Saladin’s jeweled bed

Saladin’s jeweled bed is at once a sumptuous object, a vehicle of magical transport, and the setting for a farewell between Saladin and Messer Torello d'Istria. Carried from Saladin’s palace to San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro at Pavia with Torello asleep upon it, the bed makes visible the generosity and friendship that accompany his urgent return home.

Construction and Appearance

Saladin orders the bed prepared in a great hall of his palace. Its mattresses are covered, according to local custom, in velvet and cloth of gold; over them lies a counterpane worked with figures and set with great pearls and jewels of high value. Two pillows complete the furnishing. The bed’s magnificence is not merely ornamental: the counterpane and the other treasures later brought to Italy are regarded there as an inestimable wealth.

The bed becomes the centre of an elaborate display of gifts. Saladin places on it a costly crown, inscribed so that it is understood to be intended for Torello’s lady. He puts a ring set with a carbuncle on Torello’s finger; its brilliance is compared to a lit torch. A richly furnished sword is girded at his side, and a brooch bearing pearls and other precious stones is fastened to his breast. Two large gold basins full of doubloons, along with strings of pearls, rings, girdles, and other valuables, are arranged around him.

A Vehicle for the Return

The bed is prepared as Saladin’s answer to Torello’s determination to reach Pavia by the appointed day, even at the risk of dying if he cannot. Since the nature of the journey will not allow Saladin or an ordinary escort to accompany him, Saladin arranges a different passage. Torello, recovered in strength, is dressed in a rich Saracen gown and a long turban-cloth before being brought to the chamber for their leave-taking.

After Saladin and his barons have said farewell, a physician gives Torello a draught under the pretence that it will strengthen him. Torello falls asleep. At Saladin’s command, he is carried into the hall and laid on the jeweled bed; once the gifts have been set around him, the magician removes the bed, with Torello and all its adornments, in Saladin’s presence. The bed thus carries both the man and the material signs of the friendship that has shaped his departure.

Arrival and Recognition

Torello is set down on the bed in San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro at Pavia, as he had asked Saladin to arrange. He remains asleep until the sound of Matins, when the sacristan enters with a light and, startled by the richly furnished bed, flees. The abbot and monks follow to investigate. They keep their distance from the sleeping man and the jewels, then scatter when Torello sighs and wakes.

The scene turns the bed’s splendour into a cause of misrecognition: the monks take the unexpected arrival and the figure upon it for something terrifying, while Torello recognizes that he has reached the place he requested. He calls to the abbot, his uncle, and identifies himself as alive and returned from overseas. The bed’s arrival therefore does more than deliver him home; its extraordinary contents make the return visible, even before those who find him can understand what they are seeing.