The period under review, for convenience termed mediæval, extends in actual fact from the rougher days of the Norman sovereigns to those when bluff King Hal held court and Elizabeth made so many "grand tours" among the country seats of her people. At the beginning of this period the furniture of even the nobility and wealthy ecclesiastics was very scanty, and when the proud barons moved from one castle to another they carried with them all their household furnishings, even their more treasured culinary utensils of copper and brass. They stowed them away along with their jewels and their other belongings in oak coffers, which in the earliest days were made so that they could be carried on poles by retainers. "In oaken coffers I have stuffed my crowns, In cypress chests my arras counterpoints, Pewter and brass, and all things that belong To house or housekeeping." _The Taming of the Shrew._ Domestic Brasswork. In mediæval days the metal-work was "home made," that is to say, it was the work of retainers and those who were employed upon an estate. The old smiths not only worked in iron but wrought copper and brass, and the founders were building up a reputation; and their chief men were laying down rules for the guidance of the craftsmen. The influence exerted upon the metal-work of this country by the trade guilds of London is referred to in Chapter VI. In their prosperity no doubt the kitchens of the once powerful guilds were filled with cooking vessels indicative of the feasts held by the freemen of the different crafts. Some may say there are still evidences of such feasts; but most of the cooking vessels of early days perished in the Great Fire, although doubtless there are relics of a later period to be found in the kitchens and cellars of the Guildhall and some of the lesser halls. Some of the companies, if they have lost their treasures, still possess records which are helpful to the antiquary, and we naturally turn to the parchments and books of the Worshipful Company of Founders, and there, appropriately enough, it is written that at one time they had jurisdiction over the manufacture of candlesticks, buckles, spurs, stirrups, straps, lavers, pots, ewers, and basins of brass and latten. The mark of the mystery was early made a ewer, a ewer and two candlesticks being given to the Founders in 1590, when they obtained a grant of arms; the motto they adopted was: "God is the only Founder."