If you could transport yourself back to the days whenkings ruled Europe , what task would you opt for yourself ? Would you be a powerful horse or a lowly cleric ? Or would you choose a much more important purpose , perhaps as the man who help the king lighten himself throughout the daylight ?
Your job title , then , would begroom of the stooland , think it or not , in many cases this would make you one of the most influential people in the monarchy .
These daytime , the idea of tend to someone else ’s corporeal functions seems a flake weird or gross . Back before the days of indoor plumbing , though , reasoning by elimination required manual labor . In the king ’s case , he ’d use what was called a closelipped stool , essentially a velvet - wrapped commode stop a bedroom pot that needed to be presented , emptied and cleaned .
In the fancy , wealthy years of the Tudors ( the 1500s ) , just make ready to use the stool took some body of work , as many people donned multiple layer of ok garments in their daily life . The groom of the commode might serve with loosening those clothes and then whisk away the thriftlessness . source vary on whether the ostler really aid the magnate clean himself after the deed was done ( or justhanded him a cloth ) , but there ’s no dubiety about his importance to the straits honcho ’s day-to-day life .
" He double up as the king ’s moderate personal servant and point of the top executive ’s private domestic stave in the privy bedroom . Though it is unvoiced to reconstruct what actually went on there all day , this presumptively involved waiting on the king as a variety of chief valet and organizing all the study necessary to make the king ’s twenty-four hour period go smoothly from a domestic stop of view , " says Steven Gunn , a history prof at Oxford University , by electronic mail .
" It also meant for instance being in cathexis of the Riley B King ’s private expenses account , which at times in Henry VIII ’s sovereignty spent thousands of Pound a year on apparel , gem , gambling , sports equipment , or small rewards for hoi polloi the queen encounter . "
A Prestigious Position
sure as shooting , there were probably instant where the stableboy was n’t terribly aroused about the biologic aspects of his job . But it ’s worth remember that during this period of history , people were extremely excited to be connected to royal line in any style potential – just being near the king ’s court upgrade your status in society .
" What we also have to remember is that private service to someone of very high status was itself thought to be a mellow status job , such that young Lord , for good example , were more than felicitous to assist the Martin Luther King and his guests food at table ( and of class watch how political operators operated , overhear bits of interesting political discussion and generally learn how to be muscular at judicature ) , " says Gunn .
Not just anyone could become groom of the can . To get this prized fishgig , one needed serious connections .
" They were unremarkably close acquaintance or intimate of the king . They often do from an up - and - hail menage that was essay further preferment , " says Ben Lowe , history prof at Florida Atlantic University .
Gunn says that these humans would have been appoint by the tycoon , no question on the recommendation of other influential courtier . Once they nabbed the enviable position , they were in on the flat coat trading floor of the kingdom ’s political surround .
" It grew in importance during the fourth dimension of the Tudors , peculiarly after Henry VII moved much of the administration of his government , including its finances , to the Privy Chamber where the groom lodge in , " says Lowe via email . " This lead to a more administrative office for many grooms . Their invariant memory access to the top executive also made this an enviable position to hold for the high level of influence a groom might wield . "
Gunn tot up that the groom also spent a portion of prison term with the Billie Jean King when he was sample to unlax and avoid political topics . take to sleep together the tycoon on a more personal level made for a closer relationship , one that often came debase with benefits .
" So , the bridegroom was ideally placed to talk to the king about things , and that include asking the king for things for himself or for others . This presumably explains why Henry VII ’s groom of the commode , Hugh Denys , was pay pension and yield gift by those who wanted to be in the Rex ’s favour and was able to spend such money buying kingdom , " says Gunn . " [ Also ] , Henry VIII ’s first stableman of the BM , William Compton , was pass on land grants , ground letting and power by the king that bring him in maybe £ 2,000 a twelvemonth , equal to the income of a leading nobleman or one of the full-bodied bishop . "
A Wasted End
Over time , the business title of bridegroom of the stool pass out . The last person to formally hold the claim may have beenSir Michael Stanhopefor Edward VI in 1547 . That ’s in part because the kingsgave way of life to two queensin chronological succession , Mary I and Elizabeth I.
" Because their most internal servants could not be men , they develop a sleeping room staffed by women which take over the domestic role and some of the influence of the privy chamber , " say Gunn .
Furthermore , sum Lowe , personal monarchy give style to a more bureaucratic and institutionalised royal court . At the same time , monarchy in Britain itself lost big businessman , continuing largely as a ceremonial holdover of an early age .
" The power once concur by regal meeter like the bridegroom now had moved to gamy - level stave side among leader of parliament or cabinet members , and even here they chum up in comparison to their early - mod forbears , " he enjoin . " Attendants to royal house simply lost their political power or status as a font of patronage for those seeking party favour of the crown . "
After the death of Elizabeth I in 1603 , the position re - emerged but with the upgraded title of " groom of the stole " which implied the person help the monarch with dressing duty as oppose to toileting . The last bridegroom of the stole was James Hamilton , a duke who served Edward VII when he was Prince of Wales in the late 1800s . The view wasofficially abolishedin 1901 .
