garderobe

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The garderobe at Peveril Castle, Derbyshire, England

In English a garderobe (or privy) has come to mean a primitive toilet in a castle or other medieval building, usually a simple hole discharging to the outside. A garderobe tower is tower specifically constructed to house such privies, usually projecting from the outer wall of a castle.

According to Frank Bottomley (renowned Medieval Architecture scholar and author of numerous books), Garderobes were

"Properly, not a latrine or privy but a small room or large cupboard, usually adjoining the chamber or solar and providing safe-keeping for valuable clothes and other possessions of price: cloth, jewels, spices, plate and money." ^[1]

This definition is upheld by the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary which states that the etymology of the word garderobe comes to us through Middle English originating from the Old French words garder (to watch, to guard) and robe (clothing). The entry provides three definitions for garderobe with the first being, "a wardrobe or its contents." The second definition names a garderobe as "a private room" or "bedroom", while the final definition in the entry for garderobe is "privy."

Description

There were often holes in the outer walls of large structures and castles which led to cess pits or moats (depending on the structure of the building involved.) These holes were in wooden seats most often placed inside a small, private chamber which led to the use of the term garderobe to describe them, when in fact privy is more appropriate. Many of these privy holes can still be seen (from the inside and out) in Norman and Medieval castles and fortifications. They became obsolete with the demise of castles generally, and chamberpots were then generally used until the invention and introduction of the toilet. Given their exposed location, they must have been rather uncomfortable to use, especially in high winds, and toilet paper was just a handfull of hay or a linen rag.

Bürresheim Castle in the Rhineland-Palatinate state of Germany has 3 garderobes. "...the rectangular castle keep dating from the 12th. century, and raised in height to five storeys in the 15th century.... Only the fifth floor added in the late gothic period has rectangular windows and can be recognized as the dwelling for the tower watchman through its chimney and garderobe."^[2]

References

1. ^ Bottomley, Frank. "The Castle Explorer's Guide". London: Kaye & Ward Ltd. 1979. p. 70
2. ^ Burgen, Schlösser, Altertümer: "Burresheim Castle" p. 22, Koblenz 2000