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
Baron landholders' semi-fortified stone manor houses were
improved and extended. They were usually quadrangular around a
central courtyard. The central and largest room was the hall,
where people ate and slept. If the hall was on the first floor,
the fire might be at a hearth in the middle of the floor.
Sometimes the lord had his own parlor, with a sleeping loft
above it. Having a second floor necessitated a fireplace in the
wall so the smoke could go up two floors to the roof. Other
rooms each had a fireplace. Often the hall was on the second
floor and took up two stories. There was a fireplace on one wall
of the bottom story. There were small windows around the top
story. Windows of large houses were of opaque glass supplied by
a glass-making craft. The glass was thick, uneven, and greenish
in color. The walls were plastered. The floor was wood with some
carpets. Roofs were timbered with horizontal beams. Many roofs
had tiles supplied by the tile craft, which baked the tiles in
kilns or over an open fire. Because of the hazard of fire, the
kitchen was often a separate building, with a covered way
connecting it to the hall. It had one or two open fires in
fireplaces, and ovens. Sometimes there was a separate room for a
dairy.
Furniture included heavy wood armchairs for the lord and lady,
stools, benches, trestle tables, chests, and cupboards. Outside
was an enclosed garden with cabbages, peas, beans, beetroots,
onions, garlic, leeks, lettuce, watercress, hops, herbs, nut
trees for oil, some flowers, and a fish pond and well. Bees were
kept for their honey.
Nobles, doctors, and lawyers wore tunics to the ankle and an
over-tunic almost as long, which was lined with fur and had long
sleeves. A hood was attached to it. A man's hair was short and
curled, with bangs on the forehead. The tunic of merchants and
middle class men reached to the calf. The laborer wore a tunic
that reached to the knee, cloth stockings, and shoes of heavy
felt, cloth, or perhaps leather. Ladies wore a full length tunic
with moderate fullness in the skirt, and a low belt, and tight
sleeves. Her hair was concealed by a round hat tied on the top
of her head. Over her tunic, she wore a cloak. Monks and nuns
wore long black robes with hoods.
The barons now managed and developed their estates to be as
productive as possible, often using the successful management
techniques of church estates. They kept records of their fields,
tenants, services owed by each tenant, and duties of the manor
officers, such as supervision of the ploughing and harrowing.
Annually, the manor's profit or loss for the year was calculated.
Most manors were self-supporting except that iron for tools and
horseshoes and salt for curing usually had to be obtained
elsewhere. Wine, tar, canvas and millstones were imports from
other countries and bought at fairs, as was fish, furs, spices,
and silks. Sheep were kept in such large numbers that they were
susceptible to a new disease "scab".
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account