The Tudor & Jacobean Country House: A Building History

Traces the replacement of the private castle by the country house as the seat of power and center of hospitality for the English elite of the Tudor age, a social change which had irrevocably changed the landscape of the English countryside by the time of the Civil War. Although the architecture provides a background for this book, the principal concern is with the patrons, craftsmen, laborers, and administrators whose aspirations and needs created this change. Using the accounts of the builders of the houses, the author examines the motives of the patrons and surveyors; the selection of sites; the problems that were involved in organizing and financing the projects; and the working lives of the craftsmen and laborers, including wage rates and living conditions. Distributed by Books International. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.