Ontario High School History of England . were very costly tobuild and maintain. They were indeed fortresses, with aconsiderable garrison, and most of them passed into thehands of the king, or into those of a few nobles who had hislicense. The Wars of the Roses, which tended to revivethe power of the nobles, led some of them to fortify theirresidences. Artillery was, however^ making the castle oflittle use in war, and, at the close of the Middle Ages, thericher nobles lived in sumptuous palaces, built withoutmuch thought of military defence. The manor house.—The village squire, or lord of the m
Ontario High School History of England . were very costly tobuild and maintain. They were indeed fortresses, with aconsiderable garrison, and most of them passed into thehands of the king, or into those of a few nobles who had hislicense. The Wars of the Roses, which tended to revivethe power of the nobles, led some of them to fortify theirresidences. Artillery was, however^ making the castle oflittle use in war, and, at the close of the Middle Ages, thericher nobles lived in sumptuous palaces, built withoutmuch thought of military defence. The manor house.—The village squire, or lord of the manor,lived in the manor-house, and its style of building changedas did that of the castle. The old EngUsh manor-house SOCIETY AT THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES 179 was often a moated grange, that is, a house surroundedfor defence by a moat, crossed by a drawbridge. Some-times the hall had towers for defence in days of house slowly changed. At last, there were rooms withlarge windows; the walls were often richly wainscotted;. Hall, Acton Burnell Manor-house, Thikteentii CenturyThe towers at each end were probably for defensive purposes. we find fireplaces, instead of the former hearth-stone in thecentre of the floor; and comfort, rather than defence duringwar, was becoming the chief end in view. Merchants in thetowns lived in considerable state before the close of theMiddle Ages (p. 172). Cannings house at Bristol, with its tiledfloors, rich hangings, and beautiful stained glass, shows howpleasing a rich traders surroundings might be. Yet we stillnotice much that is poor and mean. Guests slept many ina bed, and furniture was so scanty that a few pounds wouldprovide the outfit for a well-to-do household. No tradershouse appears to have had a library. The chief patrons ofliterature were the nobles. Social habits.—From many signs it appears that theEnglish were better fed than their neighbours in continentalEurope; a writer of the fifteenth century notes their goodfa
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