The commutation of labor services into
a money payment developed into a general commutation of virtually
all services. Lords in need of money gladly sold manumissions to
their villeins.
The lord and lady of some manors now ate with their family and
entertained guests in a private parlor [from French word 'to
speak"] or great chamber, where they could converse and which had
its own fireplace. The great chamber was usually at the dais end
of tahe great hall. The great hall had been too noisy for
conversation and now was little used. There were also separate
chambers or bed-sitting rooms for guests or members the family or
household, in which one slept, received visitors, played games,
and occasionally ate.
Some farmers achieved enough wealth to employ others as laborers
on their farms. The laborers lived with their employer in his
barn, sleeping on hay in the loft, or in mud huts outside the
barn. The farmer's family lived at one end of the barn around an
open fire. Their possessions typically were: livestock, a chest, a
trestle table, benches, stools, an iron or bronze cauldron and
pots, brooms, wooden platters, wooden bowls, spoons, knives,
wooden or leather jugs, a salt box, straw mattresses, wool
blankets, linen towels, iron tools, and rush candles [used the
pith of a rush reed for the wick]. Those who could not afford rush
candles could get a dim light by using a little grease in a
shallow container, with a few twisted strands of linen thread
afloat in it.
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