REBLOGGED FROM sparkypus.com A Medieval Pot Pourri
A nice example of a medieval bed. Note the commode next to the bed complete with a lock! The side curtains are shown this way in most illustrations. I thought they may have been bunched up into some type of bag but it has been suggested to me that they were bound up then turned inside out on themselves..which makes more sense.
Opulent beds could be used to entertain friends and even shared with guests staying overnight. Well at least you would be warm..
In the medieval house the bed was the most highly prized and expensive item of furniture with frequently not just the bed but the bedding, mattresses, pillows, sheets etc., being left in wills although it should be remembered that sometimes ‘bed’ could mean the bedding and not an actual bed. Some examples were
Alice Thwaites, a widow, will proved the 16th March 1485. Left her son Henry a ‘feder bed which he lyed on, j payre of blankettes, j pair of double shetes, j pair of single’. Alice also left her daughter, Jane, the ‘feder bed being at my house in York, ij coverlettes, j pair of shetes‘. A ‘feder bed’ was a mattress and not an entire bed by the way…
John Carre, former mayor of York d.1488 thoughtfully left funds for ‘L (50) beddes to begeven to pore men and pore women in the citee of York where the most nede is’. Each of these beds was to have a ‘new coverlet, a new matresse, ij new blankettes, ij new shetes’. You can imagine the joy and pleasure this bequest brought the recipients who probably got the best night’s sleep they had ever had in their entire lives.
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