WINDOWS.--In all early houses the windows were small, owing to the necessity for defence. On the ground floor they were little more than narrow slits, three or four inches wide; but in the rooms less directly exposed to attack, they were somewhat enlarged, although still far short in area of the minimum required by modern by-laws, namely, one-tenth of the floor space. They were unglazed, except in important houses, such as those belonging to the king. Indeed, examples are not infrequent, even in the fifteenth century, of windows never having been glazed. Sheets of horn were sometimes used in order to keep out the wind, without absolutely excluding the light. From the earliest times windows were closed by shutters, which sometimes covered the whole window, when it was not too large; and sometimes were provided for each subdivision; for as already remarked, domestic windows were often divided by cross-bars or transomes in order to obtain lights of reasonable size in regard to the shutters. Tracery was sparingly employed, and was usually not covered by the shutters; the openings thus left formed useful outlets for the smoke, but must have been considered by reflecting minds to be only a crude method of ventilation. [Illustration: 63. Alnwick Castle, Northumberland. Window (13th cent.), showing Window-seats and Recesses for Shutters. The glazing is of later date.] [Illustration: 64. Little Wenham Hall, Suffolk (13th cent.). (_a_) Window on Upper Floor. (_b_) Window between Hall and Chapel.] [Illustration: 65. South Wingfield Manor. Window in Porch (1435–40.)] The treatment of house windows corresponded with that adopted in churches. First they were round-headed, as at Castle Hedingham (Fig. 61), and Rochester (Fig. 51, _b_). Then they became pointed, with, perhaps, a dividing mullion, as at Little Wenham Hall (Fig. 64, _b_). The plain pointed heads were then bent into a trefoil shape, as at Chacombe Priory (Fig. 62), or were made with a flat summit and curved shoulders, as at Alnwick Castle (Fig. 63). Tracery was occasionally introduced, as at Little Wenham (Fig. 64, _a_). This illustration and that from Chacombe, as well as the view of Oakham Castle (Fig. 15), show that the forerunner of the mullion was a shaft dividing the lights. In subsequent examples the mullion will be found fully established. [Illustration: 66. Abingdon Abbey, Berkshire. Window in Guest-house (late 15th cent.).] [Illustration: 67. Brympton D’Evercy, Somerset. Bay Window (late 15th cent.).] [Illustration: 68. Fawsley, Northamptonshire. Bay Window of the Hall (late 15th cent.).]