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  It has been already stated that the domestic arrangements in the castles
of
England and Wales were much improved by Edward the First; but during
the reign of Edward the Third the style of decoration arrived at a still
greater degree of splendour.    Unfortunately, however, the sanguinary and
destructive wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster, and the subse-
quent struggles in the time of the commonwealth, have left but few records
of the domestic architecture of the periods which preceded them.
   As a brief but sufficient account has been already given of the form and
arrangement of the hall, it may be observed that the decorations were such
as are, even to the present day, adopted in the execution of the peculiar
style.  At the end of the room    at which the high table was fixed, a bay
window was introduced, and this was not unfrequently decorated with stained
glass and armorial bearings. The walls were commonly lined with panelled
oak, and the roof was formed of the same wood richly and appropriately
carved.
   Painting on the walls with scenes from history was also a common mode
of
decoration. A chamber in the palace of Winchester was painted to represent
the entire history recorded in the Old and New Testaments; while one in
Westminster, and another in the Tower of London, were embellished with
the history of the exploits of Richard the First in the Holy Land. "Near
the monastery of Westminster," says an old author, "stands the
most famous
royal palace of England, in which is that most celebrated chamber on whose
walls all the warlike histories of the whole Bible are painted with inexpress-
ible skill, and explained by a regular series of texts, beautifully written
in
French, to the no small admiration of the beholder, and display of royal
magnificence."   Bishop Langton caused to be painted upon the walls
of the
great hall in the episcopal palace of Lichfield, the coronation, wars, marriage,
and funeral of Edward the First.
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