The thing that had me puzzled was that the picture at Schoenbrunn looked as though it were out of doors, not even closed in, like a sheltered promenade or something. No way to judge its intended use. But the name would be appropriate for comfortable living spaces in what would otherwise be a fancy barn.
Imagine what an English castle must have been like in the winter. Heating by fireplaces only, which must have been of the fry your face and freeze you fanny type. And they just did not have the technology to prevent drafts. No wonder those canopied beds were essential.

In reply to:

---

Heating by fireplaces only, which must have been of the fry your face and freeze you fanny type.

---

Only if you were a woman who spent all her time looking over her shoulder with her back to the fire, surely? These were after all English castles rather than USn.

Bingley

Dear Bingley: I was attempting to allude to the notorious problems of fireplaces causing very powerful drafts, so that the part of the bodynearest the fire might be overheated, but the other side would lose body heat to the current of air rushing into fireplace and up the chimney. I had a fireplace in three houses, and they were a censored expurgated unprinted disappointments. Now fireplace enclosures of glass radiate heat well,and prevent excessive draft, which no chimney damper can manage to my satisfaction. I am sure the old British castle fireplaces did not even have chimney dampers. A good old German Kachelofen or a modern wood stove is far preferable.There are also fireplaces called heatalaters, made of steel, but with large airspace around the combustion area, which does not let so much heat go up the chimney, but lint can collect in that space and a sudden explosion and flame sends a cloud of burning lint into the room.

And I was alluding to the fact that a USn fanny and a UK fanny are rather different parts of the anatomy.

Bingley

settle?

Fanny - here is what my dictionary says:

>fanny n.,
pl. [Slang] the buttocks

I learned it from an old timer, who alternately asked me if I had had a fanning yet today, and was I pulling my pudding. It was a long time before I learned what the second question meant.

Bingley says it refers to female pudendal area, the groin. He wanted to avoid offending the ladies. I hope he will not feel I have betrayed his confidence.

or you could stand with your back to the fireplace, and as we used to tease, Warm the (w)hole of your body!

and my da would alway insist upon asking any one who annoucnced "i have just come from the bathroom." (or any similar phrase. and it surprizing how often people feel compelled to announce it! ) "Did everything come out all right?" -- them that were flustered, and didn't know what to say, were in for more ribbing..

And antique bottles made by a glass blower can be identified by "ponted" end, a knob left on the bottom when glassbloer cut it off from the remnant of the "gather".

Bingley says it refers to female pudendal area, the groin.
Geez!

The fanny, Jackie. Although there is glory there too.

Oh mercy!!
Dr. Bill, this may have been before your time, but I, I, couldn't stand it when people began talking about their...um...what they had on under their clothes. Yikes.

Well, remember, it was a professional requirement for me. I did not mean to upset you. Bill

So I guess all these years I took the bawdy imagery for the character name Fanny Hill sort of, uh, topsy-turvy!

So Fanny Hill is the Mons Veneris.

More likely just a little hump.

You boys are being SOOOOO bad! I still have my soap, you know.

I still have my soap, you know.

Just make sure you don't drop it.

We need an architecture historian here...

You rang, my dear? The problem with architectural words is that it is often so hard to decide exactly what a particular building feature should be called because different authorities use different rules. Cupola/lantern is one such tricky divide: a lantern is usually considered a cupola with windows and no floor, so it can light the interior of the building, but some call any cupola with windows a lantern, and others don't call anything a lantern and stick with cupola. The exact dividing line between a bay window and an oriel is equally tricky to spot.

While I'm no architectural historian, I have taken a fair amount of interest in castles. In 1998 when we were touring Britain, we visited fifteen castles. My wife talked about ABC, "another bloody castle"!

[rabbit]
Many "castles" were just manor houses with defences which might or might not have any relevance to warfare. Often, they were built as homes first, with a bit of defensive walling added on as an afterthought. Often it was just affectation - the defences would have held up any determined attacker for all of five minutes at the most, and usually only that long because they would have hurt from laughing.

One of the most impressive castles, although it's not really as famous as Warwick Castle or the Edwardians in Wales, is Kenilworth in Warwickshire. It was built originally by one of Bill Clinton's ancestors (presumably complete with humidor) in the twelfth century. In the fifteenth it was the home of John of Gaunt (Henry IV's father and Henry V's grandfather). Robert Dudley had it in the sixteenth.

Kenilworth was a home (or more of a palace) as much as a defensive castle. The descriptions from the fifteenth century include mention of the hangings in the Great Hall. These were very expensive tapestries and were effective draught-catchers. They were also a form of conspicuous consumption and portable wealth. The windows were usually "glazed" in the bigger castles, although this could have merely been done with animal skins scraped thin (like vellum) in the meaner sort of castle.

They may not have been cosy retreats, but the castles which were also palaces were probably quite comfortable - at least for the owner and his family. This double use was quite common from the thirteenth century through to the early seventeenth. You should also remember that when war was not imminent, the owners of castles often either lived in smaller buildings within the bailey or close by. The Earl of Leicester actually built a manor house within the bailey of Kenilworth when he had the castle in the late 1500s. Great for bird-pulling, and the bird he was trying to pull was Elizabeth I. Didn't do him much good, did it? Henry V built a retreat outside the walls of Kenilworth and lived there for some time after Agincourt, but he was still within a very short distance of safety. Others may not have even lived in their castles at all except under wartime conditions. John of Gaunt lived in London quite a lot rather than at Kenilworth when he was in England, where he had an inn named, from memory, Cold Harbour. This was just a large house or inn-type building with no real defences at all.

[/rabbit]

Oh do tell more about how John of Gaunt, who died in 1399-- (the last year of th 14th century) made his home in Kenilworth-- In the fifteenth it was the home of John of Gaunt (Henry IV's father and Henry V's grandfather). Robert Dudley had it in the sixteenth.-- no wonder SWMBO was complaining about another ABC!

in the early years, John of Gaunt had a very luxurious castle in London, on the Strand-- the Savoy, it was very close to the location of the church of St Clemen(t) the Dane (as in Oranges and Lemons, say the bells of St Clemin's) which is in the middle of the Strand..

sorry, but one of my favorite books is Katherine by Anya Seton, the story of Katherine Swynford, John's long time mistress, and third wife, (and grandmother to Henry V.) The london hotel, the savoy is close at to the site too, but the castle was on the river side of the strand, and the hotel is further in.. lovely place, spent christmas of 1972 there!

I hate to admit it, but it was only a few years ago that I learned he was so named because he was born in or at least owned land in Ghent. At least I didn't think it meant he looked undernourished.

Okay, okay, I was doing it from memory. John of Gaunt was a real rogue, a mercenary dressed up in diplomat's clothing. My knowledge of Kenilworth's denizens comes from reading about Bolingbroke and that ne'er-do-well son of his'n, Henry V. They were definitely 15th century characters.

Possibly Bolingbroke and Hal had the use of Cold Harbour - certainly Henry V spent a lot of time there while his father was still alive and rotting away. I assumed that John of Gaunt owned it. Certainly the Hollands (close relatives) did for a while, but I'm not sure when. There is still a Cold Harbour Lane or Street in London.

My history references are still packed away and are likely to remain there for some time.

And beware the factual accuracy of novels anyway. Authors of fiction have been known to twist facts to suit themselves, you know ...