s erected by public subscription, the
sculptor being John Gibson, R.A. Near this monument is a blue slab
covering the remains of Bishop Anthony Bek, patriarch of Jerusalem, who
died in 1310. It was to bring in the body of this bishop that some
writers have thought the north doorway of the Nine Altars Chapel was
constructed. This is, as we have seen already, extremely improbable.

The student of architecture will find very much to interest him in this
Chapel of the Nine Altars. The beautiful sculpture and variety in the
capitals of the shafts of wall arcading, not to mention the rich carving
of the vaulting bosses and capitals of the vaulting shafts, will well
repay his earnest study.

[Illustration: The Galilee Chapel.]

[Illustration: The Galilee Chapel.]

[Illustration: Capital in Galilee Chapel.]

The #Galilee# or #Lady Chapel# is situated at the west end of the
nave. It is well known that for some reason women were not allowed to
enter any church where S. Cuthbert's shrine stood, nor even any church
dedicated to him. At Lindisfarne a separate church was provided for
them, and at Durham the Galilee Chapel was added for the same purpose.
It was alleged that S. Cuthbert himself had made this rule, but there is
no proof that he ever issued such a command. The Venerable Bede makes
no mention of any special feeling of antipathy to women on the part of
the saint. Bede was contemporary with, and survived S. Cuthbert
forty-eight years. Whatever may have been the origin of the practice, it
is certain that in later times women were jealously excluded from the
churches of S. Cuthbert, and to this circumstance we owe, in the chapel
under our consideration, the most beautiful and perfect example of
Transitional Norman architecture existing in England.

[Illustration: Paintings in the Galilee Chapel.]

Let us recall briefly the circumstances attending its erection. Hugh
Pudsey, who occupied the episcopal throne, 1153 to 1195, commenced to
build a Lady Chapel at the east end of the church. The work had not gone
far before accidents happened, and cracks and fissures appeared in the
walls, which the builder thought "gave manifest indication that it was
not acceptable to God and His servant S. Cuthbert."[5] The work was
therefore abandoned, and another chapel was commenced at the west end of
the church, "into which women might lawfully enter, so that they who had
not bodily access to the secret things of the holy place, might h