| LEGEND TO THE ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE PRINT BELOW Print Specifics:
The illustration of an interior is from the 15th century. In keeping with the custom of the Middle Ages, the costumes are contemporary with the painter, who lived about the time of Charles VII. But the action represented took place in the 14th century, and is one of the incidents of the first phase of the Hundred Years War which began in 1340. It shows the capture of the King of Navarre. He is seated at the table, dining with the Dauphin and other lords. The two kings, of France and Navarre, are recognizable by the golden crowns encircling their hats. The Dauphin is seated at the end of the row; he appears much younger than the others. The guests are sitting along one side of the table as custom dictated, the table being small enough to enable the servants to wait from the other side. The long seat with a back and a foot-rest - the chair of honor - is normally found at one end of the great hall, often on a platform. The dining table was not normally covered with wines and fine dishes. These were put on dressers and sideboards. Servants brought the silver and pewter plates to the table with goblets containing wine. The speed with which these dining tables could be laid and cleared suggests that they were made of boards placed on mobile trestles. Table linen consists of damask, often in two layers, with the cloth reaching to the ground. Transport was primitive in Western Europe, even as late as the 15th century - especially when one considers that the Romans used sprung chariots. A ceremonial coach, as in the top example, was constructed like a cart, with the frame of a semicircular hood mounted on boards placed directly on top of the axles of four equally sized wheels. By contrast, the wood here is gilded and the pall and mantel are both rich. The explanation of so backward a construction as this is that it derives from an entirely national, rather than Roman, tradition. The lower illustration shows the simple agricultural cart that is at the root of this tradition. Its size was standard, so that a cart-load could be used as a unit of measurement. The poor state of the roads and the ideals of knightly conduct made riding a horse infinitely preferable to riding in a cart, and this mitigated against any serious progress in the design and construction of the latter. The only people who traveled in wheeled vehicles were the old and the sick. Martin2001 Satisfaction Guaranteed Policy!
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