THE MEDIÆVAL HOUSEHOLD.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 998, 13 December 1910, Page 9

THE MEDIÆVAL HOUSEHOLD.

; ~^o manc6 has shed such a glamour over I the lives and doings of the great lords 1 and ladies of the Middle Ages that it is interesting to realise ho.w far short their luxury fell of the ordinary comforts of the present day. In a book compiled in 1512 the. domestic economy of the fifth Earl of .Northumberland was carefully, set forth, and from this some interesting details of a medieval baron's household have been culled by Mr. Coulton for ! "Harper's Magazine." "The carl, like smaller men, had only ■ one set of movables for all his resi- : dences. .'■».' "Only the heaviest articles were jer- , manent fixtures; all else must be trans- . . chairs; tables,, kitchen ■ utensils, hangings for. doors and walls, • and even glass casements for the windows. This book throws a vivid light on such * phrases as 'the breaking up of my lord's house,' or 'his lordship set up his houso again. "Sometimes there was a partial breakup without rin actual move; when my lord kept his secret 'house,' dismissing the majority of his servants to live on board-wage's in the village, and retiring to a corner of his own castle for some such approach to, the simple life as bis modern descendant might enjoy in a Highland shooting-box. "The general migrations, when they came, followed a strict routine; each man had his specified share of horse and vehicle for himself and his belongings. "A single paragraph will show . , . tho very primitive sleeping arrangements which were common in the Middle Ages. . . . "Out of all the officers on these occasions, high and low, six only had a bed to themselves, and not one of the eight migratory priests were among these privileged few. Wo find even the sixth earl addressing his relative Thomas Arundel as 'bedfellow'; for they had been servants together in Wolsey's household. ... "Having- dined at ten, our earl was quite ready for evensong and 'drinkings' at three. The 'drinkings' foreshadowed our afternoon tea; cellar and buttery were officially opened, and for n short time all tho domestics were busy serving again. At four o'clock, supper came, this meal lasted three hours; not only had the- dean and tho gentleman-usher and the younger sons' to take their 'reversions' at dinner, but now in the evening, tho company would sit longer drinking by the fire, with minstrolsey and other incentives to mirth. "At seven o'clock, tho clerks repaired again to their counting-house to balance the days reckonings. At nine tho" castle gates were always shut, 'to thentento that no servants of my lord's shall come m at the said gates that ought to bo within, which are out of the house at that hour.