Separate bedchambers
replaced bed-sitting rooms. Bedrooms all led out of each other.
The lady's chamber was next to her lord's chamber, and her ladies'
chambers were close to her chamber. But curtains on the four
poster beds with tops provided privacy and warmth. Beds had
elaborately carved bedsteads, sheets, and a feather cover as well
as a feather mattress. Often family members, servants, and friends
shared the same bed for warmth or convenience. Each bedroom
typically had a cabinet with a mirror, e.g. of burnished metal or
crystal, and comb on top. One brushed his teeth with tooth soap
and a linen cloth, as physicians advised. Each bedroom had a
pitcher and water bowl, usually silver or pewter, for washing in
the morning, and a chamber pot or a stool with a hole over a
bucket for nighttime use, and also fragrant flowers to override
the unpleasant odors. The chamber pots and buckets were emptied
into cesspits. A large set of lodgings had attached to it latrines
consisting of a small cell in which a seat with a hole was placed
over a shaft which connected to a pit or a drain. The servants
slept in turrets or attics. Elizabeth had a room just for her
bath.
More than medieval castles and manor houses, mansions were
designed with privacy in mind. Breakfast was substantial, with
meat, and usually eaten in one's bedroom. The great hall, often
hung around with bows, pikes, swords, and guns, was not abandoned,
but the family took meals there only on rare occasions.
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