A History of the Tudor Parlor.

Prints by Albrecht Durer and Heinrich Aldegraver

A stroll through Thomas Wright's History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England¹ can be both charming and highly informative. Here Mr. Wright considers the transition in the 16^th century parlor in more upper class homes.

The parlour appears in the sixteenth century to have been a room the particular use of which was in a state of transition. Subsequently, as domestic life assumed greater privacy than when people lived publicly in the hall, the parlour became the living room; but in the sixteenth century, though in London it was already used as the dining-room, in the country it appears to have been considered as a sort of amalgamation of a store-room and a bedroom. This is best understood from the different inventories of its furniture which have been preserved. In 1558, the parlour of Robert Hyndmer, rector of Sedgefield, in the county of Durham, contained—“a table with a joined frame, two forms, and a carpet; carved cupboards; a plain cupboard; nine joined stools; hangings of tapestry; and a. turned chair.” In the parlour at Hilton Castle, in the same county, in 1559, there were—“ one iron chimney, two tables, one counter, two chairs, one cupboard, six forms, two old carpets, 

and three old hangings.” In 1564, Margaret Cottom, a widow of Gateshead, had in her parlour “one inner bed of wainscot, a stand, a bed, a presser of wainscot, three chests, a Dantzic coffer;” a considerable quantity of linen and cloth of different kinds, and for different purposes; “ tallow candles, and wooden dishes, a feather bed, a bolster, and a cod (pillow), two coverlets, two happyings (coverlets of a coarser kind), three blankets, three cods (pillows), with an old mattress; five cushions, a steel cap, and a covering; a tin bottle, a cap-case with a lock.” In the house of William Dalton, a wealthy merchant of Durham, in 1556, the parlour must have been very roomy indeed to contain all the “ household stuff ” which it holds in the inventory, namely, “ a chimney, with a pair of tongs; a bedstead close made; a feather-bed, a pair of sheets, a covering of apparels, an ‘ovese’ bed², a covering wrought of silk; a cod (pillow), and a pillow-bere³; a trundle-bed, a feather-bed, a twilt (quilt), a happing (coverlet), and a bolster; a stand-bed, a feather-bed, a mattress, a pair of blankets, a red covering, a bolster, and curtains; eight cods, and eight pillow-beres; seven pair of linen sheets; eight pair of strakin (a sort of kersey) sheets; six pair of harden (hempen) sheets; thirteen yards of diaper tabling; ten yards and a half of table-cloth ; twenty-one yards of towelling; four hand towels; two dozen napkins; five pillow-beres; two head sheets; a pair of blankets; two ‘ overse ’ beds, and three curtains; a cupboard; a table, with a carpet; a counter, with a carpet; a Dantzic 

chest; a bond chest; a bond coffer; an ambry; a long settle, and a chair; three buffet stools; a little stool; two forms; red hangings; a painted cloth; three chests; a stand-bed, a pair of blankets, two sheets, a covering, and two cods; an ‘ambre call.’” In 1567, the parlour at Beaumont Hill, a gentleman’s house in the north, contained the following furniture:-—“One trundle-bed, with a feather-bed; two coverlets, a bolster, two blankets, two carpet table-cloths, two coverlets, one presser, a little table, one chest, three chairs, and three forms.” In other inventories, down to the end of the century, we find the parlour continuing to be stored in this indiscriminate manner. This period also differs from former periods in the much greater number of beds, and greater abundance of bed-furniture, we find in the houses. We have often several beds in one chamber. Few of the principal bedrooms had less than two beds. The form of the bedstead was now almost universally that with four posts. Still in the engravings of the sixteenth century, we find the old couch-bed represented.... Money was hoarded up in chests in the chambers.

The couch-bed is still more distinctly shown in... Albert Durer's print of St Jerome, dated in 1511. This print is remarkable for its detail of the furniture of a bed-chamber, and especially for the manner in which the various smaller articles are arranged and suspended to the walls. Not the least remarkable of these articles is the singular combination of a clock and an hour-glass, which is placed against the wall as a time piece. This seems, however, to have been not uncommon.... The method of suspending or attaching to the walls the smaller articles' in common use, such as scissors, brushes, pens, papers, &c., is here the same as in the former.... [In] a print by Aldegraver, dated in 1553, plate appears... to be kept in the bed chamber. Chests, cupboards, presses, &c., become now very numerous in the bedrooms, and we begin to meet with tables and chairs more frequently.

1 The Homes of Other Days a History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England from the Earliest Known Period to Modern Times (1871). 479-82.

2 Ovese bed] perhaps a bunk bed

3 Pillow-bere] pillow case

Also at Virtual Grub Street:

Noailles' Account of the Coronation of Mary I: October 1, 1553. September 30, 2022. “Her majesty followed next dressed in a long mantle of crimson velvet with a very long train carried by her chamberlain, & the duchess of Norfolk...”

Elizabeth I: the great tabloid story of 1559. February 20,2022. “…they say she is in love with Lord Robert and never lets him leave her.”

Queen Elizabeth Orders Nightgowns for Herself and Leicester. November 7, 2021. “Some people may perhaps feel inclined to draw large conclusions from it. For ourselves, we do not think it warrants anything of the kind.”

Queen Elizabeth I’s Heart and the French Ambassador.  April 3, 2019.  “…the Queen of England, with the permission of her physicians, has been able to come out of her private chamber, she has permitted me… to see her…”

Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.

Check out the English Renaissance Letter Index for many letters from this fascinating time, some related to the Shakespeare Authorship Question.