Households in 16th Century

One of the richest sixteenth-century sources for a great landowner's way of life is the Northumberland household book, detailing the establishment and the regulations drawn up early in the century by Henry Percy, fifth Earl of Northumbeland (1478-1527), for his castles of Wressle and Leconfield. Although the Percies took their title from Northumberland, their main source of wealth was Yorkshire, and they were often resident in the East riding; in the household book the earl seems to have moved between Wressle and Leconfield, with visits to London and overseas on the king's business. Leconfield was the larger house, with (in 1574) eighty-three rooms, nearly double the number at Wressle. The great chamber was the room most frequently mentioned in the household ceremonies, and it is apparent that in the 1520s the Percies were still living the public life of the medieval nobleman, eating in public at a high table surrounded by their servants and moving with them to chapel twice a day; but they no longer lived and ate in the great hall, for the high table had been moved into the great chamber, and at Leconfield and Wressle servants were appointed to wait on strangers in the hall. This withdrawal from the hall, characteristic of all great households at this time, was seen by Girouard as making radical changes in the nature of the country house. From the sixteenth century on, the great landowner became increasingly interested in privacy, an interest that led to larger houses, larger gardens and wider parks. [p. 207]

The furnishings of the earl travelled with him from place to place; they included such things as benches and tables, and even windows. In her will, the dowager countess of Northumberland in 1542 left gold, gilt and silver plate, altar furnishings, carpets, bedding, hangings including four pieces of new arras of the story of Venus, three pieces of tapestry work of Alexander and a red and green hanging painted with a border of the birth of Christ. [p. 209]

Barbara English (1990), The Great Landowners of East Yorkshire 1530-1910, Harvester, Wheatsheaf.