THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES t THE ANTIQUARY'S BOOKS GENERAL EDITOR : J. CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A. THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND BY HERBERT W. MACKLIN, M.A. ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE PRESIDENT OF THE MONUMENTAL BRASS SOCIETY WITH EIGHTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS METHUEN & CO. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON First Published in igoj TO M Y F I V E SONS CHRISTOPHER, DAVID, PAUL, HILARY AND AUSTIN AT THE SPECIAL REQUEST OF ONE WHOM I DESIRE TO PLEASE THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED 942620 PREFACE IN the following pages I have endeavoured to give a general survey of the whole of the monumental brasses yet existing in England. The subject is one which has been before antiquaries for a number of years, and about which there is a quite considerable literature. At the same time it is a literature not generally accessible, and consists chiefly of books long out of print, and of papers and articles printed in the Transactions of the various societies, as well as a number of pamphlets privately printed. The text-book is A Manual of Momimental Brasses, by the Rev. Herbert Haines, M.A., published in 1861, in two volumes, the first an Introduction, and the second a List of Brasses arranged in counties, which has formed the basis of all succeeding lists. The Introduction is an amplification of an earlier Manual which accompanied a Descriptiv^e Catalogue of Rubbings issued by the Oxford Architectural Society. Earlier works include Cough's Sepulchral Monumejtts in Great Britain, published 1786; A Series of Monumeyital Brasses from the Thirteenth to the Sixteenth Century, 1842- 1864, by J. G. and L. A. B. Waller ; and Moninncntal Brasses and Slabs, by the Rev. Charles Boutcll, 1 847, and The Monu- mental Brasses of England, by the same author, in 1849, a series of engravings upon wood with brief descriptive notices. Separate counties were in these earlier days admirably treated by Thomas Fisher, 181 2, for Bedfordshire; John Sell Cotman, 1819, for Norfolk and Suffolk ; Franklin Hudson, 1853, for NortJiamptonshire ; and, in a smaller and less costlj- viii THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND form, Edward Kite, i860, for Wiltshire. The Monumental Brasses of Cormvally 1882, by E. H. W. Dunkin, occupies an intermediate position, and is an excellent piece of work. In 1886 a society was founded at Cambridge exclusively for the study of Monumental Brasses, and for the complete revision of Haines' Lists, a wo-rk not yet completed. Head- quarters were afterwards transferred to London, and the Trans- actiojis of the Mommiental Brass Society have now extended to four complete volumes and part of a fifth. A Journal of the Oxford University Brass- Rubbing Society first appeared in 1897, and continued, in one excellent volume and two ad- ditional numbers, until December, 1900, after which the scope of the Society was enlarged, and its name changed to that of the Oxford University Antiquarian Society. To many of the writers in both these publications I am greatly indebted, and have made free use of their notes. An accurate List of Monumental Brasses remaining in the County of Norfolk was published by the Rev. Edmund Farrer in 1890, and a similar List of Suffolk Monumental Brasses in 1903. A List of the Existing Sep7ilchral Brasses in Lincolnshire was reprinted in 1895 from Lincolnshire Notes and Queries by the Rev. G. E. Jeans, and in the same year appeared a more brief list of The Monjimental Brasses of Warzvickshire, by the Rev. E. W. Badger. Photo-lithographs of all, or nearly all, of the Kentish Brasses have been published by Mr. W. D. Belcher in two quarto volumes, 1888 and 1905. The Monume^ital Brasses of Lancashire and Cheshire by Mr. James T. Thornely appeared in 1893, and Memorial Brasses in Hertfordshire Chiirches by Mr. W. F. Andrews, second edition, in 1903. Other counties have been dealt with in various publications. To Mr. Mill Stephenson, Hon. Sec. Monumental Brass Society, I must acknowledge special indebtedness. His Monumental Brasses in Shropshire appeared in the Archaeological Journal in 1895. His notes upon the Monumental Brasses in the East PREFACE ix Ridwg in vol. xii. of the Yorkshire Archceological Journal; The West Riding in vol. xv., The North Riding also in vol. XV. ; and The City of York in vol. xviii. ; and his papers upon the brasses of Surrey, Middlesex and Kent have been printed in the Transactions of the St. Paul's Ecclesiological Society, vols, iii., iv. and v. TJie Brasses of Bedfordshire by Mr. H. K. St. J. Sanderson, of Huntingdonshire by myself, a considerable part of those of Cambridgeshire by Messrs. Charlton, Cave, and Macalister, and of Derbyshire by Mr. Field, are listed in the Transactions of the Alonuuiental Brass Society. Brasses in the Diocese of Carlisle have been described by the Rev. R. Bower in the Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmoreland Antiquarian and ArchcEological Society. The Monicmental Brasses of Gloucestershire by Mr. C. T. Davis, 1897, in Gloucestershire Notes and Queries, many of those in Dorset by Mr. W. de C. Prideaux in the Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, and the most interesting of the brasses of Essex by Messrs. Miller Christy and W. W, Porteous in the Essex Revieiv, the Transactions of the Essex ArcJicEological Society, the Reliquary and Illustrated ArchcEologist, in the Antiquary, and in the Transactions of the Monumental Brass Society. In writing of military brasses I have made some use of an excellent treatise by Mr. J. Starkie Gardner upon Armour in England, published in 1897 as one of the Portfolio Monographs, but in the main I have followed Boutell. BoutcU, however, became impatient with the inferiority of the brasses of the sixteenth century, and gave the later styles but scant treat- ment. I have also derived assistance for my chapter on the Mediaeval Clergy from a volume upon 7 he Development and History of Ecclesiastical Vestments by Mr. R. A. S, Macalister, an active member of the Monumental Brass Society, published in the Camden Library. The appendix to Chapter III. upon Cast Metal Tombs is due to a suggestion of Dr. J. Charles Cox, the general editor of these Antiquary's Books. For the X THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND Woolmen and the Judicial Brasses, in the appendices to Chapter VII., I am largely indebted to Mr. Jeans and Mr. Davis, for their accounts of individual brasses in Lincolnshire and Gloucestershire. From the former I have also derived my account of the noble and sadly mutilated brasses at Tattershall, as also much else about other brasses of his chosen county. In the matter of Palimpsests I have relied wholly upon Mr. Stephenson, whose work upon the subject, in the Transactions of tJie Monnmental Brass Society, is practically exhaustive. My views upon the German origin and workman- ship of the most important of those brasses which have hitherto been called Flemish are founded upon a close examination of the examples existing in England, and a detailed comparison of them with the splendid illustrations of German, Flemish, and other foreign brasses included in Mr, Cre^nys, Alonnniental Brasses of the Continent of Europe, published in folio in 1884. The admirable Manual of Costume as Illustrated by Monumental Brasses by Mr. Herbert Druitt, 1906, has ap- peared too late for me to use, except as to a few quite minor corrections. In most respects this book will be found to supplement the present work in the questions with which it especially deals. * In the matter of illustrations I have many obligations and kindnesses to acknowledge. The plates have all been specially prepared, but are not all necessarily original, many of them being copied or reduced from those in other publications. As President of the Monumental Brass Society, and with the con- currence of the Hon. Sec, I have ventured to make free use of illustrations which have already appeared in various numbers of the society's Portfolio and in its Transactions. In face, however, of a very limited circulation amongst the membership, most of these illustrations will be new to the more general antiquary. I have to heartily thank the Committee of the Oxford University Antiquarian Society for permission to make a similar use of the fruits of their work. The Merton College, PREFACE xi Queen's College, Chinnor, Drayton Beauchamp, Deerhurst, Checkendon and Thornton brasses are reduced from the Oxford Portfolio, and the Cranley " Resurrection " from the Society's Transactions. Mr. E. M. Beloe, junior, of King's Lynn, has published in folio a number of the Norfolk brasses and a complete set of those of Westminster Abbey. He has very kindly allowed me to draw upon these, and I am indebted to him for the originals of the Duchess of Gloucester, Archbishop Waldeby, and Abbot Estney ; for Sir Hugh Hastings; and for details of the Lynn brasses. To Mr. Andrew Oliver, A.R.LB.A., and to the Editor of the Builder, in whose journal some of the originals first appeared, I am equally indebted for the fine illustration of the beautiful monastic brass at Cowfold ; and for the Westley Waterless, Trotton and Windsor brasses. Mr. W. D. Belcher has also allowed me to select illustrations from his Kentish Brasses, and with grateful thanks I have taken the Chartham, IMinster, Woodchurch, Upper Hardres, and Hever brasses from this source. By Mr. Druitt's kindness in sending me an advance list of his own illustra- tions, I have been able almost entirely to avoid duplicating with him. The arrangement of my book, perhaps, needs a few words of explanation. All other writers have classified the brasses according to subject, taking, for instance, all military brasses together, then perhaps ecclesiastical, then civil, and so forth, or following a similar outline from century to century. I also have done the same in my elementary manual of Monumental Brasses, published seventeen years ago and still in print. But in the present volume I have desired to take a wider view, and to connect brasses more closely with the history of our country. My periods are, therefore, in the main historic. Half of the chapters deal with the brasses of particular epochs — Edwardian, Plantagcnet, Lancastrian, Yorkist, Tudor, and Elizabethan, and palimpsest brasses are ranged under the Spoliation of the Monasteries, the Suppression of Chantries, and Foreign Wars xi THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND of Religion. It is, of course, necessary to make exceptions, and thus all brasses of foreign workmanship, except palimpsests, are brought together into one chapter, as are those of the clergy down to the Reformation. Where smaller groups of brasses required separate treatment, I have dealt with them in special appendices, which are placed immediately after those chapters and periods to which the principal or early examples belong, and I believe that this arrangement will be found to be convenient. H. W. M. Houghton Conquest Rectory Bedfordshire 1907 CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE I INTRODUCTORY I CHAPTER II Brasses in the Reigns of the two first Edwards, 1272- ^3^7 13 The first twenty Brasses. Appendix (i) The Engravers .... 32 (2) The Enamellers • • • • 35 (3) Inscriptions 38 (4) Heraldry 41 5) CHAPTER III The Golden Age of Plantagenet Rule, i 327-1 399 . . 46 Appendix. Cast-metal Tombs .... 60 CHAPTER IV Architectural Ornament 67 Canopies, bracket-brasses, and crosses. CHAPTER V Foreign Workmanship 83 Periods and groups. German and Flemish Work. Reference to Palimpsest examples. CHAPTER VI The Medieval Clergy of England 100 Appendix (0 The Religious Orders. . . 130 (2) The Universities . . . -135 )> xlv THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND CHAPTER VII PACE The Lancastrian Period, 1400-1453 142 Appendix (i) The Wool-staplers . . . 166 „ (2) The Legal Profession . . .173 CHAPTER VIII The Wars of the Roses, 1453-1485 183 Appendix (i) Chalice Brasses . . . .201 „ (2) Heart Brasses .... 205 „ (3) Shroud Brasses . . . .210 CHAPTER IX Brasses in the Tudor Period, 1485-1547 . . . .216 Appendix (i) The Edwardian and ^L^RIAN Transition 238 „ (2) Merchant Companies and their Arms 242 CHAPTER X Spoliation of the Monasteries 249 Palimpsest Brasses. CHAPTER XI The Elizabethan Revival, i 558-1625 269 Appendix (i) Caroline Decadence . . . 294 „ (2) The Last Few Brasses . . 300 CHAPTER XII Brasses and Despoiled Slabs 306 Conclusion. INDEX OF PLACES 317 GENERAL INDEX 330 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT Sir John Daubernoun, Stoke d'Abernon .... Sir Richard de Boselyngthorpe, Buslingthorpe Sir Robert de Setvans, Chartham ..... Sir John de Creke and wife, Westley Waterless . Sir John de Northwode, Minster Margarete de Camoys, Trotton Joan de Northwode, Minster Nichol de Gore, priest in cross, Woodchurch John Wantele, in tabard, Amberley Sir Roger le Strange, in tabard, Hunstanton Sir Hugh Hastings, Elsing Reginald de Malyns, in armour, and his two wives, Chinnor Thomas Cheyne, Esq., Drayton Beauchamp .... Alianore de Bohun, Westminster Abbey .... Two Civilians, King's Somborne John Strete, priest, with bracket, Upper Hardres . John Bloxham and John Whytton, priests, on canopied bracket Merton College, Oxford Robert de Paris and wife, with octofoil cross, Hildersham . Robert Braunche and his two wives (section). King's Lynn. Pictorial compartment from below the feet of Adam de Walsokne King's Lynn Lower sinister section of the Braunche Brass Upper dexter section of the same . Portion of dexter lady in the same . Thomas Pownder and wife, Ipswich I'AGE 15 17 20 24 26 28 30 31 43 45 49 51 53 57 59 74 77 81 85 86 87 89 90 96 xvi THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND Dr. Duncan Liddel, Aberdeen .... Archbishop Waldeby, Westminster Abbey Bishop Robinson, Queen's College, Oxford Abbot Estney, Westminster Abbey . Archdeacon Fynexs, Bury St. Edmund's Robert Langton, priest. Queen's College, Oxford Henry de Codryngtoun, priest, Bottesford Stole from Brass formerly at Oulton Maniple from Brass at Northfleet . Amice from Brass at Ockham Prior Nelond, Cowfold Provost Argentein, King's College, Cambridge Lord Camoys and wife, Trotton Sir John Lysle, Thruxton ..... Sir Thomas Bullen, Hever .... Richard Martyn and wife, Dartford John Fortey, woolman, Northleach . Arms of the Staple of Calais, St. Olave's, Hart Street William Browne, woolman, and wife, Stamford Sir John Cassy, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and wife, Deerhurst Sir William Yelverton, Justice of the King's Bench, Rougham John Rede, Serjeant-at-law, Checkendon A Notary, Ipswich Robert Ingylton, Esq., and his three wives, Thornton Sir Thomas Shernborne, Shernborne Sir Thomas Stathum and his two wives, Morley . Sir Thomas Urswyk and wife, Dagenham Chalice from Brass at Wensley .... Chalice-brass at Bawburgh Chalice from Brass at Holwell .... Thomas Knyghtley, Esq., Fawsley .... Shrouded figure of William Robert, Digswell Shrouded figure of Philipp Tenison, Bawburgh LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xvii Canon Honywode, Windsor Castle .... Richard Conquest, Esq., and wife, Houghton Conquest Lord le Strange and wife, Hillingdon John Shelley, Esq., and wife, Clapham Henry Hatche and wife, Faversham Annunciation from Brass of William Porter, Hereford Resurrection from Brass of Robert Hardyng, Cranley Sir Humfrey Style, in tabard, Beckenham Arms of the Mercers Company, St. Olave's, Hart Street Arms of the Merchant Tailors Company, Great St. Helen's Arms of the Salters Company, All Hallows Barking Arms of the Brewers Company, All Hallows Barking Palimpsest Brass of Isabell Copleston, Yealmpton Sir Henry Sacheverell and wife, Morley Nicholas Wadham, Esq., and wife, llminster William Dunche, Esq., and wife. Little Wittenham Richard Gadburye, Eyworth .... Margaret Chute, Marden Bedstead Brass to Anne Savage, Wormington Provost Airay, Queen's College, O.xford . James Cotrel, York Minster .... A Lady, Launceston Cradle-brass to Dorothy King, Windsor Castle Robert Shiers, Esq., Great Bookham Despoiled Slab of Bishop Beaumont, Durham Cathedral PAGE 221 224 229 232 236 237 241 243 246 246 248 262 271 278 281 283 285 291 293 299 301 304 3'4 LIST OF PLATES TO FACE PAGE Statuettes from Tomb of Edward III., Westminster Abbey. . 