Pallet (furniture)
A pallet is a bed made of straw or hay, used in medieval times for servants who slept close to their masters, either at the foot of the bed or the side. Close to the ground, it was not built for comfort, but was generally a linen or some other material sheet stretched over some hay or straw.
The mattress might be called a palliasse, or sometimes pallet, based on the French word for straw: paille. The name palliasse applies particularly to a mattress used on its own, without a featherbed, or solid bedstead.
