Just a quick question on what people use for bedding. I have been trawling a number of websites and books to see from contemporary illustrations whether they used skins and furs.

So far i have seen both raised timber beds and pallets made up on tent floors but both types are generally covered in blankets.

Anyway do people use sheep, deer, goat or cow skins as part of their bedding?

Any info would be great.

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Of what time period and region are you researching? If you are looking at Scandanavian countries of early period, then maybe. But I've seen no evidence for furs/skins for continental medieval europe used by the emerging middle or existing upper classes.

Probably the quickest look at woodcuts and surviving examples would be from Tim's website on medieval furniture. Below is the link of examples.
http://www.albionworks.net/BedsPage/beds.html

As to what we use, some make a traditional straw bed with a sheet or matress ticking. I lay a canvas (tent material) dropcloth down first to protect against dampness and insects. Some people throw rugs down and the occassional futon has been used. Usually the temperature is reasonable. I use linen shirts with a plain, course woven wool blanket.

A few use collapsible slat beds that either use the straw or futon mattress. I haven't seen anyone bring a feather mattress yet. The last few events on the east coast have been rather wet and the dampness would be an issue.

Granted, these items would be owned by an indidual of means and higher station. How many in an army would have owned sheets, blankets and a tent?

Our Actual period to draw from is 1430-90

We aim to be a single lance of the 1473 Ord. As such our social standing is middle class living on our pay rather then from Family money. We are always on campaign rather then at garrision. So we strive to use more light weight and easily moveable items.

Most of our people use canvas bags stuffed with straw/hay and then cover that with sheep skins etc then sleep on that covered by woolen blankets.

Anyway still looking ;-)

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St. John Altarpiece

If you're interested in fur, I'd like to suggest the book _The English Fur Trade in the Later Middle Ages_ by Elspeth Veale. I thought it was out of print, but apparently there is a second edition:

Veale, Elspeth M. The English Fur Trade in the Later Middle Ages. 2nd
ed. London: London Record Society, 2003. ISBN: 0900952385

London Record Society

I have scanned a picture from it:
Facing page 16, Fur for informal wear
Vol. IV of a petite bible historiale, executed in Bruges c. 1470, possibly for Edward IV. British Museum, MS. Royal 15 D I, f. 18, by permission of the Trustees.

http://www.mathildegirlgenius.com/Pictures/Tobit.jpg

Caption: Tobit wears a red garment under a pale blue dressing gown lined with white fur-lettice or minever pured. He lies under a counterpane of ermine bordered in red.

More from the book:
"A furred kerchief or nightcap was worn in the evenings to keep out the draughts--perhaps like the bonett de ermyns pro nocte which Margaret Tudor took with her to Scotland in her troussea--and in bed chilly mortals would draw fur-lined counterpoynts over them. This precursor of the modern eiderdown though very heavy was undeniably warm, and was in general use in wealthy households: several contemporary illustrations show beds so covered. Some of them were simply lkined with fur, others were made entirely of skins. One bishop of Winchester had a coverlet of ermine skins lined with squirrel, and one London merchant slept under leopard skins. Even coverings for cradles were trimmed with ermine, lined with marten or made of minever. The more extravagent rested their heads on hedesheets of ermine covered with a linen cloth, and even had bedhangings trimmed with fur. Princess Philippa's set of hangings or curtains for her bed must have been magnificent, with the coverchief pour chief de lit made of cloth of gold of Cyprus, embroidered with falcons, and furred with minever." pp. 15-16. Veale

"Hood linings were of three or four tiers, furs were rarely of less than six, more frequently of seven or eight tiers, but sometimes of ten or eleven, and bed coverlets of from sixteen to twenty tiers." p. 29. Veale

Henry VII apparently had an ermine coverlet:
"The more widespread use of featherbeds certainly made the prospect of going to bed a little less forbidding. Instead of his father's ermine coverlet, Henry VIII preferred to use quilts of linen cloth filled with wool covered with a counterpane of, for instance, 'panels of purple and carnation quilted changeable taffeta, embroidered and fringed with gold and silver'." p. 146. Veale

Cheers,
Charlotte