Overview

First full-length interdisciplinary study of the effect of these everyday surroundings on literature, culture and the collective consciousness of the late middle ages. The bed, and the chamber which contained it, was something of a cultural and social phenomenon in late-medieval England. Their introduction into some aristocratic and bourgeois households captured the imagination of late-medievalEnglish society. The bed and chamber stood for much more than simply a place to rest one's head: they were symbols of authority, unparalleled spaces of intimacy, sanctuaries both for the powerless and the powerful. This change inphysical domestic space shaped the ways in which people thought about less tangible concepts such as gender politics, communication, God, sex and emotions. Furthermore, the practical uses of beds and chambers shaped and were shaped by artistic and literary production. This volume offers the first interdisciplinary study of the cultural meanings of beds and chambers in late-medieval England. It draws on a vast array of literary, pragmatic and visual sources, including romances, saints' lives, lyrics, plays, wills, probate inventories, letters, church and civil court documents, manuscript illumination and physical objects, to shed new light on the ways in which beds and chambersfunctioned as both physical and conceptual spaces.

Full Product Details

9781914049279

Table of Contents

Reviews

[A]mbitious and entertaining. * JOURNAL OF ENGLISH AND GERMANIC PHILOLOGY * For readers interested in the interplay among household objects, spaces, and ideology in late medieval England, this book provides an essential resource. * SPECULUM * Offers a rich and insightful discussion of the nature of the bed, providing material not just for medievalists but for historians exploring such questions in later centuries. * PARERGON * [W]ell worth reading: not only for medievalists (whether historians or not), but also for social and cultural historians of other eras who are interested in just how complex the relationship between spaces, objects, and representations can be, even for something as taken for granted as a bed. * AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW * Morgan has provided new approaches to the cultural history of England in the late Middle Ages. * THE RICARDIAN * [O]pens up important discussions for the relationship between the literary and physical world. * CANADIAN JOURNAL OF HISTORY * Morgan's beautifully produced study of beds and chambers helps the reader to understand how their symbolism shaped relationships in late medieval England. . . . [A] delightful read that will be appreciated by scholars and students in a wide variety of fields. -- Sara M. Butler * Journal of British Studies *

Author Information

Hollie L.S. Morgan is a Research Fellow in the School of History and Heritage, University of Lincoln.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available