Posted on 10/17/2018 9:04:18 AM PDT by C19fan
In King Henry VIII’s pleasure palace, Hampton Court, there was no escaping class—not even in the loo.
The King, of course, had a luxurious place to squat. According to the Hampton Court Palace website, he and other royals sat atop a padded chair "covered in sheepskin, black velvet, and ribbons" lofted above a pewter chamber pot. This toilet was private, located in a so-called "stool room" that was attended to by a high-ranking courtier known as the Groom of the Stool. It was a privileged, well-respected gig to handle the monarch's waste. (Apparently the groom would even take notes on the sovereign's movements. In 1539, Henry VIII's groom showed a flair for euphemism by writing that the King had taken laxatives and experienced "a very fair siege.")
(Excerpt) Read more at mentalfloss.com ...
I viewed one castle that did things right...wish I could remember the one. The toilet on the top floor fed directly into a long tunnel that dumped waste directly into the ocean. Best result I could think of before flush toilets.
Odd as it seems this position actually came with a title: the Duke of Portland.
The title and attendant duty by definition came with the coveted privilege of having the King's one-on-one audience, and it was a position of high trust.
This was a highly sought after posting.
I know this from having toured Hampton Court on several occasions personally and having recited points from the same tour to others visiting Hampton Court with me. FReegards!
Ya know, my job doesn't look so bad after reading this.
I stayed at my cousins in Dehue WV many times in the late 40s early 50s. Their home was 3 rooms and path
Been there l, back in my early teens. The place did indeed smell as though people just peed anywhere and everywhere.
During the reign of Louis XIV, Versailles noblemen urinated openly against the courtyard walls in full view of other members of the court looking down from the balustrades above. The whole palace was said to stink strongly of urine and body odor. Bathing with water was thought to be unhealthy, and neither the king nor the court ever did.
Every American today lives immeasurably more comfortably than Louis the Sun King did in the 17th century.
Ancient Romans cities had much better sanitation.
After Rome fell the West would not reach the levels of public infrastructure the Roman Empire had until the 19th century.
Which is why the French invented perfume
It’s good to be the king???
I guess this is where the custom of allowing your ENEMIES to spend the night in your tent rather than kick them out before turning in.
The ‘reasoning’ being that if you kick him/her out, they will sneak up to your tent and pee inside it.
If they remained in, they would do like everyone else, raise the tent and pee outside.
/Indoor plumbing with an indoor toilet, came to MaMa’s house in the early 60’s, so my generation was the last to experience the real thing.
My sister and I spent a summer on a Virginia farm belonging to acquaintances of my grandmother, who was from the same area, but had moved to DC many years before. They had electricity, but no indoor plumbing. We actually used catalog pages for toilet paper and had chamber pots for use at night. This would have been around 1960-65.
In the late 70’s, I went to grad school with a woman from the eastern shore of Maryland. She did not have plumbing, even then.
I didn't have the heart to make a "two door" joke without checking.
“The Groom of the Stool”
Perfect job for Barack Hussein O.
Now you're just knockin' his hobbies. ;^)
Loved that series so much I bought the book that went along with it. Tony Robinson (Baldrick/The Black Adder) wrote and presented the series.
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