'It was in the first week of October in the year 1391 that I first came face to face with the man who owned me... the man whose lightest word was to us, his villeins, weightier than the King's law or the edicts of our Holy Father...' So began the story of Martin Reed - a serf whose resentment of the automatic rule of his feudal lord finally flared into open defiance. Encouraged by the woman he loved, Martin Reed began a new life - a life which was to culminate in the building of the House, and the founding of the dynasty who were to live there.