62 Walter Pescod, Boston 70 Laurence de St. Maur, priest, Higham Ferrers . . . .101 TABLE OF CHRONOLOGICAL LISTS The First Twenty Brasses .... Knights in Transitional Armour Military Figures of the Later Plantagenet Period Ladies of the Same, pourtrayed alone . Civilian Brasses of the Same .... Canopies of the Fifteenth Century . Bracket Brasses of the Fourteenth Century . Bracket Brasses of the Fifteenth Century Bracket Brasses of the Sixteenth Century Floriated Crosses with Figures Octofoil ditto Crosses without Figures ..... Brasses of Foreign Workmanship, Fourteenth Ce The Same in Later Periods .... Priests in Eucharistic Vestments Archbishops, Bishops, and Abbots, in Pontificals Priests in Surplice and Almuce Priests vested in the Cope .... Priests in Cassock only Members of the Religious Orders . Academical Brasses ...... Military Figures of the Early Lancastrian Period The Same in Mixed Mail and Plate Armour The Same in Complete Plate .... Military Figures of the Later Lancastrian Period The Same with Further Developments . tury 14 47 52 55 56 71 75 75 76 78 79 80 84 95 104 112 116 120 124 131 139 148 150 150 156 157 XX THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND Civilian Brasses of the Same Period Brasses to the Wool Merchants Judicial Brasses of the Early Fifteenth Century The Same in the Latter Half of the Century The Same in the Sixteenth Century Serjeants-at-law Military Figures of the Yorkist Period . Tabard Brasses of the Same . Ladies of the Same, pourtrayed alone Civilian Brasses of the Same . The Yorkshire Chalice Brasses The Norfolk Chalice Brasses . Chalice Brasses in other Counties . Heart Brasses of the Simplest Type Hearts upheld by Hands .... Heart Brasses of Various Types Shroud Brasses of the Fifteenth Century The Same to the Death of Henry VIII. Later Shroud Brasses .... Military Figures in the Reign of Henry \T1. The Same in the Reign of Henry VIII. Tabard Brasses in the Tudor Period Military Figures of the Edwardian Transition The Latest Tabard Brasses Palimpsests with English Reverses . The Same from Portions of Foreign Brasses Military Figures of the Elizabethan Period Post-Reformation Ecclesiastics . Caroline Clergy Military Figures in the Reign of Charles I. Commonwealth Brasses .... Brasses from the Restoration to End of Seventeenth Century Brasses of the Eighteenth Century 302 305 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND CHAPTER I C^^ INTRODUCTORY MEMORIALS of the dead have taken many forms. And, strangely enough, these forms often stand apart from one another so widely that they may require to be studied separately — not, indeed, in watertight compart- ments, but in such a way as to receive definitely distinctive treatment. This is the case with the engraved memorial brasses which form the subject of the present work, as students have freely recognized for the last half-century. And thus the name Brasses is commonly taken to refer only to such memorials, and in these pages a brass will uniformly mean a brass plate which is engraved, with inscription, figure, coat-of-arms, religious symbol, or the like, and which is also a memorial or part of a memorial to the dead. MATERIAL Strictly speaking, the material used is not brass at all, but an alloy consisting of about 60 parts copper, 30 zinc, and 10 of lead and tin. The result is a peculiarly hard metal, capable of resisting much rough usage. Indeed, brasses are often nearly as perfect now as when they were first laid down, li I 2 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND and have frequently outlasted not only their companion monu- ments of other kinds, but the stone or marble slabs in which they have themselves been set, and the very buildings which originally contained them. The ancient name for the metal was latten, and it was manufactured exclusively on the Continent — at least until the middle of the sixteenth century — in Flanders and Germany, and particularly at Cologne, whence it was imported into England in rectangular pieces known as CuUen plates, to be cut out and engraved by English workmen and artists. ADVANTAGES The advantages gained by the use of brasses in place of more imposing monuments of carved stone are sufficiently obvious. A brass occupied no valuable space. A casement or matrix was made in the gravestone, and the brass sunk to the level of the surrounding pavement. Far greater variety of treatment could be obtained, and the monumental brass could be, and was, made to suit all classes of the community, from persons of the humblest ranks to those of the highest, according to their means. ARTISTIC TREATMENT In spite of certain limitations, brasses may be looked upon as distinctly works of art ; not necessarily beautiful, but full of purpose and instruction. Great care was taken to represent faithfully the costume of each period, and this was done so exactly that the date of a brass, where the inscription has been lost, can usually be ascertained with precision from the dress or armour worn, as well as from the general character of the engraving. Gross extravagances of costume are seldom to be found, and the art is remarkable for its sobriety and good taste. It is probable that the artists worked from definite types, which INTRODUCTORY 3 had to be adapted to each case. They also seem to have largely copied from the stone monuments and sculptured effigies which preceded them in point of date, and were con- tinued side by side with them through every period. Thus it was usual to depict the figures as though they were recumbent, with the head pillowed upon cushion or helmet, and the feet resting against a lion or a hound. It was not until the late and declining periods that brasses became pictorial, and actual portraits of those who were commemorated seldom appear to have been attempted much before the reign of Elizabeth. The material best lends itself to the use of dignified types, with broad lines and simple treatment, both in design and execution. RISE, PROGRESS, AND DECLINE It will be found that the history of brass-engraving falls naturally into definite periods, each with its special characteristics. In the widest sense the periods will correspond with those of contemporary architecture, and this will help to explain why brasses begin at their very best, and then, after a single century of great excellence, gradually decline, with architecture, until they are lost in the classic revival. In a more restricted sense they roughly correspond with dynastic changes in English history, and will be so treated in the present volume. TJie first period covers the reigns of Edward I. and Edward II., 1 272-1 327, the earliest existing brass in England dating from 1277. Not that this was actually the first laid down, for there are records or matrices of a few of earlier date, though probably they were never very numerous. In St. Paul's Church, Bedford, lies a slab with the worn matrix of a large Latin cross, 69 by 30 inches, with serrated or indented edges; it sprang from a quadrangular plate, 17 by 9 inches, and on either side of the head there was a small shield. At 4 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND the north edge are faint traces of the matrix of a border fillet. This is believed to be the memorial of Sir Simon de Beauchamp, 1208, thus mentioned by Leland {Iter., vol. i. fol. 116): "He lieth afore the high altar of St. Paul's Church in Bedford, with this epitaphie graven in brass and set on a flat stone, ' De Bello Campo jacet hie sub Marmore Simon foundator de Newenham.' " Nothing else is recorded until nearly the middle of the century, when there were brasses to Jocelyn, Bishop of Wells, in Wells Cathedral, 1242 ; Rich, de Berkyng, Abbot of Westminster, in episcopal vestments, in Westminster Abbey, 1 246 ; and Bingham, Bishop of Salisbury, 1 247, a cross fleury and demi-figure on the north side of the choir of Salisbury Cathedral. There was also at Lynwode, in Lincolnshire, a small cross-legged military figure, of which the matrix still remains in excellent condition. William of York, Bishop of Salisbury, had in 1256 a similar tomb to that of Bingham, with the demi-figure of a bishop, but no cross ; and this also remains in the choir of his cathedral, upon the floor of the south aisle. Next comes the mail-clad ^^gy of Sir John Daubernoun, and his is the first English brass still existing. This well- known brass introduces the first group of examples, which, being few in number, are all enumerated and described at some length in the next chapter. For the most part they represent recumbent efiigies, are frequently of the size of life, and appear to be copied from the prevailing types of efifigial stone monuments. But they are not portraits, and the features are conventional. Architectural canopies appear in the second part of the period, from the commencement of the reign of Edward II., and heraldry is represented from the very beginning. The artistic treatment is bold and effective, and though the drawing may not be always strictly correct, there is a dignity and breadth of feeling not often reached in later periods. The plates of metal used are thicker and better than those of any INTRODUCTORY 5 succeeding age, the engraved lines have been more deepl}- incised, and the existing brasses have suffered Httle from the action of time and wear. The second period is that of Edward III. and Richard II., from 1 327- 1 399. Brasses become more numerous, about one hundred and forty being known, and they represent many varying types. In one direction they advance to their highest point of excellence, in size, beaut}-, and elaboration of detail ; in another, they now begin to include memorials of the great middle class, which historically was rising steadily in importance and influence. The lesser nobility, knights and squires, with their ladies, are, as one would expect, amply represented. So is the priesthood, together with a few of the higher ecclesiastics, such as Trilleck, Bishop of Hereford, Robert Wyvil and John de Waltham, Bishops of Salisbury, Archbishop Waldeby of York, and Delamere, Abbot of St. Albans. Wealthy merchants, as Adam de Walsokne and Robert Braunche of Lynn, with Alan Fleming of Newark, claim some of the most splendid brasses which have ever been engraved, either in this country or on the continent of Europe. But, at the same time, there appear many small and simple brasses of unknown civilians, which are, in their way, of as high im- portance as those of their wealthier and nobler contemporaries, because of the witness they bear to the development of the people of England. Most of the brasses of this golden period are included in the lists and appendices of the third chapter. They exhibit the costume of the time with considerable completeness, omitting only the greatest extravagancies of fashion, which may be better seen in illuminated manuscripts. Architectural acces- sories are at their best, and there are many examples of fine canopy and tabernacle work, with brackets and rich floriated crosses. This is, of course, to be expected of an age which had just seen the erection of the Lantern of Ely, and witnessed 6 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND the completion of the great Minster at York. And it is not without reason that the best period of the art of engraving memorial brasses should be associated with the Decorated style of architecture which prevailed throughout the greater part of the fourteenth century, and exhibits the most complete and perfect development of Gothic. For this, in the Early English style, is said to have been not fully matured, and in the Perpendicular to have begun to decline. The third period is the Lancastrian, from 1400 to 1453. About five hundred figure-brasses may be referred to it, and many important changes occur. The long " Hundred Years' War " with France brought about a rapid development in the use of arms and armour, common to all the nations of Western Europe. Since the military equipment was the same for all, it would have been impossible to distinguish by their armour alone the soldiers of opposing forces. Heraldry, therefore, is of the first importance, and is introduced into almost all the brasses of those who were entitled by law or custom to the bearing of arms. There are still a great number of really fine brasses, but it is nevertheless evident that the art of engraving has passed its highest point, and that a decline has begun. The figures are often excessively stiff and conventional, and the lines not so deeply or so boldly incised as heretofore. It has been said that arms and armour were European rather than English. In other directions, England was becoming far more English than it had ever been before. The language of the earlier inscriptions was Latin or French. The French now disappears, and gives place to the English of Wyclifife and Chaucer, with epitaphs in verse as well as sober prose, and much to be learnt from both. The fourtli period is that of the Wars of the Roses, 1453- 1485, and is of no little interest. England, for the first time since the Norman Conquest, was cut off from the rest of INTRODUCTORY 7 Europe, and free to develope along her own lines. The inter- necine wars had little effect upon the life of the people, and brasses are just as numerous as before. Trade symbols and merchants' marks become common, and the great guilds and companies were widening in power and influence. In armour there are many changes, and here alone can be seen the traces of civil strife. Distinguishing and party badges, collars, and devices are freely depicted, and heraldry is more needful than ever. It also became usual for knights and squires to wear tabards-of-arms over their body armour, and for their ladies to appear in heraldic kirtles and mantles. The fifth period is the Tudor, from 1485 to 1558. Its brasses are altogether distinct from those that go before or come after, both in style and artistic treatment. They are vastly inferior, in spite of the revival of learning, and in spite of the culture of the Renaissance, or perhaps because of them. The mediaeval arts were dying, and giving place to others. Yet brasses were very widely used, and by all sorts and conditions of men. They were smaller, cheaper, more easily obtained, and there was more money to spend upon them. New developments abound, and this is particularly the age of special classes, such as Chalice Brasses for the memorials of priests. Heart Brasses, Shrouded Figures, and Skeletons. All these, it is true, had already been sparingly introduced, but now became popular, and were fully developed. Canopies are comparatively rare, but it began to be a common practice to engrave small rectangular brasses, which were usually mounted upon a stone framework, and affixed to the wall instead of the floor. After the death of Henry VIII. there comes a marked pau.se, the sign of the religious changes through which the country was passing, and there are few brasses of the reigns of Edward VI. or Queen Mary. The sixth period begins with Elizabeth, and after the middle of the centurv there comes a great revival, not in the 8 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND beauty, but in the use of brasses. For the first time the metal itself was manufactured in England, instead of being imported from Flanders and Germany ; but it was a distinctly inferior metal, and was cast, or more probably rolled, in thin plates, which have worn grievously. Armour is occasionally, but not often, shown, and the clergy appear in ordinary civil costume. Throughout the reign of James I. brasses are as numerous as before, and of the same type ; but there are only a few of later date, and those of an even greater inferiority. In the eighteenth century the ancient art dies out altogether. DIRECTIONS GIVEN IN EXISTING WILLS It sometimes happens that full directions for the preparing and laying down of brasses are to be found in existing wills. An interesting example, dated November 5, 1378, was com- municated to the Archceological Journal, vol. xv. pp. 268, 269, and has been quoted by Haines and others. It refers to the making of two brasses, of which the second still exists in the parish church of Bray, in Berkshire, A.D. 1378, to the memory of Sir John de Foxley and his two wives, who are represented in heraldic dresses, and standing upon a mutilated bracket, from which the canopies are now lost. He wills that his executors should cause to be prepared a marble slab for the tomb of his parents in the chapel of All Saints in the church of Bray, and that they should have the stone well furnished with effigies, inscription, etc., in metal, according to the ordering and opinion of his very reverend lord the Bishop of Winchester. A similar monument, the one now extant, was also to be prepared for himself. " Item, volo et ordino quod executores mei de bonis patris niei emant unum lapidem marmoreum pro tumulo dicti patris mei et matris mee in capella omnium sanctorum in ecclesia de Braye pre- dicta, et quod faciant dictum lapidem parari decanter cum ymagine, scriptura, etc., de metallo ; videlicet^ dicti patris mei in armis suis, et INTRODUCTORY 9 matris mee in armis pictis, videlicet, de armis dicti patris mei et matris mee predicte, et volo quod quoad ordinacionem dicti lapidis executores mei totaliter faciant juxta ordinacionem et consensum domini mei reverendissimi, domini Wyntoniensis Episcopi, " Item, volo et dispone quod predicti executores mei emant unum alium lapidem marmoreum sufficientem pro tumulo meo, cum sepultus fuero ; et quod dictum lapidem parari faciant cum scriptura et ymagine de metallo, videlicet, mei ipsius in armis meis, et uxoris mee defuncte ex parte dextra dicte ymaginis mee in armis pictis^ videlicet de armis meis et dicte uxoris mee ; et cum ymagine uxoris mee nunc viventis, in armis meis, ex parte sinistra dicte ymaginis mee." Passing to the middle of the sixteenth century, a further example may be given from the will of Thos. Salter, chantry priest of St. Nicholas Aeon, in the city of London. The will is dated August 31, and proved December 19, 1558. It is quoted by Mr. J. Challenor Smith, F.S.A,, in the Transactions of the Monumental Brass Society, vol. iv. p. 1 36. The testator desires to be buried " in our ladie chappell w"' in the parishe church of St. Magnus," and gives full directions for a brass to be laid down to his memory in the following words : — " I will haue a graye m(ar)ble stone leyd vpon my grave of the full length and bredth of my saide grave and before the said stone be layed vpon my grave I will that there be an image of a priest w' an albe and a vestment upon him graven in copper of a cunynge m(ar)bler that dwellithe in sancte Dunstons p(ar)ishe in the west agaynste the sowth syde of the churche and that the saide