Edward I and Jacob's Pillow-Stone

'Edward I was aware of the sacred Stone of Scotland and its strange history connecting it with Empire. He knew the Scots venerated the Stone and were willing to die for it. He knew the Scottish nation and believed there was an aura of fatality, inseparable from their ancient Stone, which convinced them that their monarchy could not be shaken while the relic was in the land; but it would suffer great changes were the Stone removed. So he took the Stone after defeating them in battle. [This was one of the causes of the rebellion led by William Wallace several years later].

'On the surface he wanted to persuade the Scots that the time for the dissolution of their kingdom had come, and so dampen their hopes of ever recovering their national liberty. But inwardly Edward dreamed of an Empire, and he its sovereign lord. Was there truth in the prophecy about the Stone; he wanted it! To ensure that his secret desire was not flawed, he had all the Scottish monuments destroyed, and books and records burned.

'This detestable act was abhorred by all who knew of it (History of England, by M. Rapine de Thoyras, page 427). Refering to this, de Thoyras wrote 'Those records were such a loss to the nation, to their posterity and to the world, as time could never replace.' And he revealed that in a similar manner and from similar motives many valuable Irish records were also consumed.

'After obliterating -- so he thought -- all vestige of Scottish freedom and self-rule, Edward took their beloved Stone triumphantly to England, and lost no time drafting plans to build a new chair for it. In the Waldrobe Account book it is referred to as the Stone from Scotland, not 'Scotland's Stone.' Also, it seems that someone provided knowledge convincing Edward to change from a bronze chair to an OAKEN chair, and again he appears to have looked back on the history of the Children of Israel: 'And Joshua...took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak,...(Joshua 24:26).'