The Story of Beds and Bedding.
Originally published in Pearson's Weekly (C. Arthur Pearson Ltd.) vol.1 #8 (13 Sep 1890).
Long after the Roman invasion, the Britons continued to emulate the example of the ancients by sleeping on skins, which were spread upon the floors of their rude huts, or beneath trees in the open air. Yet, in some parts of the island, the adoption of loose rashes and reeds was copied from the invaders; and so firm a hold did these two species of bedding material obtain at length, that, to within a few years ago, the Welsh still slept upon the former, while the Highlanders of Scotland lie upon heather to this day. Another kind of bedding peculiar to the Scotch is chaff.
In course of time, when the pursuits of agriculture supplied them with the means, and the Romans suggested its use, straw made its appearance as giving better accommodation. As to the Romans themselves, the beds of the wealthier among them were stuffed with the finest feathers or wool; and the inns furnished beds with filled with the soft downs of reeds. Still the use of straw as bedding continued to hold its own among them, and as late even as the conquest of Lancashire, it was discovered that the Roman officers and their soldiers slept upon it in preference to any other material. It was, therefore, from these invaders that the Britons learnt its use.
For some time straw beds were held to be somewhat of a luxury, scarcely to be coveted by the poorer orders of the population; and, coming down to the beginning of the twelfth century, we find the beds of the poorer Welsh filled with rushes. With the wealthy, however, beds of straw continued in constant request for many generations; it was used in the Royal bedchambers towards the close of the thirteenth century, while the French and Italians have employed the same material even down to our own time.
About this period—that is, when the Romans had firmly established themselves in Britain—a framework erected upon pedestals to contain bedding gradually asserted itself. This was of the rudest description, being a kind of wooden bier of sufficient dimensions to accommodate a single person, and perhaps boarded up at tho head and sides for greater warmth and security.
These early bedsteads were, however, strictly confined to the gentry; the common Roman soldiery still rested upon the ground, and this primitive custom was observed by the Britons themselves to the last. These ground-beds were always ranged along the walls of their houses, and formed one common dormitory for all the members of the family. The same practice continued among the Welsh during several centuries, and with the least cultured portion of the Highlanders down to a comparatively recent period.
If the bedsteads of the Anglo-Saxons and early English were of the rudest type, their bedding was, nevertheless, of the most creditable description. Sheets were plentiful. The Anglo-Saxon quilts were composed of the finest skins, and other rich stuffs. We find in them also cloth of gold. In other instances they were of needlework upon silk. Curtains were used, hung upon rings from a tester. They were mostly of silk, satin, or velvet, and embroidered with the name of the sleeper in gold or lace.
The bolsters were two in number, one placed at the top and the other at the foot of the bed, and extremely hard. Presently, when these were filled with a softer material such as straw, the became more like modern pillows, and the bolsters disappeared. Later on the pillows were piled one upon another, so that the sleeper, so far from lying low, was literally propped-up into an almost sitting posture, which was the fashion among the Danes of that period, as it still is among the Germans at the present day.
As to blankets, they were similar to those used by the Romans—namely, of goat's or bear's skin, with the fur on, or the finest wool, and later of fustian. A pair were often used, but a single blanket was most usual. The rug was a Gaulish invention, and did not come into fashion until long afterwards. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries beds composed of worsted became exceedingly common, and various bequests of worsted beds are yet extant among the records of our old families.
These worsted beds bore a great value, and perhaps more than anything else, beds figured in last testaments of the nobility. Nor was royalty excepted. From the will of Edward the Black Prince we gather the following bequest: "To our son Richard the bed which the King our father gave us. To Sir Roger de Clarendon a silk bed. To Sir Robert de Walsham, our confessor, a large bed of red camora, with arms embroidered at each corner, also embroidered with the arms of Hereford. To Mons. Alayne Cheyne our bed of camora, powdered with blue eagles."
The curtains were always of the same material as the beds; and those of silk, of worsted, of camora, of tapestry, and of cloth of gold, were in request on great occasions, when they were frequently taken down from the bedchambers of the wealthy and suspended in the churches at festivals, or in front of the balconies of their windows when viewing a passing show or procession. The sixteenth century curtains were still richer, and towards its close, bed-hangings of cloth of gold and silver, gold and silver fringes, lace, and crimson velvet, damask, and satin were largely possessed by the gentry.
So much for the bed-furniture; but, with regard to the more solid structure, it remained for a long period in the most primitive form. The Anglo-Saxon bedsteads differed from those of the earlier Britons in being raised from the ground. Posts and testers, as well as rods and rings for curtains, are visible in some rare specimens that have come down to us.
A bedstead, but without the posts (which, by the way, are peculiar to no particular period), of the reign of Henry III. has been found, and one of the fifteenth century is even more conformable in all respects to our own. Here the boards of the head, with the testers, are elaborately carved. In the sixteenth century the bedsteads were very massive, the posts being very large and curiously carved, and the wood oak throughout.
All these different stages in the architecture of our bedstead naturally lead us to the modern four-poster which is indigenous only to British soil. Few things are more imposing than the British four-poster tastefully fitted up with all its belongings. It is always of sufficient size to accommodate two persons, and according to time-honoured regulation, should be of the following dimensions: lying portion 6 ft. 6 in. by 5 ft. 2 in.; height from the floor, 2 ft. 9 in.; height of the posts from the floor to the cornice, 9 ft.
The posts should be of mahogany, finely-turned and carved, when, with its curtains of damask, its spring mattress below and woollen mattress above, together with its full complement of sheets, blankets, bolster, and pillows, such a family heirloom should be worth at all times from £50 to £80.