image be iii fote in length and that the saide image do holde in bothe his handes the similitude of a co(n)secrate ooste in a su(n)ne beame apearinge right aboue the chalice that the said image holdeth in bothe his handes vnder the saide su(n)ne beame and the eyes of the ymmage to be grauen cloosed together as all dead mens eyes ought so to be and a lyttle aboue the said ymages heade I will haue a rolle grauen in copper and ther sett and these wordes nexte followinge to be grauen in yt thus saying Miserere mei deus secundum magnam m(isericord)iam tuam And right and iust vnder the said ymages foote I will that ther be a large plate of copper lo THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND laied and made lyke a tablett of Antick fac(i)on And in the said tablet I will have theise wordes nexte following graven in it this sayinge In the grace and greate mercye of God here lyeth vnder this marble stone the bodie of Thomas Salter priest sometyme of London whiche departed from this tra{n)sytore liff vnto allmyghtie God vppon the day of the moneth and in the yere of our lord god MVLVIII he then being of thage iiii score yeres vnto whose sowle allmyghtie god be mercefill Amen And right vndre and nexte ioyned vnto the said copper plate I will haue graven in a skutchin of copper the Armes of the salters companye bycause I was in my youth one of the said companye and lyverey." In carrying out such directions as those just given, it would be usual for the engravers or tomb-makers to draw up and sign a formal contract or indenture for the work which was to be done. In the ArchcEological Journal, vol. viii. p. i86, an indenture of this kind is given, made in 1580 between the executors of Thos. Fermor, Esq., of Somerton, Oxon, and Richard and Gabriel Roiley, tomb-makers, of Burton-on-Trent. It is for an alabaster tomb, not a brass, but would do as well for the one as the other, and may be taken as a typical specimen. The contractors agree to make "a very faire decent and well p'portioned picture or portrature of a gentleman representing y'' said Thomas Fermor w"' furniture and ornamentes in armour, and about his necke a double cheyne of gold w"' creste and helmette under his head, w"' sword and dagger by his side, and a lion at his feete, and in or on the uttermoste parte of the uppermoste parte of the said Tumbe a decent and p'fect picture or portraiture of a faire gentle- woman w"* a Frenche-hood, edge and abiliment, w"' all other apparell furniture Jewells ornamentes and thinges in all respectes usuall, decent, and semely, for a gentlewoman." . . . Also " decent and usuall pictures of, or for, one sonne or {sic) two daughters of y" said Thomas Fermor w"' their severall names of Baptism over or under y^ said pictures, severally and orderly w* scutcheons in their handes, whereof y^ said sonne to be pictured in armour and as liveinge, and y" one of y" said daughters to be pictured in decent order and as liveinge, INTRODUCTORY ii and y^ other daughter to be pictured as dieinge in y*" cradle or swathes." . . . Also four shields with " trew armes" of the deceased and his two wives, and a Latin inscription given at full length. THE COST OF BRAS.SES The cost is frequently given, and varied very considerably. Twenty marks was the price allowed for the marble stone and life-sized brass effigies of Sir John de St. Ouintin and his two wives at Brandsburton, Yorks., 1397, but only one of the wives is represented. Ten pounds were bequeathed by Sir Thos. Ughtred, at about the same time, in 1398, for a marble stone to be inlaid " cum duabus ymaginibus patris mei et matris meae de laton, sculptis in armis meis et in armis de les Burdons, ad ponendum super sepulchrum domini Thomae Ughtred patris mei, et Willielmi filii mei, in ecclesia parochiali de Catton dictae Ebor. dioceseos." In 1405 Thos. Graa left 100 shillings "ad unum lapidem marmoreum super corpus meum ponendum cum imaginibus mei et Matildis nuper uxoris meae impressis." In 1 47 1 eight marks was sufficient for the brass of Sir John Curson and his lady at Bylaugh, Norfolk, consisting of two figures, about 3^ feet high, four shields, and an inscription. £6 Y^s. 4d. was bequeathed for the brass of Wm. Catisb}-, Esq., and his wife Margaret, in 1505, at Ashby St. Legers, Northants., in which they are represented in heraldic dresses under a fine double canopy. The brass figure of Robert Gosebourne, 1523, a priest in academicals, at St. Alphege, Canterbury, measures 27 inches, and has an inscription in six lines and four shields. Thi.s, with its marble stone, cost £4 los. A very late and extremely interesting account is copied by Mr. C. T. Davis, in the Transactions of the Mon. Brass Soc, vol. iii. p. 184, from an Inventory of Writs in the Burgh of Aberdeen, which gives the entire cost of the brass of Dr. Duncan Liddel, 161 3, mural in the Old or West Church 12 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND of that town. It is a large sheet of metal, measuring 5 feet 5 inches by 2 feet 1 1 inches, was engraved at Antwerp, and will be found more fully described in the chapter upon Foreign Workmanship (cf. illustration, p. 98). The metal was com- puted to weigh 219 lbs., and cost ;^3i os. 6d. The engraving came to ;^53 more, including a bounty of " 2 kinkins of salmond," valued at ;!^3. Expenses of transport, custom-house dues, etc., amounted to ^^37 15^-. ; but the bulk of it was for three voyages made to Antwerp on behalf of the executors. It was, therefore, an expensive brass, the total being ;^I2I 1 5i-. 6d., and an additional sum of ten Scotch pounds " for sinking the same in ye steane & Laying yroff to Alexander Wyisman." CHAPTER II BRASSES IN THE REIGNS OF THE TWO FIRST EDWARDS Edward I. 1272- 1307 Edward II. 1307-1327 IT is to be noted that when monumental brasses were first introduced into England, they were not in any sense copied from foreign examples, but were at once designed and engraved in a definitely English style, which maintained its own characteristics through all subsequent changes and developments. In Germany the earliest existing brasses are those of Bishop Iso von Wilpe, 123 1, and Bishop Otto de Brunswick, 1279, at Verden and Hildesheim, in Hanover. The figures are engraved upon rectangular plates of metal, and surrounded by border inscriptions, the Verden brass, however, being slightly wider at the head than at the foot. But the rect- angular arrangement is followed in almost all continental brasses, and the ground filled in usually with elaborate tabernacle and diaper work. In England the plan is altogether different. The ground- work is the actual gravestone, and figures, inscriptions, canopies, coats-of-arms, etc., are all let into separate casements until the design is complete. Leaving matrices out of account, there yet remain some twenty memorials of the first period, all well known, and 14 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND enumerated below. They include eleven figures of knights or gentlemen in armour, five priests and one archbishop, five ladies, of whom three are associated with their husbands, and one gentleman in civil dress. From this we may gather that the earlier brasses were chiefly military and ecclesiastical, and we shall find that these two classes will always claim a large share of- our attention. A little later the middle classes rose to greater prominence, and adopted the monumental brass as their own, to such a degree that these memorials bear a special witness to the history of the common life of England. It will now be necessary to give a complete list of the first twenty brasses in the order of their known or approximate dates : — Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey, 1277, Sir John Daubernoun. Trumpington, Cambs., 1289, Sir Roger de Trumpington. Buslingthorpe, Lines., circa 1290, Sir Richard de Boselyngthorpe. Croft, Lines., c. 1300, a man in armour. Acton, Suffolk, 1302, Sir Robert de Bures. Chartham, Kent, 1306, Sir Robert de Setvans. Trotton, Sussex, c. 13 10, Margarete de Camoys. Merton College, Oxford, c. 1310, Rich, de Hakebourne, priest. York Minster, 1315, Archbishop Wm. de Grenefeld. Pebmarsh, Essex, c. 1320, a knight of the Fitzralph family. Gorleston, Suffolk, c. 1320, a knight of the Bacon family. Cobham, Kent, c. 1320, Joan de Cobham. Woodchurch, Kent, c. 1320, Nichol de Gore, priest. Chinnor, Oxon., c. 1320, head of priest in cross. Kemsing, Kent, c. 1320, Thos. de Hop, priest. Wantage, Berks., c. 1320, a priest. Westley Waterless, Cambs., c. 1325, Sir John de Creke and wife. East Wickham, Kent, c. 1325, John de Bladigdone and wife. Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey, 1327, Sir John Daubernoun. Minster in Sheppey, Kent, c. 1330, Sir John de Northwode and wife. These early brasses are all of extreme importance, and will require to be dealt with at some length. THE TWO FIRST EDWARDS 15 Sir John Daubernoun the elder lies upon the pavement of the village church of Stoke d'Abernon, halfway between Kingston and Guildford, and is represented by a fine life-sized figure, measuring 68 inches from heels to head, with a total length of j6 inches. He is dressed in a complete suit of chain mail, of which the separate parts, hawberk, coif de mailles, and chausses, are not distinguishable. The gloves alone show a dividing line at the wrist. The knees are also protected by genouillieres, either of leather or metal, stamped or chased with a bold pattern, and single-pointed prick spurs are buckled round the ankles. Over the mail is worn a long linen surcoat, confined at the waist by a plain cord, and with the lower part open in front and exposing the knees. A small heater-shaped shield, charged with the wearer's arms, azure, a chevron or, is suspended upon the left shoulder by an ornamental guige or strap buckled on the right side. The cross-hilted sword, in a plain scabbard, is attached to a broad hip- belt in front of the body. In this brass alone a lance is placed on the knight's right arm, with a fringed pennon, charged, like the shield, with his heraldic chevron. Substantially this is the armour which had been worn during the past three centuries, and it is particularly fortunate to the student of brasses that his examples begin at such a time, on the eve of a long series of rapid and interesting changes, which end only with the total abandonment of armour. The linen surcoat was a recent addition ; the mail itself, SHi JOHN DAUBER- NOUN, 1277 STOKK D'ABERNON, SURREY i6 THE BRASSES OE ENGLAND worn over a padded and quilted gambeson, was the panoply of the Norman Conquest, the Crusades, and the Angevin Dominion. Changes were soon to come in the form of additional defences of leather and plate, but these are heralded only by the genouillieres attached to the knees. The development of armour is very clearly and sufficiently shown in the next half-score of examples. Their number, as compared with the stone effigies of the time, is no doubt small. It is, however, thoroughly representative. Each one has been illustrated, not once, but many times, and is therefore familiar to every student — an advantage not to be found when we enter upon succeeding periods. Sir John Daubernoun the elder, for instance, has been figured nearly twenty times, Sir Roger de Trumpington and Sir Robert de Bures at least ten times each, and the rest almost as often. All are life-size, or nearly so, with the exception of the two Lincolnshire examples, which are small demi-figures set in large stone slabs, and surrounded by border inscriptions in Lombardic capitals. No dates are given, and it is possible that the Buslingthorpe brass, which is of the earlier character of the two, may indeed precede even that of Sir John Dauber- noun, and take rank at the head of the entire list. Various dates have been suggested by different writers, from 1280, "or earlier," to 13 10. As the brass is here illustrated, not alone, but with the whole of its interesting coffin-shaped slab, it will be possible for the reader to judge for himself The form is certainly an early one, and can hardly be later than the year 1290. The small object in the hands of the knight appears to be a heart, and it will be noticed that a shield-of-arms was placed immediately below the demi-figure. The slab and brass were discovered buried in the year 1707, and are now reared against the south wall of the nave. Sir Richard is represented in hawberk and coif of chain-mail, gloves of very small, overlapping plates, like fish-scales, a surcoat, and plain ailettes upon the shoulders. The Croft brass is certainly later. SIR RICHARD DE BuSELYNGTHORPE, CIRCA I29O nusLiNGTHORri:, Lincolnshire i8 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND by perhaps about ten years, and is set in a full-sized slab of Purbeck marble, now much broken, upon the nave pavement. The lettering around the margin is very defaced, and there seem to have been evangelistic symbols at the corners. The knight wears banded instead of chain mail, and has no ailettes. The cross-legged effigy of Sir Roger de Trumpington is more important. Here we see again the above-mentioned and curious ailettes, being ornamental wings of fringed leather. They are in this instance, and usually, charged with the arms of the wearer. Here also we see, for the first time, the great helm, not worn upon the head, but used as a pillow. It seems to have been introduced only during the reign of Richard I., and was generally carried at the saddle bow, except at the moment of actual onset. Lest it should be dropped or struck off and lost, it was secured by a chain , which is seen fastened to the cord which girds Sir Roger's surcoat. His coat-of-arms, azure, criisiily and two trmnpets in pale or, appears no less than sev^en times — first upon the shield on his left arm, then on the ailettes, and four times on the scabbard of his sword. On the ailettes and scabbard it is differenced by a label of five points. The brass is let into a slab of Purbeck marble on an altar-tomb between the north aisle and a chapel on the north side of it, in Trumpington Church, which is close to Cambridge. Over the tomb rises an ogee arch of masonry, much enriched with semi-quatrefoils and foliage. It is known that in the year 1270 this knight assumed the cross and accompanied Prince Edward to the Holy Land. So far as can be ascer- tained, he is the only crusader who is commemorated by a monumental brass. Sir Robert de Bures, at Acton, the finest military figure in the entire list of the brasses of all periods, is distinguished by the excellent way in which all the details are carried out. The chain-mail is most carefully engraved, and the fringed surcoat is slightly gathered over the elaborate sword-belt, as well as confined at the waist by a cord. The hilt and pommel THE TWO FIRST EDWARDS 19 of the sword are highly decorative, but the distinguishing features, and those which show the development of costume, are to be found at and around the knees. Below the skirt of the mail hawberk are seen the gamboised, or padded and quilted trews, called " cuisseaux gamboisez," which cover the chausses from the knee upwards ; this garment, having its surface usually of silk, or other costly material, is here richly embroidered with the fleur-de-lys, and an ornament resembling in shape the Greek lyre, disposed alternately in lozenges, formed by the reticulation of silken cords. The handsome knee-pieces were probably made of " cuir-bouilli," or boiled leather. The shield resembles that of Sir Roger de Trump- ington, and is charged with the arms of De Bures. Ermine, on a chief indented sable, 3 lioncels rampant or. The inscrip- tion was in separate letters of brass, all of which are gone ; but where the stone has not been too much chipped and worn, they may still be deciphered. At least, the name, ROBERTVS DE BVERS, is legible, or was so in Cotman's time, and he gave or suggested the greater part of the rest : " Yci gyst Sir Robert de Buers . . . Qui pur I'alme prj-era . . . jours de pardon avera." The Chartham knight is bareheaded, with his coif de mailles thrown back, while his mail gloves hang down from his wrists and show the buttoned cuff's of his tunic sleeves beneath. Again the knees claim special attention, for here small scalloped plates are fastened to quilted cuisseaux, and the edge is seen of a haqueton, the padded garment worn under the hawberk. His shield and ailettes upon the shoulders are charged with the winnowing-fans from which he takes his name, and small fans are also embroidered upon his surcoat. The scabbard of his sword is wholly ornamented. It is curious to note that the engraving of the chain mail in this brass was never completed, except for a few inches at the right instep. The rest of the mail is sketched out, but not finished. It is possible that the proper cutting of all the SIR ROBERT DE SETVANS, I306 CHARTHAM, KENT THE TWO FIRST EDWARDS 21 little links proved too laborious and expensive a task. The grandfather of this knight, who died in 1249, was present with Richard I. at Acre ; but Sir Robert himself does not appear to have joined the crusade, though there is record of his having repeatedly performed good service to his sovereign at home. The last occasion was at the siege of Caerlaverock, in 1300, at which siege John de Northwode, whose brass is at Minster, received knighthood from Edward I. The king had made a raid over the Scotch border into Annandale and Galloway, with 2000 horse and 9000 foot, and Caerlaverock, just north of Solway Firth, held out against him for forty days, garrisoned by only eighty men, who at last were forced to surrender. It