# Close stool > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Close_stool > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Close_stool.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_stool > Source revision: 1355531964 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|Early type of portable toilet}} {{More citations needed|date=November 2022}} thumb|upright=.80|Toilet chair A '''close stool''' was an early type of [portable toilet](/source/portable_toilet), made in the shape of a cabinet or box at sitting height with an opening in the top. The external structure contained a pewter or earthenware [chamberpot](/source/chamberpot) to receive the user's excrement and urine when they sat on it; this was normally covered (closed) by a folding lid. "Stool" has two relevant meanings: as [a type of seat](/source/stool_(seat)) and as [human feces](/source/human_feces). Close stools were used from the Middle Ages (the ''[Oxford English Dictionary](/source/Oxford_English_Dictionary)'' gives the first citation as 1410) until the introduction of the indoor [flush toilet](/source/flush_toilet). ==At the Tudor Court== [[File:Hampton privy 9740.jpg|thumb|upright=.80|An uphostered close stool at [Hampton Court Palace](/source/Hampton_Court_Palace)]] Records of the English court mention the "close stool" and detail its construction.[Maria Hayward](/source/Maria_Hayward), 'William Green, Coffer-Maker to Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I', ''Furniture History'', 36 (2000), pp. 7–8, 13. As an example, the furniture maker and upholsterer William Green made a "close stool" in August 1537 for the [Lady Mary](/source/Mary_I_of_England). The stool was upholstered with crimson velvet and a [silkwoman](/source/silkwoman), Mistress Margery Vaughan, provided crimson silk fringes and ribbons for its decoration. Green made a leather carrying case for the stool.'Accounts of the Groom of the Stole', ''The Antiquary'', 20 (London, 1889), p. 190. Close stools belonging to [Cardinal Wolsey](/source/Cardinal_Wolsey) were covered with scarlet cloth and black velvet.[Eleri Lynn](/source/Eleri_Lynn), ''Tudor Textiles'' (Yale, 2020), p. 102. [Lady Jane Grey](/source/Lady_Jane_Grey) ordered crimson velvet to cover two close stools in July 1553.Nicholas Harris Nicolas, ''The Literary Remains of Lady Jane Grey'' (London, 1825), p. cxxvii. ==Other names== In Scotland, equivalent close stools appear in inventories and were sometimes called "dry stools" or "stools of ease". [James V of Scotland](/source/James_V_of_Scotland) and his daughter [Mary, Queen of Scots](/source/Mary%2C_Queen_of_Scots), both owned [silk canopies](/source/Domestic_furnishing_in_early_modern_Scotland) which were suspended from the ceiling over the stool.[Thomas Thomson](/source/Thomas_Thomson_(advocate)), ''Collection of Inventories'' (Edinburgh, 1815), pp. 47, 138-9. The close stool was sometimes called a '''necessary stool''' or a '''night stool'''. The eighteenth-century euphemism was '''convenience'''; the term was [further euphemised](/source/Euphemism_treadmill) in the nineteenth century with the term '''night commode''', which [John Gloag](/source/John_Gloag) suggestedJohn Gloag, ''A Short Dictionary of Furniture'', rev. ed. 1969, ''s.v.'' "close stool, close stool chair". may have derived its significance from a "balance night stool" described in [Thomas Sheraton](/source/Thomas_Sheraton)'s ''Cabinet Dictionary'' (London, 1803). Sheraton's design was "made to have the appearance of a small commode standing upon legs; when it is used the seat part presses down to a proper height by the hand, and afterwards it rises by means of lead weights, hung to the seat, by lines passing over pulleys at each end, all which are enclosed in a case." This appears to be the link between "commode" as [an elegant article of French furniture](/source/Commode), and "commode" as a prosaic [invalid toilet](/source/Commode_chair). One meaning of ''commode'' survived into the twentieth century to refer to the [flush toilet](/source/flush_toilet); "toilet" was itself originally euphemistic. The French term for this item of furniture is a '''chaise percée''' ("pierced chair"), as it often takes the form of a chair with a seat which raises to show the opening to the pot; similar items were made specifically as a moveable ''[bidet](/source/bidet)''. The French secretary of [Mary, Queen of Scots](/source/Mary%2C_Queen_of_Scots), [Claude Nau](/source/Claude_Nau), described her talking to the [Countess of Huntly](/source/Elizabeth_Gordon%2C_Countess_of_Huntly) about their plans to escape from [Holyroodhouse](/source/Holyroodhouse) after the murder of [David Rizzio](/source/David_Rizzio), while she was sitting on her ''chaise percée''.[Joseph Stevenson](/source/Joseph_Stevenson), [https://archive.org/details/historymarystew00naugoog/page/9/mode/2up ''History of Mary Queen of Scots by Claude Nau'' (Edinburgh, 1883), p. 10] ==Developments== A nineteenth century development is the [thunderbox](/source/Portable_toilet). {{Gallery |align=center |mode=nolines |noborder=yes |File:Italian_%22thunderbox%22_c.1750.jpg |Italian thunderbox {{Circa|1750}} |alt1=Italian thunderbox c.1750 |File:Commode, Europe, 1831-1900 Wellcome L0057869.jpg |19th-century [thunderbox](/source/Portable_toilet) |alt2=19th-century thunderbox }} ==Cultural significance== The [Groom of the Stool](/source/Groom_of_the_Stool) was a high-ranking courtier who assisted the monarch with the close stool. ==See also== *[Commode](/source/Commode) *[Potty chair](/source/Potty_chair) ==References== {{reflist}} {{Toilets}} Category:History of furniture Category:Chairs Category:Toilets --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Close stool](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_stool) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_stool?action=history)). 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