Paper Summary:

The paper explores how the concept of domesticity during the Middle Ages differed so radically from how we understand it today. The paper argues, with reference to a range of scholarly sources, that the evolution of the concept of domesticity - and its associated impact upon furniture design - was closely associated with the rise of the bourgeois or middle class, and the gradual preeminence of urban living as the defining lifestyle of the time. From this perspective, this paper shows that in contrast to the popular view of the Middle Ages as being dominated by knights, nobility and castles, the primary agents of historical and social change - and innovations in furniture design - were the merchant classes of medieval European cities.

From the Paper:

"Witold Rybczynski's "Home: A Short History of an Idea", represents a perfect research text to address the evolution of the concepts of domesticity and changes in furniture in the Middles Ages and later periods. This recent, critically-acclaimed book, focuses upon the evolutionary history of the concept of the "home" in European culture. The author roots this concept - along with the developments in furniture design and domestic architecture in Europe - in the early Middle Ages and the rise of the bourgeois class. As all of these elements are key points in the topic question, this text can be seen as an excellent means of broadening one's understanding of the history of furniture and furniture's broader social and cultural..."

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