There was a great development of heraldic splendor with for instance, crests, coat-armor, badges, pennons [long, triangular flag], and helmets. They descended through families. Not only was it a mark of service to wear the badge of a lord, but lords wore each other's badges by way of compliment. Lords surrounded themselves with people of the next lower rank, usually from nearby families, and had large households. For instance, the king had a circle of noblemen and ladies about him. A peer or great prelate had a household of about 100-200 people, among which were his inner circle, companions, administrators, secretaries, bodyguards and armed escort, chaplain, singing priests and choirboys, and servants. All officers of the household were gentlemen. The secretary was usually a clerk, who was literate because he had taken minor clerical orders. Since the feudal obligation of the tenants was disappearing, a lord sometimes hired retainers to supplement his escort of fighting men. They proudly wore his livery of cloth or hat, which was in the nature of a uniform or badge of service. A nobleman and his lady had a circle of knights and gentlemen and their ladies. A knight had a circle of gentlemen and their ladies. The great barons lived in houses built within the walls of their castles. Lesser barons lived in semi-fortified manors, many of which had been licensed to be embattled or crenelated. Their halls were two stories high, and usually built on the first rather than on the second floor. Windows came down almost to the floor. The hall had a raised floor at one end where the lord and lady and a few others sat at a high table. The hearth was in the middle of the room or on a wall. Sometimes a cat was used to open and shut the louvers of the smoke outlet in the roof. The lord's bedroom was next to the hall on the second floor and could have windows into the hall and a spiral staircase connecting the two rooms. There was a chapel, in which the lord attended mass every morning. The many knights usually lived in unfortified houses with two rooms.