Its Customs. 97 



its pillars composed of oak trees and its roof-rafters of their 

 roots. It was at first, for purposes of defence, in the form of 

 a quadrangle, the windows looking into the yard. Often a 

 deep ditch filled with water surrounded the buildings, the 

 back of which would be topped with a palisade of pointed 

 planks, and the only means of ingress was over a single draw- 

 bridge. The interior consisted of one-storeyed sheds, stone 

 below and timber above, with high-pitched roofs. The 

 principal apartment was the hall, long, wide, and low, its roof 

 unceiled and composed of rough-hewn timbers blackened by 

 the smoke from the wood in the reredosse. The floor would be 

 unpaved, and the wooden walls rudely decorated Avith weapons 

 or covered with hangings. The lord's dining table, com- 

 posed of unplaned planking, was T shaped ; the top of the 

 letter representing the raised dais, in the middle of which 

 sat the lord and his lady. That portion of the table allotted 

 to the housecarles was not elevated, and the roof above was 

 sometimes even open to the sky. On the same ground plan 

 as the hall were the sleeping apartments, often opening out 

 into one common ante-chamber. These were seldom wind 

 or weather-proof, though the draught was sometimes inter- 

 cepted by rich hangings. The domestics slept in mere cells, 

 and the furniture of even the best bedrooms was of the rudest 

 nature. A wooden framework enclosing a nest of straw served 

 as a bed, and the clothes were one or two rugs or sheep-skins. 

 The wealthier Saxon etheling kept a large following of stout 

 men-at-arms, who combined domestic services with those of 

 defence. His lady often presided over a bevy of bower- 

 maidens, chosen for their beauty and good breeding, whom 

 she brought up and educated in the art of needlework under 

 her watchful eye. 



Around this lord's dwelling-house were grouped the villagers' 

 houses, each in its own grounds, with its barn and stables 

 so constructed as to form an interior yard into which would 

 be driven at night the most valuable cattle for the sake of 

 securit}^ 



In a central and commanding position stood the wooden 

 church, used as a place of worship on Sundays, a fortress in 



H 



