Close stool

A close stool was an early type of 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 to receive the user's excrement and urine when they sat on it; this was normally covered (closed) by a folding lid.

Close stools were used from the Middle Ages (the Oxford English Dictionary gives the first citation as 1410) until the introduction of the indoor flush toilet.

James V of Scotland and his daughter Mary, Queen of Scots, both owned silk canopies which were suspended from the ceiling over the stool.

The French secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots, Claude Nau described her talking to the Countess of Huntly about their plans to escape from Holyroodhouse after the murder of David Rizzio, while she was sitting on her chaise percée.