The Collaborative International Dictionary
Faldstool \Fald"stool`\, n. [See Faldistory.]
A folding stool, or portable seat, made to fold up in the
manner of a camo stool. It was formerly placed in the choir
for a bishop, when he offciated in any but his own cathedral
church.
--Fairholt.
Note: In the modern practice of the Church of England, the term faldstool is given to the reading desk from which the litany is read. This esage is a relic of the ancient use of a lectern folding like a camp stool.
Wiktionary
n. 1 A portable, folding chair used by a bishop when away from his throne 2 Any similar stool used in a divine service (such as a British coronation)
Wikipedia
Faldstool (from the O.H. Ger. falden or falten, "to fold," and stuol, Mod. Ger. Stuhl, "stool"; from the medieval Latin faldistolium derived, through the old form fauesteuil, from the Mod. Fr. fauteuil) is a portable folding chair, used by a bishop when not occupying the throne in his own cathedral, or when officiating in a cathedral or church other than his own; hence any movable folding stool used during divine service.
Whatever the origins, it is difficult not to note the general resemblance to the curule chair or sella curulis, which according to Livy supposedly derived its name from currus, "chariot"), and like the Roman toga originated in Etruria, but much earlier stools supported on a cross-frame are known from the New Kingdom of Egypt.
Just as a campstool of similar form came to be used by military commanders in the field, so it became the ceremonial chair that accompanied the bishop in his official visitations. The bishop will either use the faldstool as a seat, or kneel in front of it, resting his forearms on it in prayer like a prie-dieu, depending upon the rubrical requirements. Other prelates may be granted the use of a faldstool during services, with certain limitations. The faldstool may be covered with silk cloth in red, green or violet, depending upon the liturgical season or the rank of the prelate.
In the Anglican Church, a faldstool is a desk at which a litany is recited. It also refers to the small, upholstered prie-dieux at which the British sovereign and the royal consort kneel during important religious services such as coronations and weddings.
The term faldistory has a similar meaning.
Usage examples of "faldstool".
Any man who really understands it does not see a Greek King sitting on an ivory throne, nor a feudal lord sitting on a faldstool but God in a primordial garden, granting the most gigantic of the joys of the children of men.
Alleyn pulled forward a large faldstool and sat on it with his back to the flickering torch.
Then he let her go, brought her to the fire, and made her sit down on the faldstool before it.
Then the royal pair rose, sat on faldstools before the bishop, Berengaria the closer.
He then pulled two faldstools for us, using the bed as table, and spread three pages of water-streaked vellum on the mat.