Why Medieval Blanket Systems Worked At -40°F While Your 300$ Bedding Fails

It's 3:00 AM. A blizzard hits and the power goes out. Outside, it's minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Within three hours, your bedroom drops to 30 degrees. You're buried under three layers of blankets. You paid $300 for that memory foam mattress and another $200 for a weighted comforter. Yet you're shivering. Your expensive mattress feels like a block of ice against your back. You're sweating and freezing at the same time.

Now imagine a medieval peasant in 1315. No electricity. No central heating. Outside temperature? Same minus 40. His bedroom, if you can call it that, is a drafty stone hall with gaps in the walls. Yet he's sleeping soundly under a pile of straw and wool. He'll wake up warm. You'll wake up hypothermic.

What did a medieval farmer with literal garbage know that your $500 bedding system doesn't?

That was a nice explanation.

I think that a good duvet goes a very long way, though; I don't have a heavy wool blanket as advertised, but I have noticed a duvet means the difference between being cold and not being cold. I think that it also has desirable moisture characteristics too, as it never gets overly hot either.

Interesting. I think it oversimplifies synthetics though. I have a lot of cold weather pile/fleece clothing that moves moisture very efficiently away from my body, keeping me warm and dry.

Why does anyone dare to assume they were warm and comfy instead of just barely surviving in the conditions listed?
Peasants were just that, peasants. They had what they were allowed to have. The average human I see today looks far better (calorically/thermally) insulated than they ever could have been.
-40F is just hyperbole unless you've tried to work and live in it. Rhetoric.
You'll wake up accustomed to what ever the temp is in your environment. Folks from a long time ago acclimatized to their environment, instead of presuming they could alter it.
You might be cold when the power is out, because you don't have to live without it.
I agree somewhat with the premise of this post. I met a girl who grew up in the Andes somewhere tell me that winter in Europe and Canada was far different. In her stone childhood mountain home, winter had been a trying season of misery. She found out that winter elsewhere was an inconvenience and opportunity for recreation, hot water not an absolute luxury.

I think I must use the super-luxurious version of the peasant's bed, but it's cost *way* more than the $300 or whatever. And I live in a place that occasionally actually gets down to the -40 talked about.

We sleep with a thick wool topper between our fitted sheet and the "natural" latex mattress and are covered by cotton sheet, then a light woven cotton blanket, then a cotton quilt, topped by a down duvet in a cotton cover. We open the window down to about 0F/-18C to intentionally get our bedroom down into that 30-40F range the video discusses because that's the most comfortable. Our thermostat drops to 50F at 8PM and the furnace almost never runs at night.

I think I prefer down to being covered in straw.

I have slept outside quite a bit--though never below the low twenties (not enough blankets for that), but mostly upper twenties and warmer.

I am guessing that these are at least partly AI-created videos so they are going to be a little dubious naturally. -40F is USDA zones 3a and below. Most of Europe is not that cold. Most of Sweden is zones 4/5, with the south in zones 6 and 7 and a few isolated areas of 2/3. https://www.plantmaps.com/interactive-sweden-plant-hardiness-zone-map-celsius.php

Norway apparently dips into Zone 8 at the northernmost tip: https://www.plantmaps.com/interactive-norway-plant-hardiness-zone-map.php

It only really starts getting cold into Russia and Siberia, and most of western Russia is zone 5.

So maybe we should think about -40* winters not based on whatever medieval europeans have done--however it tends to capture the imagination of people of that ancestry--but rather go further east to northern China, Siberia, Kamchatka, Mongolia, etc.? Or west and look at Native American ways of staying warm through the long cold winters of New England, the Great Lakes & Plains regions, northern Canada, Alaska, etc.

Some of the information presented is quite valuable however! It makes me think more about creating a good microclimate that doesn't have to be heated. When sleeping outside, I found that tenting some of the blankets over my head made so much of a difference for keeping the heat in and drafts out, akin to the curtains or canopy. In native New England of old, I hear that people covered their heads with blankets (sewed out of skins) to keep themselves warm, for instance.

Lastly I will leave you with a paragraph of Thomas Morton's New English Canaan, first with the original and then with modern spellynge:

