 The first known use of the word to denote a room was in medieval Christian Europe, when it designated the two rooms in a monastery where clergy, constrained by vow or regulation from speaking otherwise in the cloister, were allowed to converse without disturbing their fellows.The "outer parlour" was the room where the monks or nuns conducted business with those outside the monastery.It was generally located in the west range of the buildings of the cloister, close to the main entrance.