rarely used, and consequently there were few displays of bad passions. The common beverages were beer and mead. Poor families and even those fairly well off ate turnips, lentils, beans, and other vegetables, and upon festive occasions a goose and some kind of pastry. However great the wealth or high the rank, the utmost importance was attached to the hair and beard, which were considered indications of strength and courage—qualities which commanded respect at that time. The grandees exchanged a hair as a sign of mutual agreement. A promise was often sealed by touching the beard. A debtor who could not pay was considered the slave of his creditor and tendered him the shears with which to cut his beard. If a young warrior was taken prisoner by one of the barbarians and doomed to death, he would beseech his captor not to soil his hair with blood or allow a slave to touch it. Agreements were annulled by breaking a straw. Hospitality was regarded as a sacred rite, and guests were treated with almost religious reverence. The household furniture was simple. The walls of the rooms were covered with painted and gilded leather, and the floors were covered with straw mats, woven by the women of the house. Except upon festival days, when sumptuous display was expected, there was the utmost simplicity both in the homes of private persons and at the Court of Charlemagne.” Charlemagne’s wife and daughters took an active part in the household duties. The daughters learned to spin and weave when they were quite young, and Charlemagne much preferred the garments which they made. Angilbert, a scholarly friend of the Emperor, has left a description of the palace at Ingelheim as well as of a hunting party in which the Emperor’s spouse, Lindgard, and the sons, Carl and Pepin, figure. He says: