Castles then studded the country, and the ruins of some of them still give a correct idea of their accommodation and general plan. Old Norman keeps reared their massive fronts, surrounded by lodgings and outworks of later construction. The keeps contained stately halls, guard rooms, and chapels. The more modern and more comfortable lodgings followed the lines of the outer defences, generally having covered communication with the keep. Such were King Richard's home at Middleham, the royal castles of Richmond, Conisborough and Tickhill. Hedingham, the home of the Veres in Essex, Rochester, the Tower of London, and a few others are still standing. Lord Bourchier, the Treasurer, had quite recently built a castle of brick at Tattershall in Lincolnshire, with a lofty keep still intact. The Treasurer's device of a purse frequently recurs there.
The castles of the later period were, however, generally built without the central keep. They consisted of square angle towers connected by curtains, one of which usually formed the great hall, as at Lumley. These were more numerous and probably more commodious. Bolton and Lumley are good examples. There was already a tendency to increase the conveniences and amenities of the old castles by the enlargement of windows and in other ways, as is shown by the fine oriel window at Barnard Castle, the work of Richard himself. The royal residences at Eltham, Sheen, and Windsor are believed to have been designed more for comfort and pleasure than for defence; although Windsor is a place of strength, with circular keep, and means to resist an enemy both in the upper and lower wards. The general tendency, during the last half of the fifteenth century, was to build for comfort rather than for defence.
In the courts and at the gates of the castles of noblemen there were guards wearing more or less of defensive armour, morions or bacinets on their heads, and brigandines of quilted linen or leather with small plates of iron sewn on them. Glaives or bills, crossbows with quarrels or darts, and bows and arrows were in the guard rooms.
The sons of the surrounding gentry were brought up and taught martial exercises and the other accomplishments of a gentleman of the time, at the castles of the lords their patrons, a custom which bound the nobility and lesser gentry together by common interests and common pursuits.
Much time was occupied in hunting and hawking, and the adherents of the House of York were more especially the votaries of the noble art of venery. The first English book of sport had the second Duke of York for its author, and was entitled 'The Master of Game.' The Duke declares that 'hunters live more joyfully than any other men,' and his work shows that he was a keen observer with a wonderfully accurate knowledge of natural history. With such a master and guide in their family the scions of the royal House of York were the leading sportsmen in the country, closely followed by their friends and numerous cousins among the nobility and gentry. The 'Book of St. Albans' by Juliana Berners the Prioress of Sopwell, treating of hawking, hunting, fishing, and the laws of arms, was also a work of that period, and was first printed at St. Albans Abbey, by John Insomuch, the Schoolmaster, in 1481.[[3]] Juliana divides the wild animals into beasts of venery—the wolf, wild boar, stag, hart and hare; beasts of the chase of the sweet foot—buck and doe and the roe—and of the stinking foot, wild cat, badger, fox, weasel, marten, squirrel, and others. She is particular in explaining the terms to be used in venery, that one must say a covey of partridges but a bevy of quails, and so forth. Closely allied to the arts of war and of venery was the law of arms, of which every gentleman of that day had some knowledge. Charges on shields and standards, on surcoats and liveries were regulated by the heralds, and after the ordinance of Henry V. were granted by the Sovereign. But in the most flourishing days of chivalry, those of Edward III., this was not essential. There was no Heralds' College,[[4]] and the only really interesting armorial bearings are those used in the days of the Plantagenets. With Tudors and Stuarts heraldry lost its chivalric significance, and coats of arms subsequently granted are unmeaning and vulgar.
Peerage of Richard III
PEERS
Relations of the Sovereign
* Duke of Suffolk (brother-in-law), K.G.
*+Earl of Lincoln (nephew), K.B.
*+Viscount Lovell (dearest friend),
Lord Chamberlain, K.G.
*+Earl of Northumberland (1st cousin), K.G.
* Lord Greystoke (1st cousin).
* Lord Abergavenny, K.B. }(cousins).
Earl of Westmoreland (sick) }
Minors
Duke of Buckingham } (cousins)
Earl of Essex }
Earl of Salisbury (son).
* Earl of Warwick (nephew).
Earl of Pembroke (nephew).
Staunch and true
*+Duke of Norfolk, Ld. Admiral, K.G.
*+Earl of Surrey, K.G.
* Lord Audley, Ld. Treasurer.
*+Lord Zouch, K.B.
*+Lord Ferrers.
Marching to join the King
* Earl of Kent, K.B.
* Lord Dacre.
* Lord FitzHugh.
* Lord Lumley.
* Lord Ogle in the Marches,
* 2 Lords Scrope.
Other Peers
* Earl of Arundel, K.G.
* Lord Maltravers, K.G.
* Earl of Nottingham.
* Earl of Huntingdon.
* Earl of Wiltshire.
* Lord Grey of Wilton.
* Lord Grey of Codnor.
* Lord Grey of Powys.
* Lord Beauchamp.
* Lord Morley.
* Lord Stourton.
* Lord Cobham.
Lord Mountjoy (at Calais).
Lord de la Warre (abroad).
Lord Dudley (very old).
Minors
Earl of Shrewsbury.
Lord Clifford.
Lord Hastings.
Lord Hungerford.
Peers 42
Minors 9
--
33
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Traitors
#John Vere, Earl of Oxford (under attainder).
Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire.
Grey, Marquis of Dorset.
Woodville, Earl Rivers.
Lord Beaumont.
Lord Welles.
* Lord Lisle.
Lord Dynham.
#Jasper Tudor (late Earl of Pembroke).
#Henry Tudor (calling himself Earl of Richmond).
*#Lord Stanley (turned traitor at the end).
*#Lord Strange.
* At the coronation.
+ At Bosworth for the King.
# At Bosworth for H. Tudor.