Period of 1000 years from Fall of Rome, A.D. 476, to Capture of
Constantinople, 1453--the Crusades--Influence of Christianity--Chairs
of St. Peter and Maximian at Rome, Ravenna and Venice--Edict of Leo
III. prohibiting Image worship--the Rise of Venice--Charlemagne and his
successors--the Chair of Dagobert--Byzantine character of
Furniture--Norwegian carving--Russian and Scandinavian--the
Anglo-Saxons--Sir Walter Scott quoted--Descriptions of Anglo-Saxon
Houses and Customs--Art in Flemish Cities--Gothic Architecture--the
Coronation Chair at Westminster Abbey--Penshurst--French Furniture in
the 14th Century--Description of rooms--the South Kensington
Museum--Transition from Gothic to Renaissance--German carved work: the
Credence, the Buffet, and Dressoir.


[Illustration]

The history of furniture is so thoroughly a part of the history of the
manners and customs of different peoples, that one can only understand and
appreciate the several changes in style, sometimes gradual and sometimes
rapid, by reference to certain historical events and influences by which
such changes were effected.

Thus, we have during the space of time known as the Middle Ages, a stretch
of some 1,000 years, dating from the fall of Rome itself, in A.D. 476, to
the capture of Constantinople by the Turks under Mahomet II. in 1453, an
historical panorama of striking incidents and great social changes bearing
upon our subject. It was a turbulent and violent period, which saw the
completion of Rome's downfall, the rise of the Carlovingian family, the