The Natives of New England are accustomed to build them houses much like the wild Irish; they gather Poles in the woodes and put the great end of them in the ground, placinge them in forme of a circle or circumference, and, bendinge the topps of them in forme of an Arch, they bind them together with the Barke of Walnut [hickory] trees, which is wondrous tuffe, so that they make the same round on the Topp for the smooke of their fire to assend and passe through; these they cover with matts, some made of reeds and some of longe flagges [cattails?], or sedge, finely sowed together with needles made of the splinter bones of a Cranes legge, with threeds made of their Indian hempe, which their groueth naturally, leaving severall places for dores, which are covered with mats, which may be rowled up and let downe againe at their pleasures, making use of the severall dores, according as the winde sitts. The fire is alwayes made in the middest of the house, with winde fals commonly: yet some times they fell a tree that groweth neere the house, and, by drawing in the end thereof, maintaine the fire on both sids, burning the tree by Degrees shorter and shorter, untill it be all consumed; for it burneth night and day. Their lodging is made in three places of the house about the fire; they lye upon plankes, commonly about a foote or 18. inches aboue the ground, raised upon railes that are borne up upon forks; they lay mats under them, and Coats of Deares skinnes, otters, beavers, Racownes, and of Beares hides, all which they have dressed and converted into good lether, with the haire on, for their coverings: and in this manner they lye as warme as they desire. In the night they take their rest; in the day time, either the kettle is on with fish or flesh, by no allowance, or else the fire is imployed in roasting of fishes, which they delight in. The aire doeth beget good stomacks, and they feede continually, and are no niggards of their vittels; for they are willing that any one shall eate with them. Nay, if any one that shall come into their {26} houses and there fall a sleepe, when they see him disposed to lye downe, they will spreade a matt for him of their owne accord, and lay a roule of skinnes for a boulster, and let him lye. If hee sleepe untill their meate be dished up, they will set a wooden boule of meate by him that sleepeth, and wake him saying, Cattup keene Meckin: That is, If you be hungry, there is meat for you, where if you will eate you may. Such is their Humanity.[240]

The Natives of New England are accustomed to build them houses much like the wild Irish; they gather Poles in the woods and put the great end of them in the ground, placing them in form of a circle or circumference, and, bending the tops of them in form of an Arch, they bind them together with the Bark of Walnut [hickory] trees, which is wondrous tough, so that they make the same round on the Top for the smoke of their fire to ascend and passe through; these they cover with mats, some made of reeds and some of long flags [cattails], or sedge, finely sewed together with needles made of the splinter bones of a Crane's leg, with threads made of their Indian hemp, which their grows naturally, leaving several places for doors, which are covered with mats, which may be rolled up and let down again at their pleasures, making use of the several doors, according as the wind sits. The fire is always made in the middle of the house, with wind falls commonly: yet sometimes they fell a tree that grows near the house, and, by drawing in the end thereof, maintain the fire on both sides, burning the tree by Degrees shorter and shorter, until it be all consumed; for it burns night and day. Their lodging is made in three places of the house about the fire; they lie upon planks, commonly about a foot or 18. inches above the ground, raised upon rails that are borne up upon forks; they lay mats under them, and Coats of Deer's skins, otters, beavers, Raccoons, and of Bear's hides, all which they have dressed and converted into good leather, with the hair on, for their coverings: and in this manner they lie as warm as they desire. In the night they take their rest; in the day time, either the kettle is on with fish or flesh, by no allowance, or else the fire is employed in roasting of fishes, which they delight in. The air doth beget good stomachs, and they feed continually, and are no niggards of their vittles; for they are willing that any one shall eat with them. Nay, if any one that shall come into their houses and there fall asleep, when they see him disposed to lie down, they will spread a mat for him of their own accord, and lay a roll of skins for a bolster, and let him lie. If he sleeps until their meat be dished up, they will set a wooden bowl of meat by him that sleepeth, and wake him saying, Cattup keene Meckin: That is, If you be hungry, there is meat for you, where if you will eat you may. Such is their Humanity.

I will add that in my own experience, I have slept on both cattails and straw before and found the former very comfortable. I recommend making your own cattail mattress, and my estimation is that cattails are more comfortable than straw.

Hi Tommy,

You raise an excellent point. I seriously doubt if F or C scales existed.  Also, the shelters were often relatively small and shared with livestock.  Finally, there is the point you raised …what was the accepted standard of normal?   Not seeking sympathy, but I grew up in a poor family that was off the scale by today’s standards.   In my freshman year in HS I had one wool blanket. It was not unusual for it to be covered in frost in the morning.  I never gave it a second thought . I never realized other people lived differently.  There was one girl in my algebra class who talked about her electric blanket.  I just wrote her off in my mind as being rich.

I was mistaken in my earlier post because I used Morton's account as being for a "cold climate" when actually it is more like southern Scandinavia or central europe in how cold it is--Massachusetts reaches Zone 7 at the coast. Further inland accounts will be necessary.

I suppose the most useful takeaway is one that people in cold climates have always known: the secret to being safe and warm is moisture management. Hence the phrase, "You sweat, you die." Wool is good at moisture management. So is straw. So are some types of synthetics, but not all.

One of the problems I consistently find with these AI videos is that they present an either/or, "dumb people vs. smart people" scenario and flog it to death. There's no discrimination for the subtleties of a subject.

The other annoying problem is they take 5 minutes of information and stretch it into a 25 minute docudrama that repeats itself over and over. Get to the point -- I have things to do!

