The 1474 Inventory of Stonor Park, Henley-on-Thames

I've talked about the Stonor family of Henley-on-Thames before. They are not always acknowledged but played a visible and important role in the Wars of the Roses, and left behind a large amount of letters revealing what life was like during this difficult time, when the houses of York and Lancaster fought for control of the crown. 

The Stonors lived at Stonor Park, just a few miles outside Henley. Among their documents is an inventory made in 1474, when Jane Stonor (daughter of William de la Pole later Duke of Suffolk) would have known the house, and just before one of my own personal heroines, Elizabeth Stonor moved in and married Jane's son William. 

We know from the inventory, published by Charles Lethbridge Kingsford in 1919, that the hall was hung with hangings of black material, while the 'little chamber adjoining the parlour' was hung with cloth of purple and green. Three more chambers had hangings of red and green. There was also a chamber at the 'nether end of the hall' and the 'parlour chamber', which was used as a bedroom. 

The house also had its own chapel. In it were vestments of purple velvet lined with green sarcenet and a cope of purple velvet lined with tawny sarcenet. A decoration made in alabaster of the trinity stood by, alongside an alabaster table which was given to the house by Jane Stonor. This table contained the story of the passion of our Lord. The chapel was full of colour, with vestments and other materials made with purple velvet fringed with gold, blue and furs. One item of blue and white was 'embroidered with a trail of ivy with a bar of red velvet'. There was also a silver and gold crucifix, a chalice of silver and other items depicting saints, including the Virgin Mary and St John. 

The chambers were decorated in various primary colours, as we have seen - red, green, blue - and black and white. One bed had a red coverlet decorated with green, and was a featherbed - one of the period's most comfortable beds, as we would expect for someone of the Stonor's social status and wealth. Other items included a 'fire fork', to move the wood within the fireplace to keep warm, and various pots and basins for washing. Cushions were covered with grey skins, while others were covered with red worsted cloth. Other cushion covers were of 'tapestry work with knots'. 

In the kitchen, the inventory recorded a basin and ewer (a jug), a long board cloth and dishes. There were also towels, a trencher knife and pots of all sizes, hung on a rack. There was also a stone pestle and mortar, a 'flesh axe' and a 'flesh hook', a skimmer and pans and various vessels made from pewter. 

I think one of the most surprising things about medieval inventories is that they not only reveal personal tastes, possessions and who items belonged to, but they give us a sense of the bright colour and decoration that existed during that period. You might also like my posts on why the medieval era was a lot more colourful than period dramas would have us believe - part one and part two. 

Interested in the Wars of the Roses? My first book explores the roles of women from all sectors of fifteenth century society and the impact they had on the Wars of the Roses conflict. Many of the Stonor family are discussed, and we peer around various women's homes and surroundings through evidence in their inventories and wills. Order your copy here. 

Charles Lethbridge Kingsford, The Stonor Letters and Papers, 1290-1485 Vols 1 and 2, London. 1919. via archive.org