Four-poster bed

Bedrooms often had drafts and could be cold at night: the curtains could be closed to help keep the occupant of the bed warm.

The curtains also helped to give privacy to the sleepers, since servants and bodyguards often slept in the same room,[2] especially in the case of royalty, served by a special group of servants of the bedchamber (usually noble courtiers), lords and ladies of the bedchamber, esquires of the body, etc.

In the medieval era and up to the 18th century beds were items of furniture on which great personages and royalty made public appearances and held court, thus they were designed to impress.

A four-poster bed with backboard and tester allowed extra space from which to display and hang expensive fabrics and heraldic decoration.

In the 12th century tale of Acallam na Senóradh, in the wooing of Credhe, Cael ua Nemhnainn cites in a poem "Four posts round every bed there are, of gold and silver laid together cunningly; in each post's head a crystal gem: they make heads not unpleasant [to behold]",[4] when speaking of a fairy-mansion on the Paps of Anu, in County Kerry.