A Royal Tudor Bed and a Northern Rogue - Ian Coulson introduces the exhibition.

Visitors to Manchester have the rare opportunity to see the original marriage bed made for Henry VII (the first Tudor King) and Elizabeth of York, as well as an infamous forgery, this summer.
The new exhibition, A Royal Tudor Bed and a Northern Rogue, will be hosted at Manchester Cathedral from 2 July - 11 August and Chetham’s Library from 15 August - 11 September.
The original four-poster bed was made in 1485 for Henry and Elizabeth who married the following year. Their marriage united two conflicting families, the Yorkists and the Lancastrians, who had been at war for 30 years. Henry recognised the importance of taking a Yorkist bride, to strengthen his claim to the throne and to weaken any other Yorkist's claim.
The bed is a hugely important piece of history as it marks the end of the War of the Roses and the beginnings of the Tudor dynasty, and its headboard is dense with symbols of unity, redemption, fertility, and new beginnings.
George Shaw (1810-76), a ‘rogue’ from Saddleworth, was fascinated by medieval architecture and he famously created mock Tudor and Elizabethan furniture for the Duke of Northumberland, the Earls of Bradford and Derby, the Towneleys and Bagshawes, and Chetham’s Library. A lectern in Manchester Cathedral is also a George Shaw. Shaw created a replica of the Tudor marriage bed, which will be on display as part of this new exhibition.