The Chapter, after this exciting interlude, proceeded to transact the temporal business of the house, and then adjourned. The chapter-house was often the scene of great events in the history of England. At Reading Abbey in this noble chamber parliaments were held. Here Heraclius, the patriarch of Jerusalem, presented to Henry II. the keys of the Holy Sepulchre, and invoked his aid in the crusade against the Saracens. Here the bishops assembled and excommunicated Longchamp, Chancellor and Regent of the country. Here the marriage contract between John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster was signed, when there were great rejoicings in the ancient town, and tilts and tournaments took place daily. These gay scenes must have greatly disturbed the tranquil life of the monks, and contrasted strangely with their normal condition. The picture of monastic life, which a study of the records of a monastery brings before us, is strange and alien to our present ideas; but it is brightened by a spirit of sincere religion and true charity, and helps us to understand the attraction of the convent walls in turbulent and troublous times. CHAPTER XIII THE MANOR-HOUSE Evolution of a country house--Saxon house--Addition of separate sleeping-chambers--Castles--Tudor houses--Old manor-houses--Secret chambers--Rectories and vicarages--Duty of hospitality--Kelvedon Rectory--Allington--Tithe-barns--Alfriston clergy-house--Almshouses-- Hermitages--Little Budworth--Knaresborough--Reclusorium or anchor-hold-- Laindon--Rattenden--Female recluses--Whalley. The two principal houses in an English village are the manor-house and the rectory, wherein according to the theories of the modern political Socialist and agitator "the two arch-tyrants" of the labourers dwell, the squire and the parson. There is much of interest in the growth and evolution of the country house, which resulted in the construction of these old, pleasant, half-timbered granges and manor-houses, which form such beautiful features of our English villages. [Illustration: SOUTHCOTE MANOR SHOWING MOAT AND PIGEON-HOUSE] [Illustration: OCKWELLS MANOR-HOUSE]