1142.—Bed.details

Of the domestic furniture of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the beds of the nobility (Figs. 1141, 1142) were most lavishly adorned. The simple form was that of a railed box, or crib; the “brases,” or rails, of costly material: the draperies at the head magnificent in substance and in armorial blazonry. In the wills of our old nobility, one bed is mentioned “powdered with blue eagles,” one of red velvet, with ostrich feathers of silver, and heads of leopards of gold; ohers of black velvet, black satin, blue, red, and white silk, &c. Cloth of gold and silver coverlets, and rich fur of ermines, are also specified; and sheets of fair white silk, and pillows from the East.” (p. 329)