ABSTRACT

Our study of Costume during the later Middle Ages has revealed to us a growing love of magnificence and display in the men of those days, and the same sentiment also influenced the development of their domestic architecture, though not to so great an extent. Improvements were not within the reach of all, but on the whole there seems to have been a gradual increase both in the size and in the grandeur of their houses. As time went on, more and more attention was paid to the demands of comfort, and less and less to the needs of defence: efforts were made to render buildings beautiful as well as strong, so that by degrees the castle disappeared and the domestic house took its place. In the reigns of Edward III and Richard II many licences empowering owners to fortify their houses were granted, but in the succeeding century very few were issued.