In Bed with the Tudors

Did Tudor beds have footboards? The conundrum illustrates the challenges of early modern history.

Peter Lindfield | Published in History Today Volume 72 Issue 11 November 2022

the nightmare of Henry I in 1130, from the Worcester Chronicle, c.1130-40. — The nightmare of Henry I in 1130, from the Worcester Chronicle, c.1130-40. Courtesy of British Museum Images.

History is the ‘shipwreck of time’. Innumerable examples of domestic furniture from early modern England have been lost because of natural wastage, changing fashions and the destruction of the Civil War. Unless preserved in ecclesiastical contexts, ancient domestic furniture typically exists in fragments; the headboard from Henry VIII’s marriage bed, now in the Burrell Collection, Glasgow, is an example. On occasion, these fragments have been cobbled together with modern woodwork to create ‘cut and shut’ antiques.