The story, in documents and illustrations, of an aristocratic couple, their family, their livelihoods and their houses. The story of Thomas and Elizabeth Savage and their family, presented here, is a turbulent one, moving from the grandeur of the royal court [Thomas was Chancellor to Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, and his wife Elizabethwas one of her ladies of the bedchamber] to debt and imprisonment. It is teased out through a close examination of the documentary evidence, from letters on intimate family matters and health problems to business correspondence and official documents from the royal court, including Elizabeth's many petitions to Charles I, and later to the House of Lords. There is a particular focus on their houses at Long Melford (Suffolk), Rocksavage (Cheshire), and at Tower Hill in London. Lavishly illustrated with plates and diagrams.