CHAIR

article of domestic furniture. Though of great antiquity, c’s now so common, did not even come into general ‘. use until about the XVI. cent. Before 3 that period, chests, stools, and benches formed the usual seat of ordinary persons, the c. being more in the nature ofa state seat used only by persons of rank. Ancient Egyptian c’s were generally of carved and gilded woods, inlaid or decorated with ivory; Rom. c’s were frequently of marble; and the c. of Dagobert, preserved in the Louvre, is of bronze. Medizval c’s were usually low, with arm-rests terminating in the heads of beasts or birds, and were without backs. The oldest known Eng. c. is that of Edward I., 1239-1307, at Westminster. It is of oak, and is used in the coronations of Brit. monarchs. Up to the middle of the XVII. cent. the c’s of all countries were usually without upholstery, which, when introduced, developed into the ' gorgeous productions of the XVIII. _ cent. 55’ N., 29° 5’ E.), ancient town, Bithynia, Asia Minor, on Bosporus, opposite Byzantium. The Council of C, held here in 451 A.D. declared its belief in the duality of the natures united in the one Person of Christ, the doctrine now held by the vast bulk of Christians; and fixed ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Rome and Byzantium.