CORONATION CHAIR.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1160, 22 June 1911, Page 10

CORONATION CHAIR.

Its History. In'his new volume, "Wood Carvings in English Churches,'" Mr. Francis Bond ro-. fers to tho Coronation chair at Westminster, "which has a long, if somewhat unreliable, history behind it. The stone beneath it is said to ! have been the ono-on which Jacob's head rested at Bethel; from whence it travelled to Egypt, and thenco to Spain, Ireland, and lastly Scotland. King Kenneth of Scotland had the following inscription engraved on it in Latin verse:— Ni fallat fatum, Scoti quocunque leeatum Invenient lapidem regnare tenetur ibidem: Tho following is an old translation: — . Fate hath design'd ' That whereso'er this Stone Tho Scots shall find, . There they shall hold tho Throne, a prophecy curiously fulfilled on the accession of James I to the English throne. On the upper surface of the stone is a rectangular .groove large enough to receive an inscribed plate. Edward I found the stone iii 129(j at Scone Abbey, where the Scotch kings had always been crowned on it. He carried it to London, and in 1300 Master Adam, the king's goldsmith, was working at a bronze chair to hold it. But when this was nearly finished, the king altered his mind and had a copy of it made in'wood—the present chair— which cost 100s., by Master Walter,- tho king's painter. The chair "has lest the quatrefoils in front, and. the lions are of recent date. It originally stood in tho same position as a bishop's; chair, i.e., at the back of the' High, altar and in front of tho shrine of Edward .the Confessor, and facing to the west. It is made ,of oak, fastened together with pins; the surface was first covered over with tlio usual gesso;; then gold .was- applied -by ..means of white of egg, and burnished; then minute dots, forming diapers of foliage,, beasts, birds, etc., wero pricked on.,'the surface of the gold, taking', care not to. penetrate, it, with a blunt instrument before tho ground and gilding had lost their elasticity; a most tedious : anti delicate' process. A second chair, modelled on-tho older one, was made on her ' Coronation by Mary..llfc/,Ouceri,.o£ ( .;TiVilliam --lII.Jt used to chair, .but has been- moved -to -the .easternmost recess' of Henry Vll's chapel;" ' : 'y Coronation Stones. . . ; The .stode or rocK has Exercised liar fascination over mens niinas-.for, inany a century,. ,i\o. metaphor yet oeen lounu'.which is aoie.to coiivey the general idea of permanence ivitji eo mucn force ana emphasis as, the rock. .But further tnan uus me onarm, So to speak, which it carries with. it extends tar beyond, the region. of mere; metapnor, and, as everyone Knows, thy stone lias come to be regarded as an object,demanding the deepest reverence, awe, and even worship. Royal stones aro to be found in abundance. The majority of them in all probability derive tneir origin from the prevalence of the ideas we nave already urietly Indicated. On the one hand, a firm, stable Government was embodied- in the very idea of kingship, so "that the stone was selected almost of necessity 'to be one of the accompaniments of royalty. On the other hand, such was the regard, not to say reverence, invariably felt towards a Royal person in the general thought of mankind that the King speedily camo to be surrounded with a mysterious and almost divine atmosphere. From this point of view also it was only.natural to connect the godlike monarch, as lie was deemed, with' the stono which was considered to be no less heavenly in its origin. Consequently, by a natural process, tho stone speedily camo to be associated with the cercmonial inauguration of a now Sovereign. Many nations possessed at one timo a coronation rite, usually entitled "Elevation." Some-times it makes its appearance in the custom of "chairing" a new monarch, or placing him upon tne shields of his warriors. This was the case at tho inauguration, for instance, of our; own Saxon King Athelstan, who was "elevated" in this manner, and to an extent which appears strange not to say alarming to our modem notions, for his nobles seemed to have had-little 'or no hesitation whatsoever in tossing their new King up into the air! A portion of the inaugural ceremony consisted, however, in placing the new monarch ceremonially upon sonio particular st;ne, which had como to be invested with a special sanctity in the popular estimation. It was the usual procedure to form a circle of some twelve large stones, while ill the cocire there was placed one of considerably larger dimensions. This latter was employed as the RoyaL seat, and its twelva inferior brethren were occupied by the chief nobility of the land, who also acted as a barrier between the person of tho Sovereign and tho general mass of the, peoplo outside. All the Scandinavian kingdoms appear at one time or another to'have, contained somo particular stone which.was used on this great and important occasion. Sweden, for instance, boasted of the great "Mora" stone, near tpsala, which figured at the inauguration of King Eric IV at tho distant date of 13%. It consisted of a large mass of rock surmounting several similar masses, while around it there were ranged twelve great stones. Each new reign received a further distinction in tho siiape of a smaller stone which bore the date and name of the Sovereign in question. The three ancient divisions of Denmark, e.g., Jutland, Scandia, and Zealand, wero also perpetuated by the existence of three different stones which were placed at Lunden, Lcyra, and Viburg respectively. A similar practice may also bd traced in Germany, in the interesting, building so familiar to Continental travellers at the junction of the Rhine and the Lalin, which is known as tho "Konigsstulil." In addition to the a-ctual Royal scat stalls were placed within this building for the seven great Electors of tho Holy Roman Empire, whose business it was to declare and confirm tho new Empcrcr by placing him upon the "Koniesstuhl," and thus enthroning him in the presence, so to speak, of all the Imperial States. . This custom is to be found still nearer home than Scandinavia or - Germany, though it must be admitted that its existence within the British Isles can hardly fail lo have bea:i due to Norwegian influence. The. Shetland 1 ;, the Hebrides, and the Isle of llan all furnish us with similar examples. The spot upon which the ancient- Kings of Man wero inaugurated with the great magnates of the land ' encircling them, is still called to this day Tinwald Hill (from "Tingr" the word used to denote the circle of stones). More than ono illustration of this interesting custom is to be found in Ireland, the stono being employed even at the election of inferior potentates such aa the chieftains of various tribes.