of plain and fancy needlework, for every lady was expected to be
proficient in such matters; all wearing apparel and fabrics of all
sorts required for household use, and the banners and altar cloths of
the churches as well, were made in the household. When the household
was a large one, the lady and her maidens were kept busily employed
in attending to its needs. It is, however, entirely probable that
the manufacture of the coarser materials and their making into
clothing were delegated to the servants, of whom every manor had
a large retinue. The designing and making of the costumes of the
wealthy--especially those that were to be worn on court and other high
occasions--were given over to professional tailors, who were called
"scissors."

The round of domestic duty made daily drafts upon the time of the
wives. In every family of the higher class, the lady of the household
had to see to the provisioning as well as to the clothing of its
members and servitors. This was not a simple matter, as the provisions
had to be supplied at the cost of great inconvenience, excepting in
the case of the products of the manor farms belonging to the estate.
The stewards' accounts are often a valuable source of information as
to the grade of living of the times.

In view of the industry of the women in the manufacture of textile
fabrics, the poet's eulogy is deserved:

"Of gold tissues, and cloth of silk;
Therefore say I, whate'er their ilk,
To all who shall this story find
They owe them all to womankind."

The limits of the manor formed the horizon of its women; the men
frequently had to make long journeys in the pursuit of their larger
concerns, and were often in foreign lands serving as soldiers or
crusaders. But the lack of variety in the lives of the women was more
than compensated for by the opportunities which were furnished them
by quiet and seclusion for the improvement of their minds and the
cultivation of those finer qualities of character which are the basis
of the refinement and good manners of the cultivated English women
of the present day. It is not too much to say of the Middle Ages that
without the peculiar circumstances of manorial living, the culture,
confidence, self-containment, and initiative of the English woman
would not have become as they are--her predominant characteristics.
So effectual, indeed, were the conditions of the times for seclusion,
and so greatly were its privileges appreciated, that