was a great occasion in the annals of chiv^alry. There is said to be a striking similarity in design and general treatment exhibited between the Chartham brass and a sculptured effigy in the Temple Church, probably that of William Lord de Ros, who died in 13 17 ; also with the effigy of Brian Lord Fitz-Alan, 1302, in Bedale Church, Yorkshire. The effigies at Pebmarsh, which is a small village near Halstead, and at Gorleston, on the Suffolk coast next to Yarmouth, take us into the reign of Edward IT, and have both been assigned to the approximate date of 1320. Both were originally ornamented with canopies, which have entirely disappeared, and both figures are mutilated, the latter having lost the lower part of the legs and of the feet. Indeed, in the year 18 10, the Gorleston brass had altogether gone, and was supposed to be irretrievably lost ; but at the sale of Mr. Craven Ord's curiosities — the Craven Ord whose collection of brass-prints is in the British Museum — it was purchased by John Gage, Esq., who with correct feeling and good taste gave it back to the church, and Dawson Turner, Esq., at his expense, had it replaced in its original position. It is v^ery uncertain for what individual the monument was intended. Arms are engraved upon the knight's shield, A bend lozeng)\ on a chief tzvo mullets of 6 points pierced. Taking the field 22 THE BRASSP:S of ENGLAND to be gules, the chief argent, and the mullets sable, these would be of the family of Bacon, if it were not for the bend lozengy, though it may have been merely added to the other bearings. It is also said that the feet once rested on a boar's head, which was the Bacon crest. There was also at one time a large companion slab, now destroyed, on which there had formerly been the brass Q^^y of a lady, with an inscription in separate letters round the edge. A few only were legible, but it seems to have commemorated a certain Joan Bacon. The beginnings of a great development now appear in the addition of pieces of plate armour. In course of time plate was entirely to take the place of the mail of the crusaders, but the change, like most other changes, was a gradual one. Both in the Pebmarsh and Gorleston brasses we find that the outsides of the upper and fore arms are protected by steel plates strapped over the mail, small elbow-pieces are also attached, and round plates are fastened in front of the shoulders and at the bend of the arms. Their technical names respectively are demi-brassarts, vambraces, coudieres, and palettes or roundels. Shin-plates are also found, called jambarts, and these are continued from the ankles by lames, or small plates riveted to one another, over the front of the feet, and thus forming mixed sollerets of mail and plate. The Pebmarsh example is the finer of the two, and here the genouillieres are particularly handsome, being engraved with a large rose and circle of leaves. The shield is rounded to the body, while that of the Gorleston knight is heater- shaped, and very small. Both are charged with the bearer's arms. The latter's mail is of the banded variety, and ailettes upon his shoulders appear for the last time. The Trumpington, Acton, Chartham, Pebmarsh, and Gorleston knights are all cross-legged, and the first of them is known to have proceeded to the Holy Land. Of the rest nothing can be said with certainty, and, as has been noted, the last two have not been positively identified. But the THE TWO FIRST EDWARDS 23 crossing of the legs need not indicate more than that the knight was a benefactor of the church, either by some conspicuous act of piety, such as going upon a pilgrimage or joining in crusade, or by a benefaction in church-building, or the foundation of a place or object of religion. The feet of all the figures, except the Gorleston knight, rest upon, or rather against, either a lion or a hound, and it must be remembered that they are in all cases supposed to be recumbent, as in the stone effigies of the period, and never standing, as sometimes happens at a much later date. Three more military brasses, at the close of the period, remain as the sole representatives of a still further develop- ment, and, indeed, of an almost distinct style, associated with the close of the reign of Edward II. Its most important feature is this, that the surcoat has been discarded, and its place taken by a garment called the cyclas, which is slit open at the sides, and much shorter at the front than behind. It thus displays the escalloped and fringed border of another body-covering, the gambeson, and below this the edge of the hawberk, and below this again the padded haqueton, a combination of dress, armour, and padding, which must have been exceedingly irksome to the wearer. The hands are bare, and the hawberk sleeves short and wide, disclosing the fore- arms entirely encased in vambraces of plate, underneath, instead of over, the mail. The upper arms and elbows have demi- brassarts and coudieres as before, over the mail. On the head appears for the first time a steel bascinet or cap-piece, which is fluted, and has at its apex a quatrefoil device, apparently intended for the attachment of a scarf or crest. All these changes are admirably depicted in the brasses of Sir John de Creke, at Westley Waterless, c. 1325, and of Sir John Daubernoun the younger, 1327, and may advan- tageously be compared with the stone effigies of John of Eltham, brother of Edward III., in Westminster Abbey, Sir John d'lfield, at Ifield, in Sussex, and Humphrey de Bohun, SIR JOHN DE CREKE AND HIS WIFE ALYNE, C. I325 WESTLEY WATERLESS, CAMBRIDGESHIRE THE TWO FIRST EDWARDS 25 Earl of Hereford and Constable of England, 1321, in Hereford Cathedral. Special attention is drawn to the illustration of the Westley Waterless brass, and its two slim and interesting figures. It lies in the south aisle of the nave, and once possessed a double canopy with ogee pediments, and a marginal inscription on narrow fillets of metal. Though the brass is commonly supposed to represent Sir John de Creke and his lady, the arms upon the shield, On a fess 3 lozenges vair, are said by Lysons not to be those of his family. The brass of Sir John de Northwode, at Minster, in Sheppey, differs a little from the others. His bascinet is pointed, but without fluting or device, and his forearms below the hawberk are protected by curious pieces of close-fitting scale-armour. His shield hangs at his left hip, instead of on his arm, and as this mode of wearing the shield appears to have been a characteristic of the knights of France, by whom it was termed " Ecu en cantiel," a French origin has been suggested for this particular bras.s. A remarkably fine t.^^y accoutred in the same way is now preserved, so Boutell says, in the royal catacombs at St. Denis : it commemorates Charles, Conte d'Etampes, who fell, in the thirtieth year of his age, at the Siege of Pincorain, in 1336. This knight, a prince of the blood royal of France, is armed completely in ring-mail ; his head is unhelmed, and his flowing hair is encircled by a wreath of roses ; the coif-de-mailles hangs loose about his neck, and the mail gloves also depend from the wrists, exactly as in the brass of Sir Robert de Setvans. The surcoat is long and plain, and girded about the waist by a narrow cincture. Over the hips is buckled a broad and rich sword-belt, and a long guige, corresponding with it in breadth and enrichment, crosses the right shoulder, and is attached to the shield, which is adjusted over the hilt of the sword precisely after the fashion exempli- fied in the brass at Minster. It is impossible not to be struck with the similarity in artistic treatment exhibited between this SIR JOHN DE NORTHWODE, C. 133O MINSTER, ISLE OF SHEPPEY THE TWO FIRST EDWARDS 27 fine effigy, the brasses at Chartham and Minster, and the sculptured figures in the Temple and at Bedale. The Minster brass has, however, been strangely treated. In or about the year 151 1, the legs and feet having been lost, new ones were engraved, with very incongruous effect. At the same time a strip was cut out of the middle to make the knight correspond in length with his lady, who now lies beside him. But this has been restored in modern times. The military brasses have necessarily occupied much of our attention during this early period, standing easily first, as they do, in date, numbers, and importance. The earliest lady is Margarete de Camoys, represented in her brass at Trotton, in Sussex, of which an illustration is given. In its -original condition the brass was a very fine one, for the stone slab shows matrices of a cusped and crocketed canopy with side shafts and pinnacles, eight shields of arms, and a border inscription in Lombardic characters ; there were also thirty-one small stars and other devices inserted at vacant spaces within and above the canopy. The life-sized figure of the lady alone remains. She wears a loose-fitting robe with short sleeves, showing below them the sleeves of her kirtle, tightly buttoned to the waist. Her head and neck are covered with a veil and wimple, which muffle her to the chin, and she has an ornamented fillet across the forehead, below which are two short side-curls. The nine small blank shields upon the robe were either separately inserted or made of coloured enamels. Joan de Cobham, c. 1320, is the next lady, and her dress, with the exception of the heraldic ornaments, is precisely the same. Her canopy remains, the earliest specimen known to be in existence in a monumental brass. Its arch takes the form of a demi-quatrefoil, with a straight-sided pediment, with open-leaf crockets and handsome finial. Side pinnacles rise from a pair of elegant and slender shafts. The effigies of Lady de Creke and Lady de North wode •«;>«u^«-^'*»j«5^"--»«^»-'«*-*«;*'«w*s.«*!B*aa*iiuilJiWitJiaiIn'nuiiifflMto(4i|>uriiiii.inmtnnuu.il9i|wmiii|iirjiHiP' SIR ROGER LE STRANGE, I506 HUNSTANTON, NORFOLK CHAPTER III THE GOLDEN AGE OF PLANTAGENET RULE Edward III. 1327-1377 Richard II. 1377- 1399 WE now approach the best period of brass-engraving, as indeed of many of the mediaeval arts ; for the reigns of Edward IIL and Richard IL form in many respects a golden age, in which the arts and crafts flourished to a degree unequalled in the earlier history of England. And yet we must not expect to find much material until after the country had recovered from the terrible ravages of the Black Death, which appeared first in 1348, and devastated the land in the following year. Green tells us that of the three or four millions who then formed the population of England, more than one-half were swept away in its repeated visitations. East Anglia suffered the most severely, and it is to the eastern counties that we look for the finest brasses. In the diocese of Norwich two-thirds of the parishes changed their incumbents, and work came almost to a standstill. But the recovery was quick, and the vigour of English life showed itself in the wide extension of commerce, in the rapid growth of the woollen trade, and the increase of manufactures after the settlement of Flemish weavers on the eastern coast. Wycliffe was an obscure young priest and Chaucer a London school-boy at the time of the Black Death, but few traces of that sad time appear in their writings. Indeed, it is a happy 46 GOLDEN AGE OF PLANTAGENET RULE 47 and prosperous England which appears in the Canterbury Tales. Almost every one of the thirty pilgrims who start in a May morning from the Tabard in Southwark may be illus- trated from the brasses of the time — the very perfect gentle knight, with his curly-headed squire beside him, and behind them the brown-faced yeoman, in his coat and hood of green ; the poor parson, threadbare, learned, and devout ; the portly person of the doctor of physic ; the busy serjeant-at-law, that ever seemed busier than he was ; the hollow-cheeked clerk of Oxford, with his love of books ; the merchant ; the frankelein, in whose house it snowed of meat and drink ; the buxom wife of Bath ; the broad-shouldered miller ; with the haberdasher, carpenter, weaver, and the like, each in the livery of his craft. Brasses now become representative of all classes. There are some forty-four clergy of all ranks assigned to the period. The first tradesman appears in the person of Nichole de Aumberdene, fishmonger, c. 1350, at Taplovv^, in Bucks., and he is followed by several of the great merchants who traded with Germany and the Low Countries, and whose brasses, engraved by foreign workmen, are amongst the most magnificent in Europe. The military brasses, however, claim our first attention ; and of these a little group of three mutilated examples stand alone to illustrate a period of rapid transition — Elsing, Norfolk, 1347, Sir Hugh Hastings. Wimbish, Essex, 1347, Sir John de Wantone. Bowers Gifford, Essex, 1348, Sir John Gififard. The first of these is a brass of extreme interest. Its general composition comprises an effigy beneath a canopy of elaborate richness, each side of which consisted of a series of four canopied niches enclosing as many armed figures. Three of these are now missing, as well as the apex and some other parts of the canopy, and the legs and feet of Sir Hugh 48 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND Hastings. The distinguishing cyclas of the last period has now been much shortened, and has a full skirt reaching only to the middle of the thighs, though it is still cut away at the sides. Upon it is embroidered the armorial maunche, or military sleeve, of Hastings, differenced with a label of three points, and this appears also on a small heater-shaped shield worn on the left arm, in both cases richly diapered. A sword- belt hangs loosely over the hips, with the sword on the left side, buckled in front. A hawberk of mail is worn below the cyclas, the haqueton showing at the wrists. Additional defences of plate are buckled upon the arms, demi-brassarts, and vambraces, with steel roundels below the shoulders and at the elbow-joints. A curiously rounded helmet or bascinet covers the head, with a raised visor attached, while a heavy gorget of plate encircles the neck. The genouillieres are armed with sharp spikes, and cuisses of pourpoint work appear for the first time upon the thighs. These were made usually of leather, cuir-bouilli, and studded with small circular plates of steel. From an old impression preserved in the British Museum it is known that the legs below the knee were encased in stockings of chain-mail, without further defence. The first small figure on the dexter side of the canopy represents King Edward HI. crowned, and displaying on his cyclas the arms of France and England quarterly, assumed in 1 341, but six years anterior to the date of the brass. Below him is Thomas de Beauchamp, in a bascinet with closed visor, like a bird's beak, and holding a lance with a pennon. On the other side are Henry Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster, bare- headed, and carrying his helm and crest, Ralph Lord Stafford, with closed visor, and Almeric Lord St. Amand, whose head- piece is very singular ; it appears to be the chapelle-de-fer, a ridged steel hat with broad rim, worn over the bascinet, and is the only specimen which has been noticed engraved on a brass ; indeed, the only other example in a monumental effigy at all occurs in one of the equestrian figures of Aymer de SIR HUGH HASTINGS, I347 ELSING, NORFOLK 50 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND Valence, on his tomb in Westminster Abbey. The figure of Roger Lord Grey of Ruthyn, long since lost from its place in the brass, is now preserved in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge. It occupied the lowest panel on the dexter side. In the upper compartment of the canopy, within an octo- foiled circle, is a warrior mounted upon a charger with voluminous trappings, trampling down and piercing with his lance a fiend. Probably this is intended for St. George. The brass at Wimbish is of less importance. A mutilated cross contains within its head the small figures of a knight and lady, the former of whom wears over his armour a skirted garment very like that of Sir Hugh Hastings, whom he resembles in most respects. He has a bascinet and camail with demi-brassarts and vambraces of plate, but his legs are armed partly in plate and partly in mail. Sir John Giffard has a suit of banded mail, with fewer pieces of plate ; but his linen coat, though somewhat full in the skirt, is much more like the jupon which was soon to be the distinguishing feature of knightly dress. His head is lost ; his shield, charged with six fleurs-de-lys, small and heater-shaped ; the haqueton appears for the last time. The Battle of Crecy was fought in 1346, that of Poitiers ten years later. In the interval there began a new style of armour, which continued for more than fifty years with hardly any variation, and of which a very large number of fine examples have survived. The hawberk of mail has shrunk to the proportions of a vest, and is seen only at the armpits and along its lower edge. The linen coat is discarded altogether, and in its place appears the leather jupon, a close-fitting tunic without sleeves, and finished with a border of escallops or other ornamental edging. It was sometimes quite plain, sometimes emblazoned with armorial bearings. Between hawberk and jupon a cuirass of steel was added, always hidden from view, but indicated by the shape of the figure and waist, especially GOLDEN AGE OF PLANTAGENET RULE 51 in stone or marble effigies. Upon the head was a sharply pointed steel bascinet, to which was laced a camail or tippet mm REGINALD DE MALYNS AND HIS TWO WIVES, I385 CHINNOK, OXFORDSHIRE of mail, fully protecting the neck and shoulders. The arms and legs were completely encased in plate armour, except 52 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND when studded pourpoint was used at the thighs ; so were the feet, save where a gusset of mail showed at the ankle, above the pointed sollerets. A broad belt, or bawdric, was now worn straight across the hips, with the sword attached to it upon the left side, and upon the right a long dagger, the famous misericorde. Most of these points, except the misericorde and the lower edge of the hawberk, are illustrated in the Chinnor brass figured above. The following is a complete list of the military figures of this period, nearly all being armed precisely in the manner described : — 'Cobham, Kent, 1354, Sir John de Cobham. Bodiam, Sussex, c. 1360, John Bodiham, small. •Aldborough, Yorks.