However grim and severe the thirteenth century baron might be in his public duties, at dinner-time it was all wine, laughter and song.
The English barons of the thirteenth century were men lordly and stern, knights bold enough to present King John with the Great Charter at Runnymede in 1215, and to bring John’s son Henry III to heel at the Battle of Lewes in 1264. But they could afford to unbend a little at home, where they kept a splendid and lively table.
In the thirteenth century, wealthy English homeowners began to think more about the inside of their stately homes.
For many years, the Norman barons who dwelt in English castles took more interest in wide estates for hunting, and a large retinue for serving and entertainment, than in soft furnishings or dainty ornaments. But from the time of Henry III (r. 1216-1272) that began to change, and one of the new fashions in interior decoration was the ‘halling’ — a tapestry for one’s Hall.