Page:A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages.djvu/66

 46 Hijiory of Domejiic Maimers more than "a place for a bedj" and it is probable that what we call bedfteads were then rare, and only poffeffed by people of rank. Two examples are given in the annexed cut (No. o^-^), taken from the Har- leian MS., No. 603. Under the head were placed a holftar and a pyle (pillow), which were probably alfo fhifFed with ftraw. The clothes with which the fleeper was covered, and which appear in the piftures fcanty enough, were fcyte, a fheet, bed-felt, a coverlet, which was generally of fome thicker material, and led-reaf, bed- clothes. We know from a multitude of authorities, that it was the general cuftom of the middle ages to go into bed quite naked. The Iketchy chara£ter of the Anglo- Saxon drawings renders it difficult fometimes to judge of minute details ; but, from the accompanying cuts, it appears that an Anglo- Saxon going into bed, haying ftripped all his or her clothes off, firft wrapped round his body a flieet, and then drew over him the coverlet. Sharon Turner has given a lif? of the articles conne6ted with the bed, mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon wills and in- ventories. In the will of a man we find bed-clothes {bed-reafes), with a curtain {hyrfte), and Iheet {hopp-fcytan), and all that thereto belongs; and he gives to his fon the bed-reafe, or bed-cloth, and all its appur- tenances. An Anglo-Saxon lady gives to one of her children two chefts and their contents, her beft bed-curtain, linen, and all the clothes belonging to it. To another child fhe leaves two chefts, and " all the bed-clothes that to one bed belong." On another occafion we read of pylvinar unum de palleo: not a pillow of ftraw, as Sharon Turner very erroneouily tran Hates it, but a pillow of a fort of rich cloth made in the middle ages. A goat-ikin bed-covering was fcnt to an Anglo-Saxon abbot ; and bear-lkins are fometimes noticed, as if a part of bed furniture. The bed-room, or chamber, and the fitting-room were ufually identical ; for we muft bear in mind that in the domeftic manners of the middle asfes No. 33. Anglo-Saxon Beds.