How beds and mattresses have developed over the ages
Comfortable, supportive beds and mattresses are something most of us take for granted. We don’t think about how they’ve evolved over time. Here’s an eye-opening lesson on the history of beds and mattresses.
Great Beds of Ware
On display at the Victoria and Albert Museum, it originally measured 18 feet six inches wide by 12 feet long and was elaborately carved and canopied. And could accommodate 68 people. 10,000 years ago, in the Neolithic period, people began sleeping on primitive “beds”.
3400 BCE
Egyptian pharaohs discover the benefits of raising a pallet off the earth. King Tutankahmen had beds of ebony and gold. Common people slept on palm bows heaped in the corner of their home.
Roman Empire
First luxury beds. Often decorated with gold, silver or bronze, these beds featured mattresses stuffed with reeds, hay, wool or feathers. Romans discover the waterbed. The sleeper would recline in a cradle of warm water until drowsy, then be lifted onto an adjacent cradle with a mattress, where they would be rocked to sleep.
Renaissance
Beds and mattresses and were made of pea shucks or straw, sometimes feathers, stuffed into coarse ticks, then covered with sumptuous velvets, brocades and silks.
Louis XIV
Louis XIV was inordinately fond of staying in bed, often holding court in the royal bedroom. Reportedly, he owned 413 beds and displayed a special liking for the ultra spacious and ostentatious variety.
16th and 17th centuries
16th and 17th century beds and mattresess beds were generally stuffed with straw or down, placed atop a latticework of rope. The expression “sleep tight” comes from the 16th and 17th centuries when mattresses were placed on top of ropes that needed regular tightening.
The late 18th century
Advent of cast iron beds and cotton mattresses. Together, they provided a sleeping space that was less attractive to bugs. Until that time, assorted vermin were simply accepted as an accepted component of even the most royal beds.
1865
The first coil spring construction for beds was patented.
1930s
Innerspring mattresses and upholstered foundations became serious contenders for the dominant position we now enjoy beds.
1950s
Foam rubber mattresses and pillows appeared on the beds market.
1960s
Modern waterbed introduced. Adjustable beds become popular with consumers.
1980s
Airbeds introduced.
1990s
Spacious sleeping is once again on the rise. In 1999, Kingsize beds and mattresses became the UK’s most popular choice for mattress size – for the first time ever – beating double bed mattresses..
2000s
Choice and comfort are key words in contemporary beds and mattresses. In addition to an almost unlimited range of innerspring mattress designs, new types of foam mattress cores (such as “memory” or visco-elastic foam and refinements to traditional latex) as well as air beds, water beds and high-tech adjustable sleep sets offer consumers attractive, quality alternatives. Pillowtop mattresses, a popular innovation in luxury, offer an extra layer of soft cushioning, and single-sided no-flip mattresses are common.
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