After the Norman Conquest domestic improvements were multiplied, more rooms were added to the houses, such as the solar or upper room, and the parloir or talking-room, and some of the rooms had fireplaces, but not chimneys. The principal room was the hall or assembly-room, which had a fireplace in the centre, the smoke escaping through the lantern light in the roof.
In the Norman times the principal additions to the furniture of English manor-houses and castles were the cupboard, presses or armoires, and chests. These pieces of furniture were introduced from France. Sometimes the portable presses and the chests were painted with tempera decorations, and were bound with wrought-iron clasps and hinges, which were just beginning to come into use.
Fig. 221.—Scandinavian Seat or Throne of the Middle Ages.
The bed-clothes and personal clothing of the nobles and rich landowners began to assume a rich character, and were often embroidered.
Tapestry and painted cloth hangings were imported; also pottery of an ornamental description was not only imported, but made in England at this time. All this applies to the homes of the rich only, for the poorer classes remained for a long period in a very primitive condition as regards their style of houses and their furniture.
Fig. 222.—Flemish; Sixteenth Century. (P.)
Fig. 223.—German; Fifteenth Century. (P.)