Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-04-23
THE JERUSALEM CHAMBER.

LIE JERUSALEM Cf1AMBEhs
A Celebrated Recess In the Wall Of
! Westminster Abbey.
III the southwest wall OF Westmin-
ster abbey a narrow recess shows an
nd oak door. Behind 1t is q passage
leading into small room with finely
carved p:::ss,eling called the Jericho par
lor, which leads into the celebrated
Jerusalem chamber. This chamber is
Of profound modern interest in that it
was the scene of the 1911 and 1884 re-
visions of the Bible, in the latter in
stance the United States taking a most
prominent part s.55
The Jerusalem chamber is also of
great historic interest, being one of the
fss9 remains Of the old palace of West
minister, which for centuries was dis
tinct and separate from the abbey.
Many rooms in the old palace had sim.
liar fanciful names, such as heaven,
paradise and the Antioch chambers
The Jerusalem chamber was built by
Abbot Ellington in 1886 and was so
named from the colored glass brought
from Jerusalem which decorates it.
The room is rectangular In shape
wainscoted with cedar and other
woods, all of which were brought from
the Holy Land. The ceiling and the
upper part Of the walls are frescoed
and here and there hang costly tapes
tries, which Henry VIII placed in the
choir Of the. abbey, but which have
since been removed to this room. The
splendid cedar mantelpiece was put
up in commemoration of the marriage
of Charles l., then Prince Of Wales.
with the Princess Henrietta Maria of
France. The carved and wooden heads
on either side of the mantelshelf repre-
sent the royal pair.
One Of the frescoes depicts King
Henry ", who breathed his last with
in these walls in 1413. This event oc-
Cured twenty-five years after the
room was built and was doubtless the
first really important incident in its
history, for celebrated, indeed sacred,
as the chamber has since become, at
its construction it was only intended
as the withdrawing room for the
guests Of Abbot Ellington.
King Henry, with the uneasy con.
science ,sof a usurper and supersti-
tious belief In a prophecy that foretold
his death at Jerusalem, decided upon
a crusade to the Holy Land. The cru
SADIE, which the king deemed ample
atonement for his sins, was, however,
too long deferred. Preparatory to leav-
ing on his Journey to Jerusalem, while
praying before the shrine of st. Ed
ward the Confessor in the abbey, he
was stricken with a mortal sickness,
and, in the words Of the old chronicle,
"they for his comfort bore him into the
abbot's place and laid him down be-
fore the fire In this chamber
On coming to himself and learning
that he was in the chamber named
Hierusalem then said the king, "Laud
be to thee, Father of heaven, for now
know that I shall die in this cham
Der, according to the prophecy made Of
me before said, that should die in
Hierusalem.' And so he made himself
ready and died shortly after. i
The body Of Addison lay in state in
this room, whence it was borne at the
dead of night to its last resting place
in the chapel Of Henry VII, the pro-
cession passing round the shrine OF Ed
ward the Confessor and the choir sing
ing funeral hymn. From the Jeru-
salem chamber also the body Of Sir
Isaac Newton was carried to the
grave the palf being borne by the lord
chancellor and by dukes and earls.