^ c. 1360, Wm. de Aldeburgh, on bracket. Watton, Herts., 1361, Sir Philip Peletoot. Great Berkhamstead, Herts,, c. 1365, unknown. • Cobham, Kent, c. 1365, John de Cobham. „ „ 1367, Sir Thos. de Cobham. Methwold, Norfolk, 1367, Sir Adam de Clyfton. • Drayton Beauchamp, Bucks., 1368, Thos. Cheyne, Esq. • Aveley, Essex, 1370, Ralph de Knevyngton. • Chrishall, Essex, c. 1370, Sir John de la Pole and wife. Freshwater, Isle of Wight, c, 1370, unknown. • Broughton, Lines., c. 1370, Sir Henry Redford and wife. Harrow, Middlesex, c. 1370, Edm. Flambard, on bracket. Ticehurst, Sussex, c. 1370, John Wybarne, Esq. Shopland, Essex, 137 1, Thos. Stapel, Serj.-at-arms. Mereworth, Kent, 1371, Sir John de Mereworth. Bray, Berks., 1378, Sir John de Foxley and two wives. Calbourne, Isle of Wight, c. 1380, unknown. St. Michael's, St. Albans, Herts., c. 1380, unknown. Felbrigg, Norfolk, c. 1380, Roger de Felbrig and others. • Fletching, Sussex, c. 1380, a Dallingridge and wife. Clyffe Pypard, Wilts., c. 1380, a Quintin. Graveney, Kent, 1381, Rich, de Feversham. Horseheath, Cambs., 1382, Sir John de Argentine. \x THOMAS CHEYNE, ESQ., I36S DRAYTON BEAUCHAMP, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 54 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND Acton Burnell, Salop,, 1382, Lord Nich. Burnell. " Southacre, Norfolk, 1384, Sir John Harsyck and wife. • Chinnor, Oxon., 1385, Reginald de Malyns and two wives. Audley, Staffs., 1385, Sir Thos. de Audeley. Chinnor, Oxon., 1386, Esmoun de Malyns and wife. Rotherfield Grays, Oxon., 1387, Sir Robt. de Grey. Etchingham, Sussex, 1388, Sir Wm. de Echingham. Letheringham, Suffolk, 1389, Sir John de Wyngefeld. • Irnham, Lines., 1390, Sir Andrew Louttrell. Harrow, Middlesex, c. 1390, John Flambard. Strensham, Worcs., c. 1390, Robt. Russel. Reepham, Norfolk, 1391, Sir Wm. de Kerdeston and wife. Wootton-under-Edge, Glos., 1392, Thos. Lord Berkeley and wife. Chinnor, Oxon., 1392, John Cray, Esq. Wanlip, Leics., 1393, Sir Thos. Walsch and wife. Wood Ditton, Cambs., 1393, Hen. Englissh and wife. Sheldwich, Kent, 1394, Lord Rich. Atte Lese and wife. Draycot Cerne, Wilts., 1394, Sir Edw. Cerne and wife. Seal, Kent, 1395, Lord Wm. de Bryene. Brandsburton, Yorks., 1397, Sir John de St. Quintin and wife. Mere, Wilts., 1398, John Bettesthorne. Thomas Cheyne, Esq., 1368, who was shield-bearer to Edward IIL (cf. illustration), wears not only chausses but also jambarts of studded mail, arranged in bands, while a strange trimming of fringe and little bells is fastened below each knee. But the common type is almost invariable, to the degree of monotony, at this period. Graceful canopies, both single and double, frequently surround the figures, and wives accompany their husbands. Their dress also conforms to a definite type, and consists of a close-fitting kirtle, buttoned tightly from elbow to waist, and sometimes down the front, though without a waistband of any kind. Over this is worn a loose mantle, open in front, but held in position by a cord across the breast. Occasionally a third dress appears over the kirtle, and with or without the mantle. It has two distinct forms — a gown barely to be GOLDEN AGE OF PLANTAGENET RULE 55 distinguished from the kirtle, but with close sleeves terminating above the elbows, with long lappets hanging almost to the ground, or else the sideless cote-hardi, slit up at the sides of the skirt, edged with fur or other rich material at the openings, but entirely without sleeves or even sides as far as the hips. The former dress is well seen at Great Berkhamstead, Herts., 1356; Waterperry, Oxon., c. 1370; Necton, Norfolk, 1372; Bray, Berks., 1378, and the latter at Lingfield, Surrey, c. 1370 ; Ashford and Cobham, Kent, 1375 ; and Wanlip, Leics., 1393. A long overcoat occasionally takes the place of the mantle, with short sleeves, and buttoned all the way down to the feet. It is well exemplified in the two wives of Reginald de Malyns, c. 1380 (cf. illustration), at Chinnor, Oxon. The kirtle is sometimes worn quite alone, seemingly by unmarried ladies, as at Ouainton, Buck.s, c. 1360, and Stoke Fleming, Devon, 1391. Head-dresses are more variable, and since the hair is usually plaited and gathered into a net, are spoken of as reticulated. Often a lock is allowed to escape on either side, with the end twisted into a little ball and resting upon the shoulder. Various terms are used to distinguish the different forms. When the principal lines are wavy, it is nebule, or zigzag, as the case may be. When the network is more elaborate, and adorned with threads (of gold and silver) and studded with jewels, or enriched with a jewelled fillet, it is the crespine head-dress, over which a kerchief is sometimes carefully disposed. Widows wear a veil, with barbe and wimple, covering the whole of the head and neck. Examples of ladies pourtrayed alone are met with as follows : — Norbury, Staffs., c. 1350, unknown. Clifton Campville, Staffs., c. 1360, unknown. Quainton, Bucks., c. 1360, Joan Plessi. Winterbourne, Glos., c. 1370, unknown. Great Berkhamstead, Herts., c. 1370, unknown. 56 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND Waterperry, Oxon., c. 1370, Isabell Beaufo. Burford, Salop., c. 1370, Elizth. Esmon. Lingfield, Surrey, c. 1370, a Cobham. Necton, Norfolk, 1372, Ismayne Winston. Ashford, Kent, 1375, Elizth, Countess of Atholl. Cobham, Kent, 1375, Marg. Lady Cobham. „ „ 1380, Maud de Cobham. Barton-on-Humber, Lines., c. 1380, unknown. Necton, Norfolk, 1383, Philippa de Beauchampe. Stebbing, Essex, c. 1390, unknown. Watford, Herts., c. 1390, Marg. Holes. Gedney, Lines., c. 1390, unknown. Chinnor, Oxon., c. 1390, unknown. Spilsby, Lines., 1391, Margery Wyllughby. Cobham, Kent, 1395, Marg. Lady Cobham. ♦Westminster Abbey, 1399, Alianore de Bohun. The last-mentioned brass is of more importance than the rest. The lady commemorated was the Duchess of Gloucester, and widow of Thomas of Woodstock, the youngest son of Edward IIL Shakespeare has introduced her into the first act of Richard II., and puts into her mouth a sad farewell to Gaunt — "Desolate, desolate, will I hence, and die." Her heavy veil and wimple proclaim the widow, but she is honoured with a beautiful triple canopy (cf illustration), the shafts of which are hung with armorial shields, and the pediment and inscription adorned with her heraldic badge, the swan. Cross and bracket brasses, the great mercantile brasses of foreign workmanship, and ecclesiastical brasses, must be enumerated in separate chapters. There remain many civilian brasses of more or less importance, listed below — Upchurch, Kent, c. 1340, man and wife, demi. Great Berkhamstead, Herts., 1356, Rich. Torryngton and wife. Ashbury, Berks., c. 1360, John de Walden, demi. Sherborne St. John's, Hants., c. 1360, Raulin Brocas, and sister, demi. »^^^HO»lW< ', •;>Wt(»)??A^j - .-»Wl(»)H«flyA>WK%;><^ AUANORE DE BOHUN, DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER, I399 ST. EDMUND'S CHAPEL, WESTMINSTER ABBEY 58 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND Blickling, Norfolk, c. 1360, unknown (a bust only). Nuffield, Oxon., c. 1360, Beneit Engliss, demi. Shottesbrooke, Berks., c. 1370, a frankelein (with a priest). Graveney, Kent, c. 1370, John de Feversham and mother, demi. Hellesden, Norfolk, c. 1370, Rich, de Heylesdone and wife, demi. Deddington, Oxon., c. 1370, unknown, demi. Cheam, Surrey, c. 1370, a frankelein. Rusper, Sussex, c. 1370, John Kyggesforde and wife, demi. » King's Somborne, Hants., c. 1380, two civilians. St. Michael's, St. Alban's, Herts., c. 1380, John Pecok and wife. Felbrigg, Norfolk, c. 1380, Symond de Felbrig and wife. Lewknor, Oxon., c. 1380, John Alderburne, demi. Hampsthwaite, Yorks., c. 1380, unknown. Wimington, Beds., 139 1, John Curteys and wife. Stoke Fleming, Devon, 1391, John Corp and grand-daughter. Temple Church, Bristol, 1396, unknown. * Boston, Lines., 1398, Walter Pescod. In mere size these brasses cover a wide range, from the tiny bust at Blickling to the magnificent but now mutilated memorial of Walter Pescod and his wife, at Boston (cf illus- tration, p. 70), where under a square super-canopy lie separate triple canopies for each figure, with fourteen niches in the outer shafts. Such variation is in itself a proof that brasses were now coming into more general use, not only for the wealthy merchant, but for the comparatively poor tradesman. Not that the business of the person commemorated is yet often given in the inscription, a practice which was to come later. Yet we have seen that Nichole de Aumberdene (to be further mentioned under cross-brasses) was a fishmonger of London, while John Curteys was Mayor of the Wool Staple of Calais. Three kinds of civilian dress are to be noted at this time. Most of the small demi-figures show men in close tunics buttoned down the front, or with tippets upon their shoulders and hoods about their necks. For the most part they wear beards and shaggy hair. V. TWO CIVILIANS, C. 1380 king's SOMBORNE, HAMPSHIRE 6o THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND Richard Torryngton, a full-length figure of about 4 feet in height, wears a perfectly plain gown and hood, without so much as a button, and low-pointed slippers. He clasps his wife by the hand, and, like any knight, his feet rest against a lion. A similar gown appears to be worn by Richard de Heylesdone. The third and most imposing dress consisted of a long tunic, a hood, and a voluminous mantle buttoned on the right shoulder and thrown back over the left arm. From the girdle at the waist hung an anelace, a serviceable weapon, much longer than a dagger, and resembling a broad, short sword. The wearers of this dress are usually thought to have been frankeleins or freeholders, and are well exemplified in Symond de Felbrig, the two civilians at King's Somborne, and John Curteys the wool-stapler. John Corp, of Stoke Fleming, presents a remarkable variation, in that his mantle is buttoned halfway down the front, and his anelace worn outside it, hanging from a rich sword-belt depending from his right shoulder. APPENDIX Cast-metal Tombs The latten of which brasses were made was sometimes also used for the creation of cast-metal effigies, which form, perhaps, the grandest and most permanent class of English monuments in existence. They would doubtless have been prepared more frequently if it had not been for their extravagant cost, which precluded their use by any but royal or semi-royal personages. Thus the great tomb which Richard II. prepared in his lifetime, between the Confessor's Chapel and the South Ambulatory of Westminster Abbey, for himself and his first queen, Anne of Bohemia, is said to have cost ^6^0, a price equal to a present expenditure of ^^i 0,000. It is a superb work of art, a " brass " of the most exalted kind, and of the best period. Begun in CAST-METAL TOMBS 6i 1395, and finished about two years later, the names of the men who made it are carefully recorded. The marble-workers were Henry Yelverley and Stephen Lote, the '' copper-smiths," Nicholas Broker and Godfrey Prest, all of London. Parts of the indenture made between the king and the contractors are copied into a note in Haines' Manual, from Rymer's Fcedera^ tom. vii. pp. 797 and 798. The monument was to have " Deux Ymages de Coper & Laton Endorez, Coronez . . . une table du dit Metall Endorre, sur la quele les dites ymages seront jesauntz. la quele Table serra fait ovesque une Frette de Flour de Lys, Leons, Egles, Leopardes. . . . Et auxi serrount Tabernacles, appelles Hovels ove Gabletz de dit Metall En dorrez, as Testes, ove doubles Jambes a chescune partie. . . . Et auxi xii. Images du dit Metall endorrez, des diverses Seintz conterfaitz, ... & viii. Aungells entour la dite Tombe, Et auxi Escriptures d'estre gravez entour la dite Toumbe. . . . Et auxi serront tiels Escochons & bien proportionez du dit Metall Endorrez, Gravez & Anamalez de diverses Armes." It is extremely interesting to compare these directions with the actual work. The splendid gilt effigies of the king and queen lie side by side, and formerly hand in hand, until the arms were wantonly broken, under a canopy on which the Bohemian lion and the imperial two-headed eagle were painted by an artist named John Hardy. Upon both effigies badges are engraved, amongst them the white hart, and the broomscods of the Plantagenets. The Latin inscription round the verge of the tomb is of exactly the same character as those of some of the best brasses, and is of special interest, for it was inscribed in 1398, and probably represents Richard's own opinion of himself and of his queen. Anne's charity, her peace-making character, and her fair countenance, are specifically mentioned^ while Richard is compared to Homer, and described as true in speech and full of reason : — " -{- Prudens & mundus : Ricardus iure sccundus : Per fatum victus : iacet hie sub marmore pictus : verax sermone : fuit et plenus racione : Corpore procerus : animo prudens ut omerus : 62 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND Ecclie fault : elatos suppeditauit : Querimus prostrauit : regalia qui violauit . Obruit hcreticos : Sc eor' strauit amicos : O Clemens xpe : cui deuotus fuit iste : votis Baptiste : salues quern pretulit iste : + sub petra lata : nunc Anna iacet tumulata : Dum vixit mundo : Ricardo nupta secundo : xpo deuota : fuit hec factus bene nota : Pauperibus proua : Semp sua reddere dona : Jurgia sedauit : et pregnantes releuauit : Corpora formosa : Vultu miris speciosa : Prebens solamen : viduis egris medicamen : Anno Milleno : ter . C . quarto nonageno : Juni septeno : mensis migrauit ameno." This great tomb was probably, to some extent, modelled upon that of Edward III. next to it, where there is another superb gilt " brass " efifigy. In this case, however, no details or names of designers or workmen are known. The tomb is richly decorated with enamel, and had originally twelve gilt statuettes of Edward's children, of which six remain, upon the side overlooking the ambu- latory. They represent Edward the Black Prince, Joan of the Tower, Lionel Duke of Clarence, Edmund of Langley, Mary of Brittany, and William of Hatfield. On the opposite side of the chapel two other gilt effigies of cast metal are to be seen, both placed by Edward I. in memory respectively of Henry III. and of Queen Eleanor. Both were wrought in the year 1 291 by the Enghsh artificer Torel, who had set up his furnace, after r.KASS SIATUEITKS OK ElJ-MLNi-) l.ANGLKV, .MAK\ OK l!Kn'JA^■^ AND WILLIAM OF HATFIELD, FROM THK TOMH OF EDWARD IM WKSTMINSIKR AlUiKN CAST-METAL TOMBS 63 the manner of the itinerant bell-founders, in St. Margaret's church- yard. Of Queen Eleanor's effigy there were once duplicates in Lincoln Cathedral and in the Church of the Friars Preachers in Blackfriars, but the Westminster figure has alone survived. An interesting reminiscence, for so it seems, of the splendours of the Confessors Chapel, may be found in the Moiie Darthu?-, Book II. cap. xi. In a great battle " in the field afore the Castle Terrabil," Arthur had defeated and slain Lot of Orkney and twelve other kings, all of whom afterwards " were buried in the church of St. Stephen's in Camelot." " But of all these twelve kings, King Arthur let make the tomb of King Lot passing richly, and made his tomb by his own ; and then King Arthur let make twelve images of laton and copper, and over-gilt it with gold." Canterbury Cathedral possesses an effigy of the same type and of the first importance, for it is upon the tomb of Edward the Black Prince. His own directions for the monument, like those of his son Richard, are still extant in the register of Archbishop Sudbury at Lambeth, together with the inscription, which with very slight varia- tions was duly engraved in two lines about the verge of the tomb. ** Et paramont la tombe," he willed, " soit fait un tablement de latone suzorrez de largesse et longure de meisme la tombe, sur quel nouz volons qe un ymage d'overeigne levez de latoun suzorrez soit mys en memorial de nous, tout armez de fier de guerre de nous armez quartillez et le visage mie, eve notre heaume du leopard mys dessouz la teste del ymage. Et volons qc sur notre tombe en lieu ou len le purra plus clerement lire en veoir soit escript ce qe ensuit, en la manere qe sera mielz avis a noz executours : — ' Tu qe passez ove bouche close, par la ou cest corps repose Entent ce qe te dirray, sicome te dire la say, Tiel come tu es, Je au ciel fu, Tu seras tiel come Je su, De la mort ne pensay je mie, Tant come j'avoy la vie. En terre avoy grand richesse, dont Je y fys grand noblesse, Terre, mesons, et grand tresor, draps, chivalx, argent et or. Mes ore su je povres et cheitifs, perfond en la terre g)'s, Ma grand beaute est tout alee, Ma char est tout gastee. Moult est estroite ma meson, En moy na si verite non, Et si ore me veissez, Je ne quide pas qe vous deeisez, Qe j'eusse onqes horn este, si su je ore de tout changee. Pur Dieu pries au celestien Roy, qe mercy eit de I'arnie de moy. Tout cil qe pur moi prieront, ou a Dieu m'acorderont, Dieu les mette en sou parays, ou nul ne poet estre cheitifs.' 