Page:The history of medieval Europe.djvu/389

 THE RISE OF TOWNS AND GILDS 339 this we find that the medieval houses which have survived in small French provincial towns compare favorably in appearance, size, and construction with those inhabited by men of the same class in those towns to-day, and suggest a municipal prosperity and spirit which passed away with the disastrous wars of religion in the sixteenth century. We have seen that medieval artisans were often artists as well and it is not surprising if the appearance of their homes re- flected this. It is hard to give one general description of the medieval house which will fit all, since not only were there differences between different countries, but it seems to have been cus- tomary to construct houses with a view to the particular needs and even the personality of the owner. Instead of having the windows all of a size and placing them in regular rows, the medieval architects made the size of the windows correspond to the size of the room and placed the windows so as to admit most light. Glass windows by which the rain and snow and cold could be excluded without shutting out the light now came into domestic use for the first time, and chimneys with flues which enabled one to heat the interior without filling it with smoke were another medieval innova- tion. Such improvements did much to develop home life. In some French houses of the twelfth century the front of the ground floor is occupied by the shop of the owner. Behind it is a little courtyard along one side of which a passage runs to the kitchen situated at the rear and sepa- rated by the court from the main body of the house. Above the shop is a large living-room occupying the entire front of the house and containing also the bed of the father and mother. Over the kitchen was a smaller room or rooms, reached from the living-room by a gallery overlooking the court. Here perhaps would be the bedrooms of the older children of the family, while the apprentices slept in garrets on the third floor over the living-room. Although few houses or other town buildings, with the exception of the churches everywhere and the stone towers of the nobles and town halls and gild houses in Italian cities,