Evening star., 1932-02-27
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the BookIoper

The recent book by william Stearns
Davis, Life In Elizabethan Days." ex-
plains itself in its subtitle as "a picture
of a typical English community at the
end of the sixteenth century" Mr..
Davis excels In his picturesque method
of writing social history. In 1928 he
wrote Life on a Mediaeval Barony: q
Picture of Typical Feudal Community
in the Thirteenth Century" For this
typical community he imagines name
and an overlord. I'm the duchy of
Quelqueparte there lay, in the later
days of the great King Philip Augustus.
the barony of St. Aliquis. Perhaps you
! may have trouble in finding any such
I places upon the maps of medieval
| France. In that case, I must tell you
that they did not lie so far from Bur-
gundy, Champagne and Blois that the
duke and his vaSsal, the baron, could
not have many brave feuds with the
seigneurs of those principalitieS, nor so
| far from Paris that peddlers and pill
grins could not come hence or go
| thither pretty often, nor the baron of
| st. Aliquis sometimes journey to the
kings court, to do his loyal devoir to
his high suzerain, or to divert himself
with many lordly pleasures" The Baron
of St. Aliquis is called Sir Conon, and he
and his family and retainers live in
castle $50 years DID, with a central
donjon, a mass of towers. parade or
| tournament ground, barbican and
moat. The daily life of the feudal
family In the castle is concretely de-
scribed, their occupations from the
early rising by feeble candlelight to
the time, not long after sunset, when
Sir Conon drinks deeply, rises from the
supper table, receives the ponderous
keys from the seneschal, and betakes
himself to his feather beds piled upon
the great carved and canopied bed
stead.
The various chapters Of Life on a
Medieval Barony" tell of the food and
cookery, which have a very important
place in the life of the castle; Of the
clothing worn by Sir Conon, his wife
| Adela, his two sons Francois and
Anseau, his younger brother Aimery,
and his marriageable sister Alienor; Of
the games and other diversions; Of the
education of the young people; Of the
servants and their duties; of religious
| observances, Superstitions, charity and
| the social code of ethics; of the care
| of the sick and funerals, which usually
follow illness; Of justice and punish
mentS; of feudal duties and warfare.
| Near the castle Is the good town of
| Pontdebois, where the castle dwellers
| go to attend fairs, always well attended
| by a retinue of men-at-armS and body
servants as protection against robbers
and for assistance through the slough
of muddy roads. A long line of sumpter
beasts forms part Of the baronial pro-
cession as it moves downward, to carry
back the commodities with which the
castle will be stocked for many months
to come. Not far from the castle is the
Benedictine Monastery of st. Aliquis,
and almost castle itself, with its
battlemented walls, spires, pinnacles,
turretS, moat, drawbridge, portculliS
and strong gate. At Pontdebois "a
worthy cathedral, like a worthy char
acter, Is growing continually. Probably
the Feudal Age will end before Notre
Dame de Pontdebois is completed as its
pious designers have intended"
| 4 X
One of the most interesting chapters
Of Life on Medieval Barony" de-
scribes the wedding of Sir Conon's sister
! Alienor, for whom most satisfactory
marriage has been negotiated with Sir
Oliver, eldest son of the Count of Per-
seigne. "Alienor Is now nearly II and
has been thinking about wedding since
before she was IS. Her great
dread has been lest she have to wed
some old and very stupid man-as be-
fell her Cousin Mab1a, who had been
sent away fearful and pouting to
Picardy the bride of a three-times
widower." For her wedding Alienor is
dressed much as she is for Easter or
other major festivals, with chemise of
saftron-tinte linen, pelisson of reddish
violet bendal fringed with ermine and
elegant outer garment of green silk
with long sleeves and q train. Her
pointed shoes are Of vermilion leather
from Cordova, with gold thread en-
broidery. Her veil is circular, of saffron
color, and is held by a gold crown en-
graved and set with emeralds. After
the religious service Sir Conon,s pro-
vost recites to the assembled guests a
list OF the estates, horses, fine garments
Jewels and servants which the bride
brings as her dowry. AL the guests
expect TO receive presents, so this
marrying of his sister is an expensive
business for Sir Conon and he is thank
tul that he has not many sisters. The
feast Is spread in the garden under the
trees and is the part of the wedding
festivities most looked forward to and
enjoyed by all the guests. A tent of
blue silk shelters the bridal party from
the sun, but all others sit at long
tables in the open. After some hours
OF eating and drinking many of the
guests are sleeping stertorously under
the trees"
X X X
In the recently issued Volume VIII
OF the Dictionary of American Biogra-
ply" most readers will turn first to the
biography of Warren Gamaliel Harding.
written by Allan NevinS. The appraisal
OF President Harding is careful and dis
passionate and the photography con-
tains the following: The question of
ms lIlegltmate daughter is treated in
Nan Britton, The Presidents Daugn-
ter (192D. The revelations,
contained in CASTOR B. Means. arThe
Strange Death of President Harding
| Q930), have not been substantiaterI ;,
rms volume of the Dictionary. which
extends from Frederick Grinnell in
dustrialiSt, engineer, and inventor In
Freeborn GarrettSon Hibbard. Metho-
dist Episcopal clergyman, contains
| many interesting names, among then,
many connected with Washington. The
biography of Charles Willard Haves
geologiSt, for many years Connected
with the United States Geological Sr1r-
vey, was written by George p. Merrill
himself a distinguished geologist In the
| Government service, who has since died
Edward Everett Hale, famous Unitarian
minister, and for over five years chap
1dLn OF the senate; Marcus Alonzo
Hanna, Capitalist, politician. senator":
Ida Hustled Harper, writer and worker
for woman suffrage, who spent her last
| years at the National Clubhouse of the
American Association of Universitv
Women in Washington, and Mrs. RIIr.
ton Harrison, novelist of the Civil War
period and after, remembered by MANY
Washingtonians as she appeared on her
at home" days in her house ON Eve
street, all have biographies in this VOL
ume. Some Of the distinguished per-
sonages OF the more distant past who
nave prominent places are Nathan
| Hale. Alexander