64 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND These lines were borrowed from an anonymous translation of the Clencalis Discipliiia of Petrus Alphonsus, composed between the years 1106 and mo; the French translation being of the thirteenth century, and entitled Castorement dhim Pcre d son Fits. The variations upon the tomb are given in Stothard's Mo7iumental Effigies. The prince's figure is in exact accordance with the will, of metal gilt, beautifully executed, and exhibiting him in his camail and bascinet, jupon emblazoned with armorial bearings, and the rest of the armour appropriate to the period. The lacing of the bascinet is very prominent, and it is surrounded by a jewelled coronet. Passing from the royal tombs of the Plantagenets, we find in the Beauchamp Chapel of the Church of St. Mary, at Warwick, another metal monument of the most splendid character, in memory of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. The chapel itself, which adjoins the choir on the south side, is of remarkable beauty, and was devised during his life by the earl, who afterwards expired in Normandy, at the Castle of Rouen, April 30, 1439, ^"^^ ^^'^^ brought with great pomp to Warwick. The executors of his will soon commenced the work entrusted to them, and laid the foundation of the chapel in 1443. The building of chapel and monument occupied twenty-one years, at a cost amounting to the large sum of ;^248i, an expenditure which would now be equivalent to something like ^^40,000. The monument consists of a high tomb of grey Purbeck marble, prepared by John Bourde, marbler, of Corff Castle, Dorset, and upon it a large plate, made, forged, and worked, " in most finest wise, and of the finest latten," by Wm. Austen, founder, and Thos. Stevyns, coppersmith, with two narrow plates to go round about the stone for the inscription. The plate was to be of the finest and thickest " cuUen " {i.e. Cologne) plate and all was to be gilt. Wm. Austen was also to cast fourteen images " embossed of lords and ladyes in divers vestures, called weepers, to stand in housings made about the tomb," and " an image of a man armed, of fine latten." Bartholomew Lambrespring, Dutchman, and goldsmith of London, covenanted to polish and make perfect the figures, and also to make fourteen " scutcheons of the finest latten." These and " the armes in them the said Bartholomew shall make, repaire, grave, gild, enamil, and puUish as well as possible/' and fasten up at 1 5 shillings a scutcheon. Besides the principal niches at the sides of the tomb, there are CAST-METAL TOMBS 65 eighteen smaller, with figures of angels, likewise cast in latten and gilt, and carrying scrolls in their hands, engraved, " Sit Deo laus et gloria defunctis misericordia." The weepers represent various personages of exalted rank allied to the earl, Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury ; Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset ; Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham ; John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury ; Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick ; George Neville, Lord Latimer ; Henry Beauchamp, afterwards Earl of Warwick ; and seven great ladies their wives. The figure of the earl was to be "garnished with certain ornaments, viz. : with sword and dagger ; with a garter ; with a helme & crest under his head ; and at his feet a bear musled ; and a griffon, perfectly made, of the finest latten, according to patterns, and layd on the tombe." There was also to be " an hearse to stand on the tombe, above and about the principall image that shall lye on the tombe, according to a pattern." All these directions were strictly carried out, and have resulted in what is perhaps the most perfect monumental effigy in existence. Every fastening, strap, buckle, or hinge of the armour is represented with scrupulous fideUty, not only on the front, but on the unseen back. It is, moreover, thought to be the faithful reproduction of a suit actually worn by the earl, the work of the celebrated con- temporary Milanese armourers, the Missaglias. The hearse, for holding a pall, is composed of six hoops of latten^ connected by five poles of the same metal, moulded at the ends. The inscription is in raised letters, passing twice round the verge of the tomb, and its words are interspersed with the Warwick badges of the bear and the ragged staff, the former occurring twenty-two times, the latter nineteen. It is written in English, and is of sufficient interest to be given in full. " Preieth devoutly for the Sowel Whom god assoille of one of the moost Worshipful Knightes in his dayes \ of monhode & conning Richard Beauchamp Late Eorl of Warrewik lord Despenser of Bergevenny & of mony other grete lordships whos body resteth here vnder this tumbe in a fulfeire vout of Stone set on the bare rooch thewhuch visited with longe siknes in the ] Castel of Roan therinne decessed ful cristenly the last day of April the yer of oure lord god A M | CCCCXXXIX he being at that tyme Lieutenant gcn'al and governer of the Roialme of Fraunce and of the Duchie of Normandie by sufficient Autorite of oure Sou'aigne lord F 66 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND the King Harry the VI thewhuch body with grete deliberacon' and ful worshipful condiut | Bi See And by lond Was broght to Warrewik the 1 1 II day of October the yer aboueseide and Was | leide with ful Solenne exequies in a feir chest made of Stone in this Chirche afore the west dore of this Chapel according to his last Wille And Testament therin to reste til this Chapel by him devised i' his lief were made Al thewhuche Chapel founded | On the Rooch |And alle the membres thereof his Executours dede fully make And Apparaille | By the Auctorite of his Seide last Wille And Testament And therafter By the same Auctorite Theydide Translate fful Worshipfully the seide Body into the vout aboueseide Honnred be god therfore." The early Renaissance is represented in metal tombs most conspicuously by the splendid monument to Henry VII. and his Queen, in the midst of his chapel at Westminster Abbey. For this he had left instructions with regard to every detail, and the heavy grille, which obscures any view of the tomb except from above, seems to have been begun before his death. The design, however, was altered from Gothic to Classic under the superin- tendence of the great Italian sculptor, Torrigiano, to whom are owing the wonderfully modelled effigies, the figures of angels, the reliefs of saints, and, in fact, all the decorations on the monument. It was apparently completed by 1518, as well as the effigy of the King's mother, Lady Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby, which is also of brass, and by the same hand. Her death took place in 1509, a few months after that of her son, and she rests in the south aisle of the chapel. CHAPTER IV ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT CANOPIES, BRACKETS, AND CROSSES CANOPIES.— l^he Decorated or Middle Gothic style of architecture prevailed in England throughout the whole of the fourteenth centur>^, and to this style belong some of the best canopies and ornaments found in brasses. Just as the earlier effigies are supposed to be recumbent, with pillows or helms at the head and animals at the feet, so are the canopies also supposed to be lying upon the ground, and not erect. In this particular they are copied from the numerous tombs of the previous century, where a similar arrangement is found, a low canopy of stone, often but a few inches above the level of the slab, surrounding the sculptured effigy. At the same time it is important to compare the details of these canopies with others in an erect position, such as those of niches, tabernacles, and shrines for images, and even of doorways, windows, and roof-gables. The beautiful crosses, adorned with niches and statues, and raised by Edward I. at all the places where the body of Queen Eleanor had rested on its way from Grantham, Lincolnshire, where she died, to Westminster Abbey, where she was buried, are usually reckoned as early examples of the Decorated style. On each side of the carved figures rise slender shafts supporting a graceful pediment, of which the upper sides are straight, in the form of a triangle, ornamented with a row of 67 68 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND crockets, and terminating in a bunch of foliage of considerable size. The lower arch is curved and pointed, with pierced cusps, which give it the form of a trefoil or cinquefoil, according to the number employed. The spandrel between the two arches is filled with foliage. The same form of canopy is found in early brasses, though only one example now remains, surrounding the figure of Joan de Cobham, Cobham, Kent, in c. 1320. The arch is here trefoiled, and the cusps filled with foliage. Slender shafts ^rise from small bases, and their foliated caps support somewhat heavy panelled and crocketed pinnacles. There are several matrices of canopies in the same style, such as those at Trotton, Sussex, c. 13 10 (cf. illustration, p. 28), and at Norton Disney, Lincolnshire, and Emneth, Norfolk, c. 1300, over the lost cross-legged effigies of Sir Wm. D'Iseni and Sir Adam de Hakebech. In the last-mentioned of these, which is, however, perhaps the earlier in date, the centre finial is wanting, and its place taken by a large and handsome tabernacle. But the straight-sided low canopy was quickly superseded by that of ogee shape, tapering to a great height, and sup- ported by equally tall or taller side shafts and pinnacles. These canopies are of great variety and beauty, and many noble examples are still extant. The Collegiate Church of Cobham, in Kent, for instance, exhibits no fewer than six ogee canopies of the fourteenth century alone, ranging from 1354 to 1395. These all belong to brasses of knights and ladies included in the lists upon pp. 52, 56. In every case the canopies are furnished with side shafts and pinnacles, between which and the centre finial are placed two shields of arms. The finials are gracefully foliated, and in two of the brasses, those of John " the Founder," c. 1365, and Dame Margaret, 1395, terminate in small representations of the Blessed Virgin and Child. The inscriptions in every case are in French, engraved upon plain and narrow bordered fillets, and of much ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT 69 interest. Thus the first John de Cobham is described as '* le cortays viaundour" — the courteous host — and the second as " foundeur de ceste place." Probably no other church in the world contains so fine a series as the nineteen brasses at Cobham. They lie for the most part upon the chancel pave- ment in their original slabs, and where fragments of canopies or margins were missing, they have been judiciously restored. The massing of so many and so elaborate brasses in one place is, at the present day, remarkable and unique. Other good examples of fourteenth-century canopies may be seen at Methwold, 1367, and Reepham, 1391, in Norfolk; Chrishall, c. 1370, in Essex; Acton Burnell, 1382, in Salop; Sheldwich, 1394, in Kent ; Mapledurham, 1395, in Oxon ; and Westminster Abbey, 1399 ; all enumerated on pp. 52, 54. The Duchess of Gloucester's (cf p. 56 and illustration) is particu- larly fine, with its triple pediment and its heraldic accessories. The Methwold brass {p. 52) was sold to a tinker in the year 1680, and broken into 130 pieces ready for the melting-pot ; but it was happily recovered, stored in the church chest, and 200 years afterwards, in 1888, fitted together and replaced in the church. Amongst ecclesiastical brasses that of Bishop Trilleck, 1360, at Hereford Cathedral (p. 112), which forms the frontis- piece of Haines' Manual, presents an early and very fine example of an embattled super-canopy above the ogee pediment, and supported by the side shafts. A similar arrangement is found at Cottingham, Yorkshire, 1383, in the brass of Nicholas de Louth, priest (p. 120). Canon Fulburne, 1 39 1 {p. 120), and Archbishop Waldeby (p. 107) also have fine single canopies of this period. Sometimes the side shafts are widened, and consist of a series of panels, each containing a saint within a canopied niche. These may be carried up beyond the principal arch to a super-canopy, also containing saints and angels. Durham Cathedral possesses a matrix of this type, commemorating 70 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND probably Lewis de Beaumont, Bishop, I3i7-i333- Measuring some 15 by 10 feet, the brass would have been the largest as well as one of the finest in the kingdom. A beautiful triple canopy, with straight-sided pediments, and with four open niches in each shaft, around the life-sized figure of the bishop, was surmounted by a super-canopy with five niches and clustered pinnacles of great elegance. Outside the whole were additional shafts, each with six more niches, and joined to the principal by graceful flying buttresses (cf. illustration, P- 314). A few years later, at Higham Ferrers, Northants., the brass of Laurence de St. Maur, rector, 1337 (cf illustration, p. loi), has shafts with six pairs of saints, and above the ogee arch a super-canopy of five compartments, of which the centre has itself an ogee pediment, while the rest are straight-sided. Still more elaborate is a fine canopy at Boston, Lincoln- shire, where Walter Pescod, merchant, 1 398, and formerly his wife, whose effigy is now lost, lie beneath a doubly-triple canopy, with super-canopy divided into two square-topped compartments with cusped round arches, and flanked by four pairs of saints in panelled niches. Erected upon and forming a continuation of the entire canopy there is an arcade of nine niches — from all but two of which the figures are lost — each with a cinquefoiled arch and ogee pediment, and the whole finished with an embattled cornice. The much mutilated brass of Bishop Waltham, 1395, in the Confessor Chapel at Westminster Abbey, has shaft-niches with double pediments, but only a few fragments remain of the fine embattled super-canopy and shafts, or of the three graceful pediments within. It sometimes happens that these embattled canopies occur without any ogee pediments within, a splendid example remain- ing, with saints in the panels of the shafts, at Balsham, in Cambridgeshire, 1462, to the memory of Dr. John Blodwell, Dean of St. Asaph. They may then perhaps be taken to \\A1.II-,K l'K.S( ()li. .\IKK( HAN I', l.«t«, BOSTON, LINCOLNSHIRE ARCHITFXTURAL ORNAMENT 71 represent the flat testoons of certain notable monuments, such as were erected over the tombs of Edward III. and Richard II. at Westminster, and Edward the Black Prince at Canterbury. In the fifteenth century the same style of ogee canopy is continued, nor is anything more graceful known than that of Prior Nelond, at Cowfold, Sussex, 1433, illustrated in Chapter VI, at the Appendix on the Religious Orders (p. 134). Here the centre of the three main pediments is itself triple, and its pinnacled shafts support a kind of tabernacle, in which is seated the Blessed Virgin with the Holy Child. The outer pediments have for their finials the figures of St. Pancras and St. Thomas of Canterbury. There are no other niches or saints, but secondary outer shafts appear, connected by arched entablatures and flying buttresses. The effect is delicate in the extreme, and suggests the lightness of the great lantern of Ely Cathedral. A similar canopy, though without the tripling of the centre pediment, is to be seen at St. Albans, commemorating Abbot John Stoke, 1451, though, unfortu- nately, it is sadly mutilated, and the abbot's figure entirely lost. Tabernacles supported by the ogee arch are also found at Cobham, Kent, in the fine brasses of Sir Reginald Braybrok, 1405, and Sir Nicholas Hawberk, 1407. Good canopies of the fifteenth century are found in many other places, Haines enumerating as many as ninety- three. Amongst the best are those at — Deerhurst, Glos., 1400. Double; cf. p. 174. South Ockendon, Essex, 1400. Gunby, Lines., c. 1400. Double, with shields; cf. p. 148. Balsham, Cambs., 1401. Triple; cf. p. 128. Dartford, Kent, 1402. Double; cf. p. 159. Bottesford, Leics., 1404. Triple; cf. p. 121. Checkendon, Oxen., 1404. Triple; cf. p. 179. Burgate, Suffolk, 1409. Double; cf. p. 148. 