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Bible Encyclopedias
Pew
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (anciently pue; Old Fr. puy; Dutch, puye; Lat. podium, "anything on which to lean;" s'appuyer), an enclosed seat in churches. The old French word puie meant a balcony, a gallery built on bulks or posts of timber; and it has been unnecessarily suggested that pew may only be a form of podium, a book-desk, or the crutch used by monks before sitting was permitted. In the early days of the Anglo-Saxon and some of the Norman churches, a stone bench afforded the only sitting accommodation for members or visitors. In the year 1319 the people are spoken of as sitting on the ground or standing. At a later period the people introduced low, three-legged stools, and they were placed in no order in the church. Directly after the Norman conquest seats came in fashion. Church-seats were in use in England some time before the Reformation, as is proved by numerous examples still extant, the carving on some of which is as early as the Decorated Period, i.e., before A.D. 1400, and records as old as 1450 speak of such seats by the name of pues. They were originally plain fixed benches, all facing east, with partitions of wainscoting about three feet high.
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