OF SIX MEDIEVAL WOMEN 



there, mention is made of four figure-pictures, 

 one of which is said to have been of Roman 

 workmanship, and round in form certainly, as 

 far as is known, a rarity at that time. We also 

 find a record of finely wrought embroideries and 

 tapestries on the walls, and of windows painted 

 either with armorial bearings and figures, or with 

 simple foliage like the delicate ivy and haw- 

 thorn to be seen enriching the pages of Books 

 of Hours of the fourteenth century. Special 

 mention is made of a window, evidently over 

 the altar in the private Chapel, in which was 

 represented the Crucifixion. In the large hall 

 were tables on trestles, easily removed before the 

 dance began or minstrels or jugglers displayed 

 their skill, dressers to hold the gold and silver 

 plate and from which to serve the banquet, and 

 settles with footboards so necessary when the 

 rushes were only renewed at lengthy intervals. 

 But if the hall was somewhat sparsely furnished, 

 its ceiling and walls (the latter on occasions 

 hung with embroideries carried from castle to 

 castle as the Countess journeyed) were made 

 bright with colour, and beautiful with design. 

 How bright, and how beautiful, we can infer 

 almost with certainty from examples in the 

 Castle of Chillon of thirteenth and fourteenth 

 century decoration lately rescued from under a 

 coat of whitewash, 1 and from the comparison 

 made by Brunette Latini (1230-1294), in his 

 Tesoro, of the Italian with the French feudal 



1 Chillon, Albert Naef, Geneve, 1908. 

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