ABSTRACT
The various halls throughout the kingdom naturally differ somewhat in detail, but certain features were regarded as obligatory. The most distinctive piece was the buffet or cupboard, where the richest plate was exhibited. In the famous representation of a medieval feast taken from a monumental brass in the Church of King’s Lynn, Norfolk, the guests sit on only one side of the table, while behind them rises what appears to be the back, in Gothic style, of the long seat, which is occupied by twelve persons. The illumination of a medieval feast, if held after nightfall, must have been comparatively dim, though doubtless very picturesque. One of the most brilliant descriptions of such a feast is found in the famous prose romance of Merlin. Any covering for the walls must have been an improvement, and the tapestries so enthusiastically described in medieval romances doubtless deserved all the praise they received.