72 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND Great Tew, Oxon., c. 1410. Double; cf. p. 150. Kidderminster, Worcs., 1415. Triple; cf. p. 152. New College, Oxford, 14 17. Triple, with super-can.; cf. p. 112. Gunby, Lines., 14 19. Cf. p. 173. Lynwode, Lines., 1419. Double, with super-can.; cf. p. 167. Trotton, Sussex, 1419. Double, with super-can. ; cf. p. 145, Horley, Surrey, c. 1420. Cf. p. 157. Pulborough, Sussex, 1423. Cf. p. 122. Thruxton, Hants., c, 1425. Triple; cf. p. 151. Warbleton, Sussex, 1436. Cf. p. 122. Etchingham, Sussex, 1444. Triple, with shields; cf. p. 157. Okeover^ Staffs., 1447. Triple, with shields; cf. p. 267. Northleach, Glos., 1458. Cf. p. 169. Thornton, Bucks., 1472, Quadruple; cf. p. 184. Westminster Abbey, 1498. Triple; cf. p. 113. Towards the end of the century groining, hitherto a rare feature, begins commonly to appear beneath the soffit of the pediment, and the work becomes coarser as the influence of Perpendicular architecture makes itself felt. This is especially noticeable in the heaviness of the pinnacles, the form of the crockets and finials, and the bases of the shafts. In the sixteenth century, in the general debasement of brass-engraving, canopies are not often met with, and are still coarser and altogether less artistic, though they continue to follow the old lines. A few good examples occur, as at Cobham, Kent, 1506 (double); Hunstanton, Norfolk, 1506 (triple, with figures ; cf. illustration, p. 45) ; HilHngdon, Middle- sex, 1 509 (double ; cf. illustration, p. 224) ; Northleach, Glos., 1526 (double ; cf. p. 168) ; and Faversham, Kent, 1533 (double; cf. p. 232). Hereford Cathedral has a remarkable triple canopy in the brass of Dean Frowsetoure, 1529, in which the florid archi- tecture of the Renaissance entirely takes the place of the Gothic. After this time architectural ornament disappears, at least as a distinct feature in the composition of brasses. It is, ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT j^ however, true that architectural details are still to be found in many of the rectangular mural plates of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. But they are merely pictorial, and therefore of a totally different character. The whole of Carlisle Cathedral, and also of the front of Queen's College, Oxford, are sketched upon the brass of Bishop Robinson in his college chapel, in 1616; and other instances of the kind might be adduced. More doubtful cases are those of which the brass of Arch- deacon Honywode, 1522, in St. George's Chapel, Windsor (illustration, p. 219), is an early example. The depressed Tudor arch and its supporting shafts and pinnacles are very definitely introduced, yet nevertheless form but a part of the entire picture. Brackets. — In close connection with the architectural interest of canopies, we find that brackets were often used as a leading feature in the composition of certain brasses. Thus, bracket-brasses are generally considered to form a distinct class. In architecture a bracket is an ornamental projection from the face of a wall, usually to support a statue. A small column or pillar, with its base upon the ground, gives additional support, and a rich canopy above may enclose the figure in a species of tabernacle or shrine. Engraved brasses in this form are by no means common, but are occasionally met with, and are of considerable merit. In the most natural form the shrines would contain the figures of saints, while the persons commemorated would kneel below, and the whole composition would be considered to be erect, and not recumbent. Only two existing brasses, however, follow this most natural arrangement. One is at Upper Hardres, Kent, 1405, where a priest, John Strete, kneels below a bracket on which stand the figures of St. Peter and St. Paul, but there is no canopy. The other is at Burford, Oxon., 1437. Here the Blessed Virgin and Child occupied the place of honour, and are unhappily lost, together with the canopy above l')ir.ia(Fr-Q)ii5ilt )ol)ri =Mf tiuoDui Urttoi Inii tolTr qiu oliiit \ii.Dif ifiriiiiiiirn .f Dni lucfcci)' -rnC air.pnrr'Ds.M. JOHN STRETE, RECTOR, I4OS UPPER HARDRES, KENT ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT 75 them. The bracket remains, and on either side of its stem kneel John Spycer and his wife, commemorated by the brass. In every other instance the persons themselves stand upon the bracket, and no saints appear. The earlier examples are nearly all grievously mutilated, and of some of them only the merest fragments remain. Great Brington, Northants., c. 1340. Stem lost. Priest demi. North Mimms, Herts., c. 1360. Stem lost; of. Foreign Workm, p. 93. Clifton Campville, Staffs., c. 1360. Stem and canopy lost. Lady demi. Brandsburton, Yorks., 1364. Nearly all lost. Priest demi. West Hanney, Berks., c. 1370. Bracket lost. Priest. Harrow, Middlesex, c. 1370. Pediments of canopy. Man in arm. Bray, Berks., 1378. Sir John de Foxley and two wives. The Foxley brass, last mentioned, is the only one in anything like a perfect condition, though it has lost its canopy. A short column, its stem only 13 inches long, with a small architectural base, rises from the back of a fox, the family cognizance. Expanding from its upper moulding to the bracket, the head encloses a triangular spandrel in which are a quatrefoiled circle and three trefoils. The bracket is finished with a row of quatrefoils, upon which stand the three figures, in height 29 inches, a little less than the bracket and stem together, which measure 34 inches. While the ladies are erect, the knight incongruously appears to be recumbent, with a lion at his feet and his head pillowed on his helm and the fox-crest. The bracket brasses of the next century, with the exception of the first three, are all in a perfect or nearly perfect condition, and present several very pleasing examples. Brightlingsea, Essex, c. 1400. Much mutilated, with later figures. Boston, Lines., r. 1400. Stem lost. Canopy. Civilian and two wives. Ore, Sussex, c. 1400. Bracket lost. Double canopy. Civilian and wife. • Upper Hardres, Kent, 1405. Bracket and saints. Priest. 76 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND Southfleet, Kent, 1414. Bracket. Lady. Cotterstock, Northants., 1420. Bracket and canopy. Priest. Cobham, Kent, c. 1420. Bracket and triple canopy. Priest. Merton College, Oxford, c. 1420. Bracket and double canopy. Two priests. Gt. Harrowden, Northants., 1433. Two brackets below inscription. Burford, Oxon., 1437. Bracket and lost B.V.M. Civilian and wife. St. Laurence, Norwich, 1437. Bracket. Foot lost. Prior Langley. St. George Colegate, Norwich, 1472. Bracket. Civilian and wife. By far the finest of these are the Cotterstock, Cobham, and Merton College brasses, all of great elegance and beauty. In each case the stem rises from three or two steps, and at its expansion encloses an enriched spandrel. In each case, again, the figures are, as it were, enshrined within their canopies, of single, triple, or double pediments and pinnacled shafts. At Merton College a little tabernacle is placed at the foot, between the steps and the base of the column, containing the Lamb and Banner of St. John the Baptist, probably the patron saint of the two priests, John Bloxham and John Whytton. In the Cobham brass the rather heavy stem is a modern restora- tion. The Great Harrowden brass is peculiar ; it has two short brackets supporting the inscription, above which are the figures of William Harwedon, Esq., and his wife, from which the upper canopies are now lost. Four examples occur in the sixteenth century — Hunstanton, Norfolk, 1506, Sir Roger le Strange. St, John Maddermarket, Norwich^ 1524, John Terry and wife. „ „ „ 1525, John Marsham and wife. „ „ „ 1558, Robt.Rugge, Esq., and wife. They are quite peculiar, and of distinct types. In the first a very low but rich cusped bracket, without stem or foot, is placed within, not supporting, a large and elaborate canopy. It is illustrated on p. 45. In the Terry brass, again, there is no stem, and the bracket consists of a kind of tree, whose branches support separate pedestals for the husband, wife, and I'.uiwntainitjiiiri'j amm 'Mto iiuirnifii!o(nri|uiiuMiuniu m pUlillr'iltErinrbui!i(sriiin|iiiliiiiiIiiiiiin guci'iMbijuufOI Hiiini- r^ ■ O "> lolijuniR uioiluni ■■ loluiiiiistilinRi!]' JOHN BLOXHAM, B.D., AND JOHN WHYTTON, PRIESTS, C. I42O MERTON COLLEGE, OXFORD 78 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND groups of children, the whole forming a single plate. The Marsham bracket has a stem like the leg of a table, and its top is curiously strewn with skulls, bones, and worms, above the words, " Memento homo quia Morieris." The last example is a mere corbel attached to the lower side of the inscription. These Maddermarket brasses are all of local work, and curious in many respects. Crosses. — Cross-brasses, like brackets, form a class by them- selves. They were very frequently used, especially in the four- teenth century, in the memorials of ecclesiastics, and larg-e numbers of such brasses were destroyed by the Puritans in their strange animosity against all representations of the sacred symbol. Valuable stone matrices, from which every vestige of brass has been wantonly removed, frequently occur, as in Ely Cathedral, which once possessed a splendid series of almost unique type. About thirty examples remain in three clearly marked divisions. I. Floriated crosses with figures stand in the first place, in which a long, graceful stem, ornamented with two or three pairs of leaves, springs from steps, or from some symbolic animal, or from a simple bunch of foliage, and supports a quatrefoiled head with floriated terminations. The figure of the deceased person is placed within or upon the head. Examples are found at — ^ Merton College, Oxford, c. 13 lo, Rich, de Hakebourne, priest. Chinnor, Oxon., c. 1320, a priest. * Woodchurch, Kent, c. 1320, Nichol de Gore, priest. Newton-by-Geddington, Northants., 1400, John Mulsho and wife. Buxted, Sussex, 1408, Britell Avenel, priest. At Merton College everything is lost except part of the quatrefoil, upon which rests the fine demi-figure of the priest in eucharistic vestments. The whole indent, however, can clearly be seen upon the slab. At Chinnor the quatrefoil ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT 79 encloses the head only of the priest, and has floriated termi- nations ; the stem is lost. At Woodchurch, also (cf. illustration, p. 31), the stem is gone, though the remainder of the brass is in perfect condition. A small full-length figure in eucharistic vestments stands within a quatrefoiled circle, bearing the French inscription, " Mestre Nichol de Gore gist en ceste place Jhesu Crist prioms ore qe merci lui face." The points of the cross, it will be noticed, are formed by four bold fleurs-de-lys. At Newton, where the brass was carefully restored some years ago by the Messrs. Waller, we find the space within the quatre- foil occupied by the figure of St. Faith. She wears a martyr's crown, and stands with her left hand upon a sword, and her right holding a gridiron. The rest of the space is diapered with a pattern of small crosses, and inscribed with the words, " Sea Fides virgo & mr." The Buxted cross still retains its stem and a base of four steps. The head contains the priest at three-quarters length, and its quatrefoil, as at Newton, has a diapered background. 2. Octofoil crosses with figures in the head are more fully represented, and to this division the best and most interesting cross-brasses belong. They consist each of a series of eight ogee arches, alternately large and small, with finials of foliage, and surrounding the figures at full or half length. A long stem, sometimes plain, sometimes foliated, sometimes inscribed, rises from the usual steps or device. " East Wickham, Kent, c. 1325, John de Bladigdone and wife, demi. ^ Wimbish, Essex, 1347, Sir John de Wantone and wife. TaploWj Bucks., c. 1350, Nich. Aumberdene. Sparsholt, Berks., c. 1360, Wm. de Herlestone, priest. Merton College, Oxford, 1372, priest in civil dress. • Hildersham, Cambs., 1379, Robt. de Paris and wife. Hereford Cathedral, c. 1390, priest in cope. St. Michael's, St. Albans^ c. 1400, a civilian. Stone, Kent, 1408, John Lunibarde, priest. Cobham, Kent, 1447, John Gerye, priest; figure lost. 8o THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND The Taplow, Hildersham, and Stone crosses are all in very good condition, and at East Wickham the missing parts have been restored as a parish memorial of the jubilee of 1887. The rest are all badly mutilated, but retain their original matrices. The devices from which the stems sometimes spring are curious. Thus, Aumberdene, the " Fishmonger of London," has for his device a dolphin embowed naiant ; the Wimbish brass had an elephant, a badge of the Beaumont family ; and at Sparsholt there was either a shield or a heart. At Merton College the stem seems to have risen from a lion. At Hildersham (cf. illustration) the figures kneel on either side of the stem of the cross, each upon a shield of arms, while the head contains an excellent example of that symbol of the Holy Trinity in which the Almighty Father, in the form of a venerable man, is seated upon a throne and holds a crucifix between His knees ; the Holy Dove, usually depicted above the crucifix, is here omitted. Stem and finials are lost from the Hereford cross, the foot and finials from that at St. Albans, and the whole of the Cobham cross, except the inscribed stem, an architectural base, and part of one finial. 3. The third division consists of crosses without figures, few in number, but of great variety. Of the first in point of date, in Westminster Abbey, only a fragment of the plain stem remains, together with eight uncial letters set in the border of a coffin-shaped slab, of perhaps the end of the thir- teenth century. This fragment, with two pieces of red and white mosaic, inserted between the border and the cross, was preserved underneath a step in the Confessor Chapel, while the rest of the slab, exposed to constant wear, lost all its brass and mosaic and became hopelessly worn. The other crosses belong, for the most part, to a later period than those already enumerated — Grainthorpe, Lines., c. 1380, unknown. Higham Ferrers, Northants., 1400, Thos. Chichele and wife. ./ 1. ROBERT DE PARIS AND HIS WIFE ALIENORA, 1 379 HILDEKSHAM, CAMBRIDGESHIRK 82 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND Cassington, Oxon., 141 4, Sir Roger Cheyne. St. Mary's, Reading, 141 6, Wm. Baron. Chelsfield, Kent, 141 7, Robt. de Brun, priest. Bedding.ton, Surrey, 1425, Marg. Oliver. Broadwater, Sussex, 1445, Rich. Tooner, priest. St. Mary-le-Wigford, Lincoln, 1469, Wm. Horn. Pepperharrow, Surrey, 1487, Joan Brokes. Royston, Herts., c. 1500, unknown. Eversley, Hants., 1502, Rich. Pendilton. Sutton, Beds., 15 16, Thos. Burgoyne and wife. Hever^ Kent, c. 1520, Herward Bwllayen. Penshurst, Kent, c. 1520, Thos. Bwllayen. Floore, Northants., 1537, Alice Wyrley. At Grainthorpe the head is a quatrefoiled circle, with external cusps, enclosing a cross in the centre, and the base of the shaft rests on a rock placed in the. sea. At Higham Ferrers the arms of a Latin cross are enriched with a flowing pattern and terminate in the evangelistic symbols. Fleurs-de-lys are substituted at Cassington and Broadwater, the latter bear- ing also the words, " Sanguis xpi Salua me. Passio xpi Conforta me." A bleeding heart and the four wounds are represented upon the Royston cross, the nails upon that at Floore, which is small and drawn in perspective, upon a rock. Eversley has a unique arrangement of interlaced bands forming both cross and foot. Hever and Penshurst are very small and plain. The Chelsfield memorial is, or rather was, a small crucifix with the figures of St. Mary and St. John on either side, and two scrolls, each inscribed with the words, " Salus mea xpe est." Only the headless figure of St. Mary now survives, with the two scrolls, and the foot of the crucifix, upon a ground with Adam's skull, Jacob's thigh, and the jawbone of the ass, from which (by a misapprehension of the sacred text) there sprang a well of water to revive the spirit of Samson. The brass is the only representative of a type often used, but diligently eradicated by the Puritan iconoclasts. CHAPTER V FOREIGN WORKMANSHIP IN the continental parts of Northern Europe brass-engraving had, in the fourteenth century, arrived at a high pitch of excellence. The style, however, was altogether different to that of England. Rectangular plates were almost invariably used, and the whole surface was covered with engraving, after the manner of a picture. Any spaces which might occur between the outlines of figures, canopies, inscriptions, or other accessories were filled in with diaper work, and size was obtained by joining together a number of plates. The early brasses at Verden and Hildesheim have been already mentioned at the beginning of the second chapter (p. 13). The fourteenth century gives a number of magnificent compositions. Ringstead, in Denmark, has a splendid brass, measuring 9 feet 4 inches by 5 feet 6 inches, to King Eric Menved and Queen Ingeborg, dated 13 19, but almost certainly engraved thirty or forty years later, and probably at Lubeck. Schwerin in Mecklenberg, Stralsund in Pomerania, Lubeck, Thorn in Prussian Poland, also possess immense and beautiful brasses, ranging from 1347 to 1361. These and many others have been illustrated in A Book of Facsimiles of Monumental Brasses on the Continent of Europe, by the Rev. W. F. Creeny, a work of the greatest value. In the Low Countries, Ghent and Brussels have notable brasses of the fourteenth and Bruges of the fifteenth centuries. Most of these countries carried on trade and intercourse 84 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND with England, and foreign brasses were sometimes engraved as memorials for English people, and laid down in English churches. They form a separate and very interesting class, of which the eight following are referred to the fourteenth century : — King's Lynn, Norfolk, 1349, Adam de Walsokue and wife. St. Albans Abbey, c. 1360, Abbot Thos. Delamere. Wensley, Yorks., c. 1360, Simon de Wenslagh, priest. North Minims, Herts,, c. 1360, a priest. King's Lynn, Norfolk, 1364, Robt. Braunche and two wives. Aveley, Essex, 1370, Ralph de Knevyngton, in arm. (small). Newark, Notts., c. 1375, Alan Fleming. Topcliffe, Yorks., 1391, Thos. de Topclyffe and wife. These brasses are all described by Boutell, who devotes to them fifteen pages of letterpress and fourteen partial illustra- tions. He is convinced that they were all, except the small brass at Aveley, produced by one artist, " the Cellini of the four- teenth century," as Gough had already designated him. But this is possibly going too far. It is true that all have certain characteristics in common, the characteristics of their style and class. There are tivo leading groups, each of which un- doubtedly exhibits the influence of one master mind, and which must have been the handiwork of one workshop. Five great merchant princes, of England and of the Hanseatic League, are commemorated by as many huge brasses, so exactly alike in subject, arrangement, and in some of the most minute details, that of necessity they must have had a common origin. Geographically they lie far apart, Walsokne and Braunche in England ; John Chingenberg at St. Peter's, Lubeck, 1356 ; Albert Hovener at Stralsund, 1357 ; and Johannes von Zoest (and his wife) at Thorn, 1361. A third brass at King's Lynn of the same series is, unhappily, lost. Chingenberg's brass is much worn, and seems never to have been illustrated. The others may be minutely compared. In every one of them the diaper of the background is almost a ft! < O < 2 t: p o ^ -^ (U a Z c > g S ^ 2 -r " z c o < !