A rope bed is a type of

platform bed A bed base, sometimes called a foundation, is the part of a bed that supports the mattress. The bed base can itself be held in place and framed by the bedstead (bed frame). In the United States, box-spring bed bases are very common (to the poin ...

in which the sleeper (and mattress) is supported by a lattice of rope, rather than wooden slats. In cold climates, a rope bed would be topped with one or more insulating paillasses or bedticks, which would traditionally be stuffed with straw,

chaff Chaff (; ) is dry, scale-like plant material such as the protective seed casings of cereal grains, the scale-like parts of flowers, or finely chopped straw. Chaff cannot be digested by humans, but it may be fed to livestock, ploughed into soil ...

, or

down feather The down of birds is a layer of fine feathers found under the tougher exterior feathers. Very young birds are clad only in down. Powder down is a specialized type of down found only in a few groups of birds. Down is a fine thermal insulator and p ...

s. It might also have a canopy hung with warm curtains. Modernly, they may be topped by a thin

futon A is a traditional Japanese style of bedding. A complete futon set consists of a and a . Both elements of a futon bedding set are pliable enough to be folded and stored away in a large during the day. This allows a room to serve as a bedro ...

(a form of bedtick) or other roll-up mattress (see

mattress topper A mattress pad, mattress topper, or underpad is designed to lie atop a mattress. Made from a variety of materials including wool, cotton, memory foam, feather and latex, its function is to provide an extra layer of comfort, especially when the e ...

). In the sixteenth century (England?), bedmats of woven or plaited rush were often laid on the widely-spaced ropes, and the bedticks were laid on the mats. This stopped them from bulging between the ropes. Rope beds need to be tightened regularly (with a bed wrench, and sometimes with wedges) as they sag. They must also be re-strung occasionally; re-stringing reduces sag and evens out wear. When fully or partly unstrung, rope beds can be packed flat for transport. The need to tighten bedcords has been said to be the origin of the English phrase " sleep tight", but some etymologists disagree. File:Walraversijde18.jpg, Medieval-reconstruction rope beds (circa 1465); note loops of rope protruding from side boards Shakespeare's Second Bed.JPG, A rope bedframe thought to have belonged to William Shakespeare WLA vanda The Great Bed of Ware 2.jpg, Bedclothes pulled back to show the bedcords of the 1590s

Great Bed of Ware The Great Bed of Ware is an extremely large oak four poster bed, carved with marquetry, that was originally housed in the White Hart Inn in Ware, England. Built by Hertfordshire carpenter Jonas Fosbrooke about 1590, the bed measures 3.38m long a ...

File:Wikimania 2014 - Victoria and Albert Museum - The Great Bed of Ware221398.jpg, Touchable museum samples illustrating the layers of the Great Bed of Ware: the bedcords, a plaited-rush"East Anglian rush", probably actually

Scirpus ''Scirpus'' is a genus of grass-like species in the sedge family Cyperaceae many with the common names club-rush, wood club-rush or bulrush. They mostly inhabit wetlands and damp locations. Description ''Scirpus'' are rhizomatous perennial herbs ...

, a sedge

/ref> bedmat, a flockbed and then a featherbed in dun ticking, a downbed in striped ticking, and the bedlinen. Flock is unspun fibers, in this case probably wool. The bedticks stuffed with the softest fillings are laid topmost.

References

Beds Portable furniture {{Furniture-stub

See also

References