Osprey - General Military - Knight - The Warrior and ... - Brego-weard

KNIGHT
Games like chess and
backgammon were
very popular pastimes
amongst the nobility and
knighthood, although here
the gesture of the king, and
the fly-away veil of the
lady, are suggestive of
impropriety. (Bridgeman
Art Library)
194
including a few with the arms of Roger Mortimer and his wife, again ensuring that the
families were symbolically represented throughout the house.
Another notable inclusion in the inventory are gaming boards for backgammon
and chess; indeed four different chess boards are recorded. Chess was a popular and
acceptable game for the medieval noble to play. A large number ol treatises on the
game were produced including one by the English writer Alexander Neckham in
around 1180. The 13th-century Italian Jacobus de Cessolis in his Book of the customs
of men and the duties of nobles, or the Book of Chess' gave the game as the basis for
a series of sermons on morality — a clear indicator that the game was popular and
familiar to his audience.
Also recorded are a number of pieces of silver and wooden tableware, including
goblets, mazers, ewers and plates, but not really enough to cover the tour tables (one
of which was warped). Indeed the inventory is somewhat disappointing in this respect.
There is about it more of the rummage sale than the household of a leading nobleman.
Royal officials had to return on two further occasions to re-list the items because locals
had been making off with items or selling livestock without the royal court's
permission, and between the visits some material had already been redistributed to
the king, the abbey or the family. It is always possible that some items had been
'misplaced' at some point between Roger's
flight and the arrival ol the royal clerks.
The number of coffers and chests that
appear are also a reminder that the nobility
was still very much an itinerant one, the entire
household moving between their various
estates, taking many of their goods and
belongings with them.
One of the most obvious indicators of the
status and position of the individual was his or
her clothing. Even more than in modern times,
the cut, colour and cloth of the garments worn
made a statement about who you were. Men's
clothing between the late 11th and the late 13th
centuries remained generally unchanged. It
comprised a knee-length shirt, braied (a pair of
loose underpants) cbawddM (stocking-like
garments for the legs held up by being tied to
the waist of the braieJ) and a loose-fitting
tunic or gown to cover the body. The head