Ecclesiastical Art—Wood-carving and Carvers—Primitive character of the Furniture of Castles and Mansions—_Huchiers_—_Menuisiers_—A Typical Bedroom—_Dinanderie_—Wood-work and panelling—Chest, _banc_, _bahut_, sideboard, _dressoir_, _credence_, table and chair—Embroideries—Definition of _Chambre_—Textiles and Tapestries—Ecclesiastical hangings—Tapestry-weavers—Tapestry of Philip the Bold—Flemish Looms—Cordovan and Flemish Leathers— Goldsmith’s Work—Glass and Glass-workers—Guilds of St. Luke. In the turbulent days of the Middle Ages, the goods of the Church were the only ones respected, and, sometimes, not even those. The castles afforded protection to those in their immediate vicinity, but rival feudal ambitions rendered the calling of a luxurious craftsman more or less precarious. The abbey walls always sheltered a community of carpenters, joiners, leather-dressers, iron-workers, goldsmiths, sculptors, painters and calligraphists. Towards the end of the Crusades, the new organization of the Communes, after the period of anarchy, becomes firmly established. Industry, commerce and art begin to make rapid strides in the towns, and craftsmen form themselves into corporations that receive special privileges from their titular overlords. So long as the artists of the ecclesiastical school remained under the protection of the monastic houses, they naturally followed a hieratic road. The ornamentation they were called upon to produce for the Church, they reproduced when luxurious furniture was required in domestic life. The great Corporations, however, as they grew in wealth and power, demanded something superior to, or at least, different from, the work of their forerunners. In the monastic houses, it was long before this influence made itself felt; but among the secular clergy it received a hearty welcome. The distinguishing character of Mediaeval work is the freedom of execution allowed to the workman. The architect decided on heights, dimensions, dispositions of parts and profiles of stalls, or _armoires_; but the details were left to be worked out by the artistic ability of the skilled workman. Individual expression was allowed full play, while the original conception of the designer was respected. Gradually, as the Communes became more powerful and were able to afford stable protection to their members, the spirit of association and solidarity tended to break away from exclusively ecclesiastical art.