Lethaby, William Richard: Westminster Abbey and the antiquities of the coronation (London: Duckworth & Co., 1911)

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chair had come to be called “ St. Ed-
ward’s ” by reason of its association with
the other objects used at the Coronations.
At the Coronation of Elizabeth 18^ yards
were required of “cloth of silver incar-
nate [silver cloth shot with crimson] for
covering St. Edward’s chair.” An entry
follows for “ the steps going up into the
mount,” being covered with crimson and
green baudekin.
Before the Coronation of George IV.
it seems always to have been draped with
cloth of gold or other precious stuff. It
is of oak, and now, of course, much worn,
but examination reveals the fact that its
surface was entirely covered with gilt
gesso-work, wrought into patterns like
the gilt backgrounds of early Italian
pictures. On the front surface of the
“ back ” was the image of a King seated
on a throne with his feet on a lion. This
probably represented the Confessor. The
chair was the work of a famous artist,
Master Walter, of Durham, or Dereham,
the King’s painter, and it cost 1005.,
equal to nearly as many pounds of
our money. In Hardyng’s Chronicle it
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