Our Legal Heritage: The First Thousand Years: 600 - 1600: King Aethelbert - Queen ElizabethReilly, S. A.
History
Our Legal Heritage: The First Thousand Years: 600 - 1600: King Aethelbert - Queen Elizabeth
Reilly, S. A.
Law -- England -- History
More than medieval castles and manor houses, mansions were
designed with privacy in mind. The great hall, often hung around
with bows, pikes, swords, and guns, was not abandoned, but the
family used it as an eating place only on rare occasions.
Instead they withdrew to the parlor and great chamber, while
their servants lived in turrets or attics and continued to eat
in the hall. The distinction between parlor and great chamber
was that the former was for domestic use and the latter for
entertaining. Parlors were situated on the ground floor: the
family lived and relaxed there, and had informal meals in a
dining parlor. The formal or "state" rooms were on the first
floor, usually comprising a great chamber, a withdrawing
chamber, one or more bedchambers, and a long gallery. The idea
of a long gallery was copied from Henry VII and was used for
exercise, recreation such as music and dancing, and private
conversations. Each room had carved chairs and cabinets. A noble
or gentleman's house had not only a garden for the kitchen and
orchards, but formal gardens of flowers and scrubs. Grown were
apples, plums, pears, apricots, peaches, walnuts, filberts,
almonds, figs, capers, oranges, and lemons. Trees were planted
and grafted.
A noble lord made written rules with penalties for his country
household, which numbered about a hundred, including family,
retainers, and servants. He enforced them by fines, flogging,
and threats of dismissal. The lady of the house saw that the
household, held together as an economic and social unit. The
noble's family, retainers, guests, and the head servants, such
as chaplain and children's tutor, and possibly a musician, dined
together at one table. The family included step children and
married sons and daughters with their spouses. They drank from
drinking of fine clear glass from Italy. They ate from silver
dishes with silver spoons. Chandeliers of candles lit rooms. A
silver salt cellar was on the table, which was covered with a
linen cloth. The lady of the house sat in a chair at the end of
the table and was served first. After the upper table was
served, the food was sent to the servants: serving men and
women, bakers, brewers, cooks, pot cleaners, laudresses,
shepherds, hogherds, dairy maids, falconers, huntsmen, and
stable men. What was left was given to the poor at the gates of
the house. The biggest meal of the day was dinner, served at
noon. There were sandglass clocks. For amusement, the house was
occasionally handed over to a lord of misrule for twelve days.
Clothes were washed in rivers and wells.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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