groom of the stool

plural grooms of the stool

1. Alternative letter-case form of Groom of the Stool.

   The exaltation of a monarch was such that few were fit to dine with one. Meanwhile, as many as eight "grooms of the stool" waited on kings when at privy. A king sat alone at the table and in company at the "throne."

   2014, Leonard Sweet, “Setting the Table at Home”, in From Tablet to Table: Where Community is Found and Identity is Formed, Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress in alliance with Tyndale House Publishers, →ISBN, part II (Life’s Three Tables), page 81

   5 more examples

   The leſſer Corporations were [...] his Majeſties gratuities to the Lord of, &c. Marqueſs, &c. Q[ueen] Mother, Lady Nurſe, Groom of the ſtool, that is, the Cloſe ſtool, whether King or Queen (high and advantageous honours) and this diſcended to outlandiſh, as in Land commodities; yea, to pins and brooms; and it was ſaid, to Rags for paper, and Marrow-bones for Kitchin-ſtuff, or greaſe; [...]

   1651, Charl[e]s George Cock, English-Law; or, a Summary Survey of the Household of God on Earth; […], London: Printed by Robert White for T. G. and Francis Tyton, […], →OCLC, page 52

   It is the king's pleasure that Mr Norris shall be in the room of Sir William Compton, not only giving his attendance as groom of the stool but also in his bedchamber and other privy places as shall stand with his pleasure. And the king's express command is that none other of the said six gentlemen [of the privy chamber] presume to enter or follow his Grace into the said bedchamber, or any other secret place, unless he shall be called and admitted thereunto by his said grace.

   1995, Eric Ives, “Henry VIII: The Political Perspective”, in Diarmaid MacCulloch, editor, The Reign of Henry VIII: Politics, Policy and Piety (Problems in Focus), Basingstoke, Hampshire; London: Macmillan Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 20

   As the secretariat moved more and more under the aegis of the grooms, as the keeping of the seal itself became entrusted to men such as William Compton and Henry Norris, and as Henry [VIII] signed in the odd moments between eating or attending mass or (one assumes, since these men were grooms of the stool) privy ministrations, it was quite possible that documents passed under his hand of which "he wottith nat what."

   1997, Seth Lerer, “The King’s Hand: Body Politics in the Letters of Henry VIII”, in Courtly Letters in the Age of Henry VIII: Literary Culture and the Arts of Deceit, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 22

   At the first sound indicating that the king [Henry VIII of England] was actually awake, only one gentleman, Henry Norris, who had the senior role of groom of the stool, was allowed to enter the bedchamber 'and other privy places'. None of the others was to presume to enter or follow the king into the bedchamber or 'any other secret place'. What this meant was that the groom of the stool was responsible for helping the king go to the toilet – 'when he goeth to make water in his Bedchamber'.

   2011, Christopher Gidlow, Life in a Tudor Palace (Sutton Life Series), New York, N.Y.: The History Press, →ISBN

   Sir Thomas Erskine of Gogar, later earl of Kellie, was captain of the yeoman of the guard from 1603 to 1617, a sensitive office that from 1605 he combined with the groom of the stool, giving him crucial influence over access to the king [James VI and I].

   2013, Keith M. Brown, “Courtiers”, in Noble Power in Scotland from the Reformation to the Revolution, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, →ISBN, page 188

plural Grooms of the Stool · alternative groom of the stool

1. UKhistoricalgovernmentOriginally an official responsible for helping the English monarch use the toilet; later a senior official who was allowed access to the monarch's privy chamber and served as a personal secretary.

   Holonym: royal household

   5 more examples

   The leſſer Corporations were [...] his Majeſties gratuities to the Lord of, &c. Marqueſs, &c. Q[ueen] Mother, Lady Nurſe, Groom of the ſtool, that is, the Cloſe ſtool, whether King or Queen (high and advantageous honours) and this diſcended to outlandiſh, as in Land commodities; yea, to pins and brooms; and it was ſaid, to Rags for paper, and Marrow-bones for Kitchin-ſtuff, or greaſe; [...]

   1651, Charl[e]s George Cock, English-Law; or, a Summary Survey of the Household of God on Earth; […], London: Printed by Robert White for T. G. and Francis Tyton, […], →OCLC, page 52

   The King hath thirteen Gentlemen of the Bed-Chamber, who conſiſt uſually of the Prime Nobility of England, whereof the firſt is call'd Groom of the Stool [...] The meaning is a Groom or Servant of the Robe or Veſtment. He hath the Office and Honour to put on his Majeſties Shirt every morning, and to order the things of the Bed-Chamber[.]

   New English Grammar, Enriched with Curious Dialogues Touching the State & the Court of England. […]

   1675, Paul Festeau, “Dialogues”, in Nouvelle Grammaire Angloise, Enrichie de Dialogues Curieux Touchant l’Estat & la Cour d’Angleterre. […] [New English Grammar, Enriched with Curious Dialogues Touching the State & the Court of England. […]], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, London: Chez George Wells, […], →OCLC, pages 193–194

   [T]he Statute enjoyns the Clergy-man to be reſident in and upon his Living, that is, his Parſonage or Vicarage-Houſe, if he have any, and not at any other Houſe in the Pariſh; [...] But the Chaplains of the Chancellor of the Dutchy, Augmentations, Firſt-fruits, Maſter of the Wards, Surveyor General, Treaſurer of the Chamber and Augmentations, and Groom of the Stool, are to be Reſident twice in a year at leaſt, Eight days at each time: [...]

   1695, Simon Degge, chapter VII, in The Parson’s Counsellor, with the Law of Tythes or Tything: In Two Books. […], 5th corrected and enlarged edition, London: Printed by the assigns of Richard and Edward Atkyns, Esquires, for Richard Sare […], and Jos[eph] Hindmarsh […], →OCLC, pages 80–81

   MONTMORENCY (Anne de) firſt baron, peer, mareſchal, high-ſteward, conſtable of France; knight of St. Michael, and of the garter, groom of the ſtool, and governor of Languedoc, &c. was ſecond ſon to William lord of Montmorency.

   1743, “MONTMORENCY (Anne de)”, in Historical, Genealogical, and Classical Dictionary. […] In Two Volumes, volume II, London: Printed for A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, column 2

   The Queen then rises and goes to the faldstool, at which she is to be anointed and crowned, placed between King Edward's chair and the steps of the altar, where the Groom of the Stool to her Majesty (with the two Ladies of her Bedchamber) take off her rich circlet or coronet; when the Queen kneels down, and the Archbishop pours the holy oil on the crown of her head, in the form of a cross, using these words, "In the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost, let the anointing of this oil increase thine honour," &c.

   1831 September 1, “A Particular and Historical Account of the Ceremonies usually Observed at the Coronation of the Kings and Queens of Great Britain”, in The World of Fashion, and Continental Feuilletons. […], volume VIII, number 89, London: Printed by Mr. Bell, […], →OCLC, page 211, column 1

   Synonyms: Groom of the Stole