Reasons medieval people slept in cupboards • Hacker News Board

Re: Reasons medieval people slept in cupboards

#91

Post by merry_flame » Wed, Jan 24, 2024, 8:34 PM UTC

timthelion wrote: post #22

fuzztester wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard or read people say that hundreds of years ago people were taller than now. even much taller. no idea if that is true or not.

This is false. If you're ever in Europe come visit an old castle, the kings of old slept on what would today be seen as child sized beds.

We clearly haven't been to the same castles. Also, you could always curl up in a bed or sleep in a sitting position (which or may not have been common in Western Europe a few years ago). If you go visit museums that have full suits of armour that were actually worn by knights and kings, you'll be surprised. You clearly had plenty of tall people. Average size was certainly much lower than today, but spread was higher and you had plenty of tall, well-fed nobles. Charlemagne was apparently 1.84 m, Francis I of France was almost 2 m tall, Sancho VII of Navarre was even taller than that.

Re: Reasons medieval people slept in cupboards

#92

Post by xdavidliu » Wed, Jan 24, 2024, 10:22 PM UTC

porkbeer wrote: post #68

xdavidliu wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I noticed the same thing, but this makes me more concerned: the link has nih.gov in it. Usually when I read articles from that URL, I tend to put a bit more trust in them than say healthline.org or some blogspam or something like that. Does this mean I have to start taking nih.gov articles with a grain of salt too?

Yes. Blindly trusting any source is just another fpavor of ignorance.

do i start with the same level of distrust when reading something on nih.gov and healthline.com?

Re: Reasons medieval people slept in cupboards

#93

Post by mlrtime » Thu, Jan 25, 2024, 1:53 PM UTC

gizmo686 wrote: post #88

wsgeorge wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The newest term is "Owners Retreat" This makes a lot more sense for what I'm planning to build. We're used to calling it "Master bedroom" where I'm from, but I always imagined I'd want some sort of suite or apartment, separate from the rest of the house.

There called an in-law suite here, and are generally used as a form of multi-generational housing when old parents move in with their adult child.

I know what you're talking about but that is a different space.

Re: Reasons medieval people slept in cupboards

#94

Post by ben_w » Thu, Jan 25, 2024, 10:24 PM UTC

JKCalhoun wrote: post #9

When I was young and had a bunk bed it was pretty normal to box the lower bunk in with sheets, cushions from the couch — whatever — just to make it into a cave-like thing. Suddenly I want something like this again.

When I was a kid, I made pillow forts from the furniture in the living room. Fun times.

When I visited my brother this Christmas, he pointed out that this is an almost universal behaviour in young kids, which suggests that at some point in our evolutionary history we faced predators that specifically targeted small children.

Re: Reasons medieval people slept in cupboards

#95

Post by deafpolygon » Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 11:44 AM UTC

scotty79 wrote: post #24

deafpolygon wrote: post #23

I would use these if there was a modern take in it. There's so much wasted space. All that space above my bed is unused; all the space underneath becomes a magnet for dust and dirt. I would need to be able to sit up in my bed and get in/out without bumping my head. An integrated light would be nice- for reading, along with some chargingp ports and integrated shelving along with a built-in central air unit with a heat…

I think noone does that because 2 meter long shelf to put over the bed wouldn't be sturdy enough with modern furniture materials. So any cupboard that's 2m wide and at least 1m deep would need to be custom made. High up, 1 meter deep shelves are not that much more useful than empty space above the bed.

You can put storage above the bed. With some clever engineering, you could probably fit an entire closet at no cost to your sleeping space. It's much easier to sleep nearer the ground than it is to place a loft bed closer to the ceiling to create more space. There's something about climbing up a ladder that's not quite so fun.