> 2 f- Oi o mSKe^sssst& 86 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND precisely the same ; it is worked with peculiar trefoils, within which are strange but similar dragons ; the Walsokne brass at Lynn adds satyrs, mermaids, and animals, and has butterflies between the trefoils. The head of every figure of merchant or wife rests upon a cushion diapered in leaf pattern, and supported by two angels seated close to the shoulders. At the feet of each merchant a hairy man is seen struggling with a monster, usually in the form of a lion, except in the Braunche brass, where it is an eagle ; at Thorn a huntsman is added, \\'ho stabs the monster with a spear. Every lady has a lap- dog, and Margaret von Zoest a squirrel also, in the act of cracking a nut. The inscriptions, broken by not less than six quatrefoils, are in beautifully formed Lombardic characters at Lynn and Thorn, in early black letter at Stralsund. The outer margin is adorned with a pattern of alternately round and square shaped roses at Lynn and Stralsund, of foliage at Thorn. An especially interesting feature in all these brasses is that a long and narrow compartment is reserved beneath the principal figures, and filled with some pictorial scene or scenes. Thus at Stralsund is represented a deer hunt and a boar hunt. Beneath Adam de Walsokne a horseman is seen PICTORIAL COMPARTMENT BELOW THE FEET OF ADAM DE WALSOKNE, 1 349 king's LYNN carrying grist to the mill, and two serving-men bear their master in a litter over a stream ; beneath his wife are hunting scenes, the wild boar, the deer, and rabbits, while one of the FOREIGN WORKMANSHIP ^7 huntsmen fights with an outlaw. In the second Lynn brass the picture of a peacock feast is in its way famous, " a feast," Cotman quotes, " that for the splendour of the table and the company, the band of music, and the attendants, might pass for some grand anniversary celebrated in this wealthy town ; perhaps the feast of St. Margaret their patroness, on the fair day granted them by King John ; or perhaps the mayor's feast, when Braunche held that office, in 1349 or 1359. Among the delicacies of the splendid table one sees the peacock, that noble bird, the food of lovers and the meat of lords. Few dishes were in higher fashion, and there was scarce any royal or noble feast without it. The honour of serving it up was reserved for the ladies most distinguished by birth, rank, or beauty, one of whom, followed by others, and attended by music, brought it up in the gold or silver dish, and set it before LOWER SINISTER SECTION UF THE BRAUNCHE BRASS, WITH I'ART OF PEACOCK FEAST, MUCH WORN 88 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND the master of the house, or the guest most distinguished for his courtesy and valour." Here there are three peacocks, and a further conjecture is made that the feast may commemorate one given to King Edward III. when he and his court visited the town, which they did in the year 1344. At Thorn woodland pastimes are represented on one side, and on the other the feast of a hairy king, whose attendants stir a cauldron, roast a sucking-pig, and draw ale from a barrel. The hairy men here and at the feet of the merchants, both on the Continent and in England, seem to refer to the pagan savages who occupied the forests of Germany until a comparatively late period, and against whom the Christians carried on a long warfare of conversion or extermination. Superimposed upon the diapered ground there is in every case an exquisite canopy around and above the principal figures. In its upper compartments the naked soul of the deceased is seen carried upwards by angels, or deposited in the arms of the Heavenly Father, surrounded by angels with censers and musical instruments. The side shafts, and a central shaft also, if there are two principal figures, have niches in which are placed prophets and saints arranged in pairs, and the architectural details are very beautiful and very similar. The Walsokne brass exactly follows the continental examples ; the Braunche brass substitutes at the sides " weepers," men and women in civil costume, supposed to be friends or relations of the dead. The total number of figures of all kinds, including saints and angels, is prodigious ; the Stralsund brass has 35, Braunche 54, Walsokne 57, and Thorn 74. Nothing has yet been said of the principal figures. They all have a remarkable family likeness. The men wear tunics, gowns with half-sleeves and long lappets, tippets, and hoods. The ladies, kirtles which are invariably figured in patterns of fine foliage, and over them the sideless cote-hardi, which may, however, be hidden by the mantle, as it is in the two wives of FOREIGN WORKMANSHIP 89 UPPER DEXTER SECTION OF THE KRAUNCHE BRASS, WITH CANOPIES AND BORDERS Robert Braunche. So minute a comparison leads to a plain conclusion. All the brasses of this particular group must at least emanate from one school of engraving, one workshop, from designs made by one great Teutonic artist. The immense size and elaborate detail of these brasses makes it difficult to illustrate them in such a work as this. The Thorn brass measures 10 feet 4 inches by 5 feet 4 inches ; the Walsokne brass 9 feet 10 inches by 5 feet 8 inches ; the Stralsund brass 9 feet 4 inches by 4 feet 2 inches ; and the Braunche brass 8 feet 10 inches by 5 feet i inch. It has, therefore, been found possible only to give, on a very reduced scale, certain portions of the Braunche brass, which exhibit the heads, head-cushions, and arches of the canopies, and part of the base of the Walsokne brass, with the man and monster at Braunche's feet, the pictorial panels, and enough of the border and inscription to indicate its patterns and lettering. But there is another group, of ecclesiastical brasses, which 90 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND present nearly all the same characteristics, and which, again, unite England and the Baltic countries in the closest associa- tion. It consists of four brasses: (i) Bishops Ludolph and Heinrich de Bulowe, 1347 (in one brass), at Schwerin ; (2) Bishops Burchard de Serken and John de Mul, 1350, at Lubeck ; and (3) in England, Thomas Delamere, Abbot of St. Albans, who died in 1396, but whose brass was engraved in his lifetime, not later than 1360, and still beautifies his abbey church. To these should be added (4) the royal brass at Ringstead, near Copenhagen, to King Eric of Denmark and his queen Ingeborg. In all these we have again the same arrangement of prophets, saints, and angels in the glorious canopies, the same trefoils and grotesque dragons, and the same kind of Lombar- dic inscriptions, quatrefoils, and borders of round and square roses. The four bishops and the abbot are vested alike in eucharistic vestments, with jewelled mitres and pastoral staves, with the Agnus Dei in the heads. The butterflies be- tween the trefoils of the Walsokne brass at Lynn re- appear at Lubeck. Dragons lie at the feet of the ecclesiastics, lions and lapdogs beneath the king and queen. Head-cushions are omitted, and this PORTION OF DEXTER LADY IN THE liRAUNCHE BRASS, WITH WEEP- ERS, AND PART OF PEACOCK FEAST FOREIGN WORKMANSHIP 91 is the distinguishing feature of the group. Schwcrin and St. Albans are also without the pictorial compartment, but the royal brass has a boar hunt and a deer hunt, and Lubeck scenes from the lives of St. Nicholas and St. Eloy. In the ground diaper at Schwerin and Ringstead a geometrical design takes the place of the trefoil, though the same dragons are used. The St. Albans brass measures 9 feet 3 inches by 4 feet 4 inches, but is, nevertheless, the smallest of the group. It contains 22 figures, as against 46 at Schwerin, 6^ at Ring- stead, and 99 at Lubeck. These also must have come from the same school of engraving as the first series, and even from the same workshop, if not from the same hand. The Newark brass, another enormous work, measuring 9 feet 4 inches by 5 feet 7 inches, is dated 1361, but appears to have been engraved not earlier than 1375. It belongs to the same school, and was probably produced in the same workshop, but by a later hand. The background is composed of exactly the same trefoils and dragons ; there are the same angels supporting a diapered head-cushion, and the same hairy man struggling with a lion monster, as in all the other mercantile brasses. But important changes are introduced into the canopy. This, for the first time, is drawn in perspec- tive, and has lost in boldness. The central arch is differently arranged, and the diaper is not continued behind the pin- nacles, which pierce the line of the marginal inscription. Similar variations are found in the brass of Bishops Godfrey and Frederic de Bulowe at Schwerin, the latter of whom died in 1375. Their brass is the largest known, with a superficial area of d,6 square feet, viz. 1 3 feet 6 inches by 6 feet 5 inches. In the Newark brass there are hunting scenes in the pictorial compartment, but on a smaller scale than before. The inscrip- tion is in black letter, with a border of foliage on each side. The niches of the canopy shafts, instead of saints, contain " weepers," as in the Braunche brass. They are arranged in six pairs, men and women, in the costume of the period. The 92 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND whole of the brass, though complete, is unfortunately very much worn, and has been removed from its position on the floor of St. Mary Magdalene Church and placed high upon the wall. The figure of Alan Fleming, the merchant, is fine and bold, and resembles those of Adam de Walsokne and Robert Braunche. It is strange that the origin of such pre-eminent works of art should be so obscure. From whence did they come, and who were their designers and engravers .-* It is impossible to say with certainty. They have been persistently called " Flemish," but are unlike any brasses now existing in the Low Countries. " North German " is a better term, or perhaps " Teutonic." Strong probabilities, however, point to the city of Lubeck. Its citizens elected Eric of Denmark as their lord, and his brass at Ringstead is almost certainly proved to have issued from the same workshop as that of two of its bishops. Stral- sund is upon the Baltic coast, within easy reach of Lubeck by sea, and Schwerin, a few miles inland, lies between. The trading towns of the Baltic were nearly all of them connected by the Hanseatic League, and looked up to Lubeck as their commercial capital. Stralsund was an important member of the confederation. On the business of the league the family of Von Zoest is known to have migrated to Poland. This great Teutonic Hanse was founded by Lubeck and Hamburg in 1 266, in rivalry with the Hanse of Cologne, and was joined by all the towns of the Baltic trade. As early as 1 27 1 they had already founded an affiliated society at Lynn, and both there and at Boston, York, Hull, Norwich, Yarmouth, and Ipswich they subsequently built houses. The Flemish towns belonged to a totally distinct league, with Bruges and Ypres at their head, trading chiefly with London. The merchants of Lynn were, therefore, in special and direct communication with Lubeck, while Newark might be FOREIGN WORKMANSHIP 93 reached by way of Hull and the river Trent. It was Lubeck, we may surely say, which produced the finest brasses in the world, and from Lubeck — not Flanders — came those which we are fortunate enough to possess at Newark, St. Albans, and King's Lynn. The other foreign brasses of England of the period remain to be dealt with. Wensley, in Yorkshire, has the large and bold figure of a priest in eucharistic vestments, but without background or canopy. The execution is distinctly foreign, and in the style of the Lubeck engravers. The same familiarly grotesque dragons appear upon the rich embroidery, together with other details common to the brass of Abbot Delamere. A head-cushion and angels correspond with those of the great mercantile group. The brass must, therefore, be referred to a similar origin. It should be added that the feet rest upon two dogs, the hands are crossed, and a large covered chalice lies upon the breast. At North Mimms, near St. Albans, there is yet another brass of the same school and period, though from its general inferiority it is probably the production of a different hand. The small figure of a priest in eucharistic vestments, 27 inches high, is placed, without any background, within a canopy measuring about 3 feet 4 inches by 18 inches. In the upper compartment the soul appears in the Father's arms, and there are two angels with censers ; the side shafts contain six canopied niches, with six apostles. The whole of the detail is in the Lubeck style, and it is within the bounds of possi- bility that there may originally have been a background, which was cut away by the English workmen who inserted the brass into its stone slab, in order to make it conform more nearly to English ideas. The embroidery of the vestments is engraved in geometrical patterns of circles and quatrefoils, and a covered chalice is placed upon the breast, below the clasped hands. It is similar in shape to the Wensley example, but simpler. A crouching stag appears between the feet. 94 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND The entire composition rises from a small bracket (cf. p. 75), on which are engraved a coat of arms and two seated lions. There may also have been a stem and foot, but as the original slab is lost, this cannot now be ascertained. The brass has been reset, and is placed against the chancel wall. The Aveley brass is a very small one, 20 by 9 inches, and represents a man in armour beneath a canopy, with delicate tracery, but without subsidiary figures of any kind ; the back- ground is cross-hatched and not ornamented. The origin may be either German or Flemish, and in any case is different from those already described. A foot inscription is extended to a length of 19 inches, and is quite peculiar, in that in marking the exact date it gives the Sunday Letter of the Gregorian Calendar. " Hie iacet Radulphus de Kneuynton. Obitus idem die Jouis ante festu sci Nicholai Episcopi anno dnl millnio. CCC. LXX. iFa dmcal' f." The last words, of course, are abbreviated from "litera dominicalis." The brass at Topcliffe is also of a distinct type, and is almost certainly Flemish. It measures 5 feet 9 inches by 3 feet I inch, and represents, beneath a double canopy, the figures of a civilian and his wife, both attired in long tunics and mantles, and the former carrying an anelace at his right side. The groundwork is a diaper of flowing pattern, and there are head-cushions, each supported by an angel with out- spread wings ; souls, and angels playing upon musical instru- ments, appear in the canopy, which contains the usual niches, pinnacles, and rich tracery. The border inscription is in black letter, and is slightly mutilated. In or about the year i860 the brass was removed from its slab, and the reverse was discovered to be composed of plates of metal that had been previously used. One piece showed a portion of an earlier FOREIGN WORKMANSHIP 95 inscription in Lombardic capitals and in the Flemish vernacular, " bidt . voer . die . ziele . ," i.e. " Pray for the soul." The list of English fourteenth-century brasses of foreign workmanship is thus completed. There is also in the British Museum a small but beautiful fragment of another large quadrangular brass, obtained from some continental church by Mr. A. W. Pugin. The head of a bishop or abbot in a jewelled mitre is seen resting upon a diapered cushion, beneath a canopy with the Heavenly Father holding the soul, attended by angels and saints. The background is not diapered, and the general style resembles that of the little brass at North Mimms rather than of the great Lubeck plates. It will be well to enumerate here the few brasses of later periods, which are also of undoubted foreign workmanship : — All Saints, Nevvcastle-on-Tyne, 1429, Roger Thornton and wife. "St. Mary Quay, Ipswich, 1525, Thos. Pownder and wife. Fulham, Middlesex, 1529, Margaret Hornebolt. • All Hallows Barking, London, c. 1535, Andrew Evyngar and wife. St. Nicholas, Aberdeen, 1613, