DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52829#0178
104
The higher orders had, nevertheless, many costly and splendid articles ;
for we find, in the old testamentary records, bequests of embroidered
beds of satin and gold, velvet and gold, tapestry hangings for walls,
and magnificent plate ; but the greater part of these were of foreign
fabrication.*
The civil wars, and their consequent restrictive acts, were not more
fatal to architecture than to the progress of other useful arts; and
England was, at their termination, still constrained for a while to be
indebted, as she had been through the reigns of Henry IV. and
Henry V., Edward IV. and Henry VI., to Venice, Genoa, and Florence,
not only for articles of luxury, but for almost the whole of her manu-
factured goods. Hence it appears, that during those periods the same
style of furniture pervaded the greater part, if not the whole, of Europe.
The invitation and encouragement held out to foreigners of all nations
by Henry VII. and Henry VIII., and the protection afforded them
against religious persecutions by Elizabeth, laid the foundation of that
glorious pre-eminence at which our manufactures afterwards arrived,
in summer with green rushes or boughs ; lest the gentlemen who paid court to him, and who
could not, by reason of their great number, find a place at table, should soil their fine clothes
by sitting on the floor.—Hume.
“ John Baldwin held the manor of Oterasfee in Aylesbury of the king in soccage, by the
service of finding litter for the king’s bed, viz. in summer, grass or herbe; and in winter, straw,
thrice in the year if the king should come thrice in the year to Aylesbury.”—Madox, Bar,
Anglica, p. 247.
* In 1455 apetition was presented to parliament by a company of women in London, called
Silk-women, representing that the Lombards and other Italians imported such quantities of
silk thread, that they were in danger of being reduced to poverty.—Henry, vol. x. p. 188.
And in 1483 another petition was sent to parliament, praying for a prohibition against the
importation of cupboards, tongs, fire-forks, stock-locks, keys, hinges, and garnets, painted
glass, &c.—Ibid. p. 250.
The higher orders had, nevertheless, many costly and splendid articles ;
for we find, in the old testamentary records, bequests of embroidered
beds of satin and gold, velvet and gold, tapestry hangings for walls,
and magnificent plate ; but the greater part of these were of foreign
fabrication.*
The civil wars, and their consequent restrictive acts, were not more
fatal to architecture than to the progress of other useful arts; and
England was, at their termination, still constrained for a while to be
indebted, as she had been through the reigns of Henry IV. and
Henry V., Edward IV. and Henry VI., to Venice, Genoa, and Florence,
not only for articles of luxury, but for almost the whole of her manu-
factured goods. Hence it appears, that during those periods the same
style of furniture pervaded the greater part, if not the whole, of Europe.
The invitation and encouragement held out to foreigners of all nations
by Henry VII. and Henry VIII., and the protection afforded them
against religious persecutions by Elizabeth, laid the foundation of that
glorious pre-eminence at which our manufactures afterwards arrived,
in summer with green rushes or boughs ; lest the gentlemen who paid court to him, and who
could not, by reason of their great number, find a place at table, should soil their fine clothes
by sitting on the floor.—Hume.
“ John Baldwin held the manor of Oterasfee in Aylesbury of the king in soccage, by the
service of finding litter for the king’s bed, viz. in summer, grass or herbe; and in winter, straw,
thrice in the year if the king should come thrice in the year to Aylesbury.”—Madox, Bar,
Anglica, p. 247.
* In 1455 apetition was presented to parliament by a company of women in London, called
Silk-women, representing that the Lombards and other Italians imported such quantities of
silk thread, that they were in danger of being reduced to poverty.—Henry, vol. x. p. 188.
And in 1483 another petition was sent to parliament, praying for a prohibition against the
importation of cupboards, tongs, fire-forks, stock-locks, keys, hinges, and garnets, painted
glass, &c.—Ibid. p. 250.