DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52829#0015
exemplars
of
anfiftuture, (tc
SECTION I.
li Halles ful heygh, and houses ful noble,
Chambers with chymneys, and chapels gaye.”—Plowman’s Crede.
Domestic Architecture, like painting and sculpture, was greatly-
improved under the first and second Edwards ; and that it attained a
high degree of splendour in the reign of Edward III., we have the
authority of Chaucer and other old writers. But time, and the deso-
lating wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster, and, again, the
puritanical wars,* have left us few traces of the habitations of that period,
except, perhaps, some remains of castles, with here and there the ruin
of a monastic structure. All the writers, however, who speak of the
subject, agree, that the houses of the great were more magnificent than
comfortable,f and that the lower orders were miserably lodged.
* See Illustrations at the end of the volume.
q Mr. Whitaker, a very learned antiquary, in his History of Manchester, gives the following
description of an early baronial mansion :—
“ The lord’s mansion was constructed of wood on a foundation of stone, was one ground-
story, and composed a large, oblong, and squarish court. A considerable portion of it was
taken up by the apartments of such as were retained more immediately in the service of the
seignior; and the rest, which was more particularly his own habitation, consisted of one great
and several little rooms. In the great one was his armoury; the weapons of his fathers, the
B
of
anfiftuture, (tc
SECTION I.
li Halles ful heygh, and houses ful noble,
Chambers with chymneys, and chapels gaye.”—Plowman’s Crede.
Domestic Architecture, like painting and sculpture, was greatly-
improved under the first and second Edwards ; and that it attained a
high degree of splendour in the reign of Edward III., we have the
authority of Chaucer and other old writers. But time, and the deso-
lating wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster, and, again, the
puritanical wars,* have left us few traces of the habitations of that period,
except, perhaps, some remains of castles, with here and there the ruin
of a monastic structure. All the writers, however, who speak of the
subject, agree, that the houses of the great were more magnificent than
comfortable,f and that the lower orders were miserably lodged.
* See Illustrations at the end of the volume.
q Mr. Whitaker, a very learned antiquary, in his History of Manchester, gives the following
description of an early baronial mansion :—
“ The lord’s mansion was constructed of wood on a foundation of stone, was one ground-
story, and composed a large, oblong, and squarish court. A considerable portion of it was
taken up by the apartments of such as were retained more immediately in the service of the
seignior; and the rest, which was more particularly his own habitation, consisted of one great
and several little rooms. In the great one was his armoury; the weapons of his fathers, the
B