Pope Pius V, (1566-1572) performing his duties atop his Sedan Chair.
Artist: Unknown, 1568 Germany
[76] The Close Chair was invented in London in the early 1630s, and later was called ‘Sedan chair.’
Sed from the Latin Sella: carried chair, though Henry Peacham, author of “Coach & Sedan” (1636) claims that the name comes from the Principality of Sedan, on the North European mainland.
Hardly probable, since that place was a Protestant enclave, and the first person to have his chair being carried for him, was the Pope, as early as the 16th century.
The idea that VIP’s should be carried in special wagons, preferably by toiling humans, never wore-off, and by the 21st century we see stretched Limousines fulfilling the same purpose.
Impression-Making-Vehicles were to be rented as early as 1634. By the late 18th century more than 2,000 sedan chairs were available to hire in over 37 cities/towns across Great Britain and Ireland.
Talking about the Pope, the current one bravely declined to use his bullet-proof Pope-mobile, claiming that God will protect him.
