her to stop in that neighbourhood, because they were fatigued with the journey; their clothes were dirty, their shoes worn out, and the harness of their horses and chariots in a bad condition. They insisted that it was necessary, first, to place these things in good order, so as to continue the journey, and appear with elegance before their lady's future husband, lest, if they arrived badly equipped among the Goths, they should be laughed at."[2] [Illustration: CLOAK-PIN (A), BUCKLE (B), AND POUCH (C) OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY. (_A and C from the effigy of Berengaria of Navarre on her tomb at Fontevrault; B from the effigy of Isabella d'Angoulême at Fontevrault. From Stothard's "Monumental Effigies."_)]