This book is the first major investigation of a subject of seminal importance in the study of church history and archaeology. The two stone thrones, at Wells and Durham, the three timber monuments, at Exeter, St. Davids and Hereford, and the mid-14th-century bishop's chair at Lincoln, all come under a searching empirical inquiry. The Exeter throne is the largest and most impressive in Europe. It is a distinguished innovatory example of the English Decorated style, with antecedents passing back to the court of Edward I. It exemplifies most of the historical and formal strands that suffuse the entire book – visual appearance, distinctiveness within the building, prestige, construction, stylistic context, finance, and the patronage and personal role of the bishop himself; as well as the subtler issues of the personal and collective politics of bishop and chapter, the monument's liturgical applications, its relationship with the cathedral's relics, its symbolism and what it tells us about the aspirations of the institution within the existing ecclesiastical hierarchy.