The early history of furniture in all countries is very much the same—­there is not any.  We know about kings and queens, and war and sudden death, and fortresses and pyramids, but of that which the people used for furniture we know very little.  Research has revealed the mention in old manuscripts once in a while of benches and chests, and the Bayeux tapestry and old seals show us that William the Conquerer and Richard Coeur de Lion sat on chairs, even if they were not very promising ones, but at best it is all very vague.  It is natural to suppose that the early Saxons had furniture of some kind, for, as the remains of Saxon metalwork show great skill, it is probable they had skill also in woodworking.

In England, as in France, the first pieces of furniture that we can be sure of are chests and benches.  They served all purposes apparently, for the family slept on them by night and used them for seats and tables by day.  The bedding was kept in the chests, and when traveling had to be done all the family possessions were packed in them.  There is an old chest at Stoke d’Abernon church, dating from the thirteenth century, that has a little carving on it, and another at Brampton church of the twelfth or thirteenth century that has iron decorations.  Some chests show great freedom in the carving, St. George and the Dragon and other stories being carved in high relief.

[Illustration:  An Apostles bed of the Tudor period, so-called from the carved panels of the back.  The over elaboration of the late Tudor work corresponded in time with France’s deterioration in the reign of Henry IV.]

Nearly all the existing specimens of Gothic furniture are ecclesiastical, but there are a few that were evidently for household use.  These show distinctly the architectural treatment of design in the furniture.  Chairs were not commonly used until the sixteenth century.  Our distinguished ancestors decided that one chair in a house was enough, and that was for the master, while his family and friends sat on benches and chests.  It is a long step in comfort and manners from the fifteenth to the twentieth century.  Later the guest of honor was given the chair, and from that may come the saying that a speaker “takes the chair.”  Gothic tables were probably supported by trestles, and beds were probably very much like the early sixteenth century beds in general shape.  There were cupboards and armoires also, but examples are very rare.  From an old historical document we learn that Henry III, in 1233, ordered the sheriff to attend to the painting of the wainscoted chamber in Winchester Castle and to see that “the pictures and histories were the same as before.”  Another order is for having the wall of the king’s chamber at Westminster “painted a good green color in imitation of a curtain.”  These painted walls and stained glass that we know they had, and the tapestry, must have given a cheerful color scheme to the houses of the wealthy class even if there was not much comfort.