As vocalised by Terry Pratchett's Death, a bed is only ‘a normal thing’ because people believe it to be so. In more theoretical terms, space ‘lacks independent existence’ without its social and cultural context: the late medieval bed and chamber were nothing and meant nothing without the system of assumptions, beliefs and semantic relationships supporting and surrounding them. Above all this book has shown that beds and chambers mattered. As demonstrated by the ‘Arise Early’ precepts, from the time they got up to the time they went to bed, and all through life from birth to death, beds and chambers were at the very heart of how late medieval English people understood the world around them. My research has shown that the chamber was both consciously and subconsciously considered to be a crucial and meaningful space, while the bed had powerful value as both space and object.

The paucity of research on the bed in late medieval England is, in part, due to an assumption that there is not enough material evidence upon which to base the research. This book has shown that evidence of the physicality of late medieval beds is accessible and worthy of further study and has opened up avenues for research. For instance, the understanding that the chamber was the most appropriate space within the house in which to express emotions could be explored further to contribute to the ongoing discourse on the history of emotions.

Within the constraints of its structure, this book has shed new light on pervasive cultural ideas that informed the way in which late medieval English society functioned. It has shown that socially constructed meanings of this crucial space affected how people understood everyday life, from piety to politics, gender roles to sexual encounters, communication to a sense of self. A similar methodological approach could be usefully applied to other spaces or objects: there is still much about the late medieval reception and interaction with domestic spaces that is not yet fully understood.