Bedding

I am determined to have bedding by the the next time we camp. This includes not only the sheets and blankets, but a bedstead, a mattress, a featherbed, and pillows. Yes, comfort is important, and I can make everything *look* period. I'm primarily relying on a period illumination of two tents with the flaps open to reveal beds and their occupants. A closer look at the illumination (for which I unfortunately have no documentation) reveals that the beds have headboards, but other construction details are obscured by the bed linens.

The bed linens include whitish sheets, blankets with edge decoration and fringe apparently turned back over a coverlet, and pillows or bolsters.

So here are the plans:

Mattress - this is the first step, since I have to have a mattress to which the bedstead is sized. A US queen-sized mattress is 60" x 80", and I can get a foam mattress to that size. Some cotton padding and a linen cover, and I have a matress.

Bedstead - In general, I intend to use Charles Oakley's directions to build a bed. He depends upon an extant 10th century bed (right) for his reproduction, since illustrations of very few later beds show construction details. For instance, the bed occupied by the invalid from the Hours of Catherine of Cleves (below) portrays nothing except the linens and the headboard. However, there are a couple of thirteenth-century sources that clearly use Charles' mortice and tenon construction. Most sources indicate that by the fourteenth century beds were most likely slat beds, but without the visual evidence, it's impossible to tell the construction of any individual bed.

It should be said that almost all extant illuminations beds portray interior scenes. The illumination at the beginning of this article, of two occupied beds within tents, sport headboards like the invalid's bed. Thus, I feel pretty secure in believing that for those of the higher classes, one's bed was as useful at home as on campaign.

Linens - Well, linen of course. I priced bleached and natural linen and hemp sheeting, and I was surprise that the bleached linen was the cheapest, at $4.95/yd from fabrics-store.com in the 20 yard bolt. This is medium weight at 5.3 ounces and 59" wide. It will take about 5.5 yards, two 2.75 yard long peices sewn together in the middle for each sheet. Although I'm not aware of any period justification for that practice, I do recall Laura Ingalls' mother stitching sheets together right down the middle, but that's 400 years too late. I estimate that a pair of sheets, a boulster and two pillow covers should be attainable from one bolt. Yes, them's expensive sheets; the last two sets of sheets I bought for my king sized bed were $49.99 each. They'll get a lot less wear, and should suffice for many seasons.

The sheets could be embellished with an embroidered border; there are numerous examples of bordered linens - sheets, towels, tablecloths - in the illuminations. However, the borders were usually woven in.

Pillows and bolsters - Bolsters are seen on many beds in the illuminations. Sometimes the sleeper is using the bolster as a pillow, but often the pillow has been propped up over the bolster. They seem to be covered with the botton sheet, and then the pillow is laid on top. I will be making a 60" long bolster, and then at least a couple of pillow covers. The period pillows seem to follow the same proportions as modenr standard pillows, but have the curious "flour-sack" ears on each corner. Sometimes those ears will have a tassle as an additional embellishment, but for bedding, I think they're superfluous. It is likely that the filling was buckwheat hulls or millet hulls. J. Crow's has bulk buckwheat and millet hulls - I think I'll experiment.

Blankets and coverlets - Fortunately, I have the Denver Fabrics Annex, which carries woolens at $6.95 a yard. I also have a length of neutural-colored green PolarTec that could be sandwiched between layers of wool for extra warmth. Although feather beds are period (and highly desirable loot), there's no evidence for down comforters. But wool should be perfectly servicable. Also in the 60" wide range, I'll need about 5.5 yards per blanket. At least one will be fringed as in the first illumination, and perhaps embroidered, too.

Great minds and all that....

Savina came over today. Since I had been summoned by Elaina to the kitchen at Candlemas, we spent most of our time making waffers. The rest of the time we spent plotting.

Savina thought that we - the Companie - should simply schedule a weekend to get together and have a period camp. Not to steal her thunder or anything, but I've been trying to do just that for four or five years. This year seems unlikely given my schedule and the previously scheduled Yellowstone trip. But perhaps next summer, and use Baron's war this year for something on a smaller scale. I'm just delighted that there's interest.