MEDIEVAL furniture down to the time of the Renaissance falls naturally into three periods: the first, Pointed, or 'Early English,' dating approximately from the commencement of the thirteenth century to the end of Henry III.'s reign, 1272; the second, Pointed, or 'Decorated,' dating from Edward I., 1272, to the death of Edward III., 1377; and the third, Pointed, or 'Perpendicular,' dating from the accession of Richard II., in 1377. In each of these periods the styles overlapped and intermingled, but with the Perpendicular style a curious circumstance is observable. This style continued in its purity till the reign of Henry VII., and then the French invasions across the Alps began to revive the traditions of pagan architecture from Rome. While, however, the Renaissance was superseding the Gothic tradition in the big cities and towns, it not infrequently happened that large buildings and works of debased Gothic character were being carried out side by side with the more fashionable style from Italy. Even at Oxford - that great seat of learning - the staircase of Christchurch College, leading to the great hall, erected as late as 1640, was a Gothic structure showing not a trace of classic influence.

Something may be allowed for the architect's or craftsman's individual taste, but it is a singular fact that this was the first birth of such independence. Thus it might happen that stalls, chairs, chests, or other objects of furniture would be produced in one town which exhibited the very essence of the new style, whilst not ten miles off such articles were being made as though the Renaissance had never taken place. This sometimes renders it very difficult for those who are not absolute masters of the science to assign a correct date to individual examples. To understand and classify properly various styles of furniture, especially those which were made during what may be termed the Gothic period, a careful study of domestic architecture is not only an excellent preparation, but also of the greatest assistance, even to those who are skilled connoisseurs of furniture. Many of the old timber houses which have dates carved upon them show how an opinion ought not to be rashly hazarded as to their age. The overlapping of the various periods and lingering of older styles were such that buildings may be assigned to a later, or more probably to an earlier, period than that to which they actually belong, if the evidence of style alone is taken into account.

Many buildings at Shrewsbury might be mentioned, for instance, where the Gothic style seems to have lingered to an unconscionably late date. The buildings at first sight appear to have been erected during the latter part of the fifteenth century, but a closer inspection, confirmed in many cases by actual dates, proves them to belong to the post-Gothic period, some being as late as the middle of the seventeenth.

One of the causes of our paucity of knowledge respecting furniture of the Middle Ages is the free, not to say fantastic, manner in which objects of domestic use were often rendered by the early artists. It is not until the latter end of the fourteenth century is reached that we can form any comprehensive idea as regards structural form from illustrations. We can trace the likeness of such fifteenth-century furniture as we possess to representations of similar pieces abundantly illustrated in manuscripts of this period. These indeed, are generally depicted with scrupulous care and fidelity, but it would be difficult to imagine actual examples corresponding with some of the extraordinary anomalies appearing in early artistic efforts. The greater accuracy of pictures in manuscripts made during the fifteenth century was due in a measure to a certain increase in the knowledge of perspective, added to which buildings and articles of furniture were undoubtedly in many cases drawn from the objects themselves.

The illustrations to Froissart's 'Chronicles' in our British Museum, and the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris, executed by a Fleming residing in France during the reign of Louis XL, are often marvellous in their minute representations of detail - witness the scene depicting. the death of Count Gaston de Foix, where the apartment of the inn, with its table and its credence perforated with Gothic designs, is rendered so faithfully that we could have no better record of the appointments of the place. It is noteworthy that these illustrations, as was invariably the case with medieval pictures, represented the fashions and customs of the age in which they were produced, and not those of Froissart's time. As regards English pictorial art, Lydgate's 'Life of St. Edmund,' also in the British Museum, contains several remarkable illustrations, one of which, the well-known 'Birth of St. Edmund,' is quite astonishing in its representations of bedroom furniture and appointments of the period. This picture is frequently cited as an authority.

It cannot be too strongly insisted upon that the costume of the figures which appear on buildings, as well as on chests and other articles of furniture, affords most valuable evidence of the actual date of production. Unfortunately, in England we have no furniture dating from an earlier period than the latter part of the fourteenth century on which carved figures appear, while specimens of later date are very scarce.* The tilting coffers, mentioned in Chapter VII (Coffers And Chests From The Norman Times To The Renaissance) (Coffers And Chests From The Norman Times To The Renaissance)., with their display of armour, costume, and accessories, constitute most valuable evidences of the secular form of decoration practised at the latter end of the fourteenth century, but the number of such pieces in this country is unfortunately so limited that the record is woefully incomplete. A very remarkable painted coffer exists in Newport Church, Essex, which is more fully described later on, but in this particular instance the date is supplied by the architectural style, the figures being merely monkish portrayals of the evangelists in conventional costume.

* This, of course, does not include church fittings, amongst which a few instances may perhaps be found.