Tommy Bolin wrote:-40F is just hyperbole unless you've tried to work and live in it. Rhetoric.
You'll wake up accustomed to what ever the temp is in your environment. Folks from a long time ago acclimatized to their environment, instead of presuming they could alter it.

I have experienced -40, and I think you're right. Given adequate calories and hydration, the body adapts -- because it has to.

Also, like me (at home, and certainly when camping) I'd guess they wore suitable clothing to bed. That's your first moisture management layer. I doubt anyone in medieval times went to bed in the buff. It definitely tempers the shock when you get up in the morning, or the middle of the night.

I grew up in Ontario with central heating which in combination with the weather, keep house air very dry. Managing moisture in the bed just wasn't something I was aware needed doing.

Now I live on the Wet Coast, approximately a mile from the coastline. We're wet all winter. I was reminded thanks to permies, that 'turning down the bed sheets' in the morning was a thing in damp places. Even that wasn't enough with our leaky house and the fireplace a floor away at the far end of it. We now have a dehumidifier in the bedroom which I point at the bed for about an hour in the morning with the sheet and comforter pulled down. It makes a *huge* difference. Our mattress is so old that I don't know what is in it. My dream is to have a down topper, but I'm not there yet. I use cotton flannel sheets, with a wool duvet. I have wool blankets that I can pull out if we have too long a power outage, but if the power's on, I have a "bed warmer" that we turn on for 1 hour before I want to sleep, just because I run cold and this helps me warm up enough to sleep soundly.

Things the video missed (and yes, I agree it took 25 minutes to give people 5 minutes of info.)
1. warming rocks by the fire was a thing, as were pans of hot coals used to warm the bed.
2. so was wearing hats to bed.
3. so was it very common to have more than 1 human/bed.
4. a 3-dog-night means what it says - as mentioned earlier, farm animals in the house, or under the house, was a normal way to keep both humans and animals warm.

But it also give people who've never had to deal with cold and lack of heating the basic good info that wool blankets are a good thing to own even if you don't use them every day, that making your space smaller so you don't have to heat as large an area, and finding any way you have of increasing the thermal mass where you're sleeping can make the difference between life and death in an emergency situation. In Ontario, I *always* had a spare blanket in the car in the winter, and an extra hat. I'm lazy about that here, unless we're having atypically bad weather - but I know where to grab extra warm stuff if for some reason it might be necessary.

We definitely acclimate to local conditions - I don't remove my sweater until it gets over 20°C  while the folks in Tasmania (I'm led to believe by co-workers based in that State) start sunbathing at 25°.  I've camped in a tent when there has been ice on the water, but was quite comfortable in a sleeping bag and a feather doona.  This latter has channels and is filled with feathers - just a couple of handfuls per channel - as I found out recently during the adventure of laundering it. Feathers can be shaken into place to alter the warmth for extra comfort.
Peasant houses we are told, house the animals below and the family sleeping quarters above - built in central heating.  I don't think jammies and nighties were a 'thing' either - sleeping in regular clothes. Only the rich had that luxury.   Linen and wool were far more likely to be comfortable in the cold than cotton (expensive and imported to cold places)  We can only speculate!

John F Dean wrote: In my freshman year in HS I had one wool blanket. It was not unusual for it to be covered in frost in the morning.  I never gave it a second thought .

I often use thin outer layers, wool or synthetic, to move moisture to the outside of my clothing when working in the cold. It turns into frozen frost -- but I can take it off for a moment, give it a shake, and it's more or less ready to keep working and keeping my inner layers comfortable.

That's nothing -- the Inuit peoples in the far North were the ultimate cold climate experts. They hung their most important outer layers outside! Not disaster, but brilliant strategic awareness. The fur of the arctic-adapted animals they harvested for clothing did not saturate with the moisture of the wearer; it collected on the surface of the fibres. Once frozen, giving it a good shake in the morning would remove the frosted moisture and it was ready to use again. Smart, smart, smart.

I find if I’m warm before I get in bed, I stay warm.
My duvet is feather and down filled. (cruelty free) When it’s very cold , I wear thin merino wool thermal leggings and vest, sheep skin slippers around the house. This winter I invested in a quilted coat and trousers with cotton wadding, and for the first time in my life did not get cold. Even though the wadding is quite thin.

Yes… natural is best… it’s a shame it comes at a premium cost.  I’m in my 60’s and can just about afford natural now. Crazy.

Cath Brown wrote: When it’s very cold , I wear thin merino wool thermal leggings and vest, ...

I believe the concept is sound. As a reasonably competent outdoorsman (and in my younger days a solo mountain backpacker) I quickly learned that one good layer next to the skin was worth a ton of external insulation. That's even more important when going to bed. If I can't warm up even when (in theory) heavily insulated, adding dry wool socks, a toque (stocking cap) and a vest is like flipping on a switch. Sleep tight!

I think the video has value even though there are more ways of doing this well, not just the ones listed.  I think the saliant points come across.