The British nation a history / by George MWrong . SOCIETY AT TEE CLOSE OF MEDIEVAL PERIOD 257 in her husbands circle, she could still contrast the mag-nificence of her fathers house with the signs of pov-erty about her. In the town itself there were distinctionsof rank and caste, the wool merchant looking down uponother traders. Artillery having at last made the castle of little use inwar, the sumptuous tastes of the richer nobles led them to build huge palaces, such as Penshurst andofthe^period.^^ Thornbury, where now there is not much thought of military defence. When Edward Idied, the simpl
The British nation a history / by George MWrong . SOCIETY AT TEE CLOSE OF MEDIEVAL PERIOD 257 in her husbands circle, she could still contrast the mag-nificence of her fathers house with the signs of pov-erty about her. In the town itself there were distinctionsof rank and caste, the wool merchant looking down uponother traders. Artillery having at last made the castle of little use inwar, the sumptuous tastes of the richer nobles led them to build huge palaces, such as Penshurst andofthe^period.^^ Thornbury, where now there is not much thought of military defence. When Edward Idied, the simpler Early English had developed into themore elaborate Decorated style of architecture, and a hun-dred years later, by Eichard IIs time, the Perpendicularstyle had supplanted the Decorated. A beautiful complex-ity of lines in the tracery of the window openings is no. HURSTMONCEAUX, SuSSEX ; FoRTIFlED MANSION, FIFTEENTH CeNTUBY. The towers and moat are like features of earlier castles, but the windowsreveal the new influences. longer sought. In huge windows, planned to admit floodsof light, lines cross each other wherever possible at rightangles, and the heads of the arches are almost brick Iniildings had been reared in England since thedays of the Romans, but we find them again in the reign17 258 THE BRITISH NATION of Henry IV. Though the age saw noble churches, col-leges, and baronial houses built, the village dwellings scarcely were of themost flimsy charac-ter. In accounts pre-served a carpenter ispaid five shillingsand eightpence forbuilding a new housefor the swineherd andshepherd, and the to-tal cost of the house,including material,was but twenty shil-lings. In such a shedthe family often livedat one end, the cow,pig, sheep, and poultryat the other. Therewas still no floor orchimney; the fire wasbuilt on the bare ear
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