The history of your bed

One of the most important pieces of furniture in a family for centuries, the bed is.

Bed are a status symbol: the Tudor royal family, and colleagues have demonstrated their wealth by their huge four-poster beds and curtains and draperies to develop and many people today a large and beautifully designed coveted bed in their home.

The difference in quality and comfort of the bed is always separated the rich and the poor continue to do so. While some of us enjoy the luxury of fine Egyptian cotton sheets, others prepare for the world is still for the night by pulling a single air mattress.

Beds in the ancient world

The first beds were little more than piles of straw or other natural materials to lie naked on a complaint, the cold easier. A big change occurred when the beds were first collected from the ground to protect the sleeper from drafts, dirt and parasites.

Create more than 3600 years ago, Persians goatskin full of water on the first waterbed. In Egypt, the beds of wood and reed mats were made, and the bed was used as a place to eat and sleep and play socially.

In Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus is described as bedding fabrics, while the ancient Romans had a variety of beds for different purposes. These include lectus cubicularis, room or bed to sleep on the lectus discubitorius or a table, bed, would be more than three people to eat, and the lectus funebris, where the dead were carried on the pyre. Would in most ancient societies, but only the rich can afford to enjoy sleeping in a bed.

Beds in the Middle Ages

Saxon England, a bed generally consists of a mattress on wooden boards, blankets and carpets of fur. In the late Saxon that few beds were raised platforms of wood. Again, only the rich, who slept in beds, all the others spent the night on the floor, huddled around the fire in the lobby.

13th century saw the arrival of the sail or tester, which was suspended by ropes of radiation above the bed. Curtains were hung to block the flow of air and light. Little by little, the quilt was complicated, often involving fabric with gold and a decorative fringe. In the first 14 years, the feather beds were imported from France, very popular among English-speaking home. In wealthier families, a feather bed was placed on the matted truss (mattress) of straw, a layer between the canvas. Coverage also appeared at that time.

The big four-poster bed was originally in the 15th century was introduced, probably from Austria. These beds are generally massive with huge pillars, finely carved up to 18 inches in diameter, the realization of the great weight of wood covered tester. Engravings on the bed were the weapons of the family, monsters, wanted to go, Cupid, and Ritter, curtains and carpets, richly embroidered in beautiful colors and exotic patterns. When people traveled between the manors, often made their bed with them. The beds were so-called "truss" beds and tents have been liable in the room "portable".

In 1600, if the bed in a poor family support consists of a wooden frame with rope or leather. The mattress was a bag of sweet filling, usually of straw and sometimes wool. However, an artisan can get in the bed of feathers in her home more often with a richly carved pole.

The origins of modern bed

From the mid 18th century, a wider range of materials for the beds were available. Quality linen or cotton used for salaries, while the fibers of coconuts, cotton, wool and horsehair, full of mattresses and pillows. Towards the end of the 19th century, iron and steel structures have been largely traditional wooden bed.

In 1873, Sir James Paget Hospital, St Bartholomew's first uses a water bed to prevent and treat pressure ulcers. The water-filled mattress allows pressure to be evenly distributed throughout the body. In 1895, a few waterbeds were sold by mail through Harrods. But due to lack of appropriate materials, the waterbed did not gain popularity until the vinyl was developed in 1960.

In 1900 Murphy, the American William Lawrence Murphy, the space savings "invented Bed", which folded in a closet. Characterize by the arrival of 1929 latex mattress expensive and time itself, pocket spring mattresses were introduced. These were single sources connected sewn cloth bags.

The pocket springs mattress is still sold around the world, while new technologies have made possible alternatives, such as memory foam mattress, shapes that are perfectly designed for body shape and ensures the good night sleep.

From an aesthetic, the beds made of natural materials like pine are grown popular in recent times.