Deception in the Boudoir: Gottfried's Tristan and "Lying" in Bed

Christopher R. Clason, Oakland University

Among the items of furniture to be found in medieval courtly literature, the bed appears in a vast number of scenes; it is perhaps the most ubiquitous of all domestic furnishings. A basic implement of human culture, the bed is familiar to everyone, from the top to the bottom of the social hierarchy. It is the venue of sexual love and conception, where royal marriage is consummated and the line of succession is assured, as well as the site where medieval families engender children and promote continuous, domestic welfare. In it, the king and queen rest from the mundane travail of rule, the poet and the hero receive inspiration through dreams, the cleric speaks with God, and the knight recovers from wounds incurred in battle (one thinks of Parzival's wounded uncle Amfortas). Beds are primarily the universal loci of calm, prayer, peace, sleep, and meditation, where one expects the continuance of the reality established in a previous time and in other spaces, in order that one might regain strength without needing to adapt to unexpected change.