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Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-58132-5 - Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales 1300-1500, Volume III Southern England Anthony Emery Excerpt More information INTRODUCTION no new cathedrals were built in England or Wales after 1250, and few monasteries were established between that time and their dis- solution 300 years later. The castles of Edward I in North Wales were almost the last fortresses to be erected in this country before the advent of Henry VIII’s coastal forts and blockhouses. A consid- erable number of churches were extended or rebuilt during the later middle ages but they conformed in plan and liturgical function to those of an earlier age. On the other hand, houses had begun to take a recognisable form during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries which reached fulfilment as a prism of society during the following two centuries. They reflected the spread of wealth, the rise of new families, social differentiation, and the organisation and growth of household institutions. Out of the one and a half thousand med- ieval houses that have survived in England and Wales, nearly 700 are described in these three volumes.1 They stand as testimony to the first great age of domestic architecture, for that was not an achievement of the Tudors but a development of Plantaganet society between 1300 and 1500. It is these houses that lie at the heart of architectural and related institutional development during the later middle ages. The crown, the aristocracy, and the gentry of medieval England were the movers and shakers of society. What they did, and how they did it, at national, regional, and local levels affected the government, the economy, the welfare, and the social justice or injustice of the country at all levels of society. It also determined the character, taste, and standards of society, and their homes are the visible witness to those standards. Innovations in house design and layout occurred in residences of the ruling class. The crown and the aristocracy had the financial means and the need to encourage the necessary developments. Changes were gradual rather than dramatic, but once a technical improvement or social enhancement had been achieved, it was usually swiftly followed by people of the same social scale. Furthermore, there was considerable mobility of craftsmen throughout the later middle ages, capable of adapting or modifying recent technical developments or the greater residential scale demanded by a client. There was therefore a fairly rapid ‘trickle down’ effect from high-status buildings. Leading members of society were able to call upon the services of architectural praction- ers who not only served regionally distinguished patrons but might well carry out royal commissions. During the late fourteenth century, the master-mason John Lewyn was as important in the north of England as William Wynford in the south-west or Henry Yevele in south-east England. Such people travelled considerable distances to give their advice or submit designs for a new project. Consequently, stylistic developments and architectural innovations © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-58132-5 - Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales 1300-1500, Volume III Southern England Anthony Emery Excerpt More information greater medieval houses of england and wales N B u c THE THAMES VALLEY k in O g e xf h hir o a rs rd m ste sh ce i sh u re i lo re G London Berkshire Wiltshire Surrey Kent SOUTH-EAST Somerset Hampshire ENGLAND SOUTH-WEST ENGLAND Sussex Devon Dorset Cornwall 0 50 miles 0 100 km figure 1 The region covered in volume III spread rapidly, contrary to the commonly held assumption that the that, apart from its form, the use made of that space is a primary further houses lay from the metropolis, the more old-fashioned function of the building. This flows from an understanding of the they became. Enough contracts survive to show that kings, mag- organisation of a household, how the occupants lived, and how the nates, leading prelates, and élite gentry had a very clear idea of what demands for greater privacy were met through the planning func- they wanted in the way of building requirements and laid down tion. Churches were built for contemplation, prayer, and ceremony precise parameters. Palace-fortresses and large houses were not – an envelope for reflecting on the infinite wisdom and wonders of built from off-the-peg designs but were a reflection of the personal God. Greater houses were built to induce awe, to declare status, and lifestyle and individual needs of the patron. to accommodate the owner’s family and his household. Neither The consequences were threefold. The houses of England and were built for the contemplation of architectural historians. Houses Wales display very considerable individuality. They follow the basic were living units, sometimes with decorative features and increas- components of residential planning – hall, chamber, and services – ingly so as the middle ages progressed. Earlier historians have been but with variety and character. They made a visual and symbolic prone to concentrate on architectural analysis and detailing in pref- statement befitting the owner’s rank, with their form and planning erence to working from the residence’s initial function and purpose, determined by military or defensive factors, social status, domestic so that my approach has embraced different tenets: comfort, ceremonial setting, circulation patterns, and the need for • House development did not occur in a vacuum but as a conse- privacy. Yet no two houses are alike, even when built for the same quence of political, social, economic, and financial factors. patron or by the same master-mason. Hence the historical introductions and the references to the con- These houses reveal something of the career, taste, and financial temporary milieu in many individual house assessments. resources of the owner. The availability of funds helped to deter- • Domestic architecture was not a single stream of technical devel- mine the scale and quality of the residence and the standard of dec- opment, emenating from some central but unspecified source. It oration and content. A house can also indicate the size of the was a series of eddies – with regional centres – which interrelated patron’s patrimony, his political and social standing, and the scope and spread to a greater or lesser extent. They were most obvious of his household. It is a living organism expressing his needs and in Durham, Winchester, and London during the later four- habits as well as those of his descendants, for most houses are teenth century and in Exeter, Shrewsbury, and Cheshire in the subject to the changes and modifications of later generations. In later fifteenth century. These volumes have been divided on a distinguishing those changes, you also see the aspirations and regional basis to help point up some of these local movements. culture of later periods – whether of the fifteenth, seventeenth, or • Across this movement was a contrary one based on personal rela- nineteenth century – as well as those of the originator. More pre- tionships and the networking of friends. The royal court, parlia- cisely, houses reflect the temper, the fears, and the ebullience of the ment, and private households were obvious channels of years when they were constructed or modified. intercommunication where senior churchmen, leading nobles, A house is essentially the framework to provide living space, so and courtiers could discuss their building plans and influence each 2 © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-58132-5 - Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales 1300-1500, Volume III Southern England Anthony Emery Excerpt More information introduction other, as the royal court did during the mid-fourteenth century, highlighting how the interpretation of an apparently straightfor- or the friends of Ralph, Lord Cromwell and succeeding treasur- ward house can totally change. Within a few years, a house attrib- ers of England in the mid-fifteenth century. The same interrela- uted to the early seventeenth century, and essentially considered to tionship can be seen between the greater and lesser gentry as they be of one build with some jaded classical detail,4 proved to be a served local administrative interests. Hence the thematic essays complex medieval site with a sequence of standing structures initi- on tower-houses, lodging ranges, and trophy houses. ated for a visit by Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn in 1535 and devel- • Houses were the framework accommodating the household, the oped piecemeal during the mid-sixteenth century rather than to a family, and their support staff, of different social rank under the pre-ordained plan. The new ranges were innovatory, structurally same roof. The major concern of architectural historians with and decoratively, and were the precursor of the Elizabethan style. architectural detailing has obscured the fundamental purpose of Yet the site retained several medieval buildings to create a vital link medieval house development – social distinction, greater bridging the formative years of post-medieval architecture.5 None privacy, and more elaborate lifestyles. Some of the essays of this is likely to have been appreciated had Acton Court contin- embrace these considerations, including those on licences to ued to remain in occupation. At how many other houses would such crenellate, secular art, and the impact of the Hundred Years’ War a revealing study be possible if family use did not inhibit such thor- on English houses. ough examination? And in this particular instance, the proposed • We have usually lost the immediate environment of any medie- ‘redevelopment’ programme by a developer in 1984 included val residence. In recent years, the study of monastic establish- pulling down the internal partition with the rarest wall paintings (at ments has turned from the church and claustral buildings to that stage unknown), multi-room division, new windows, no site those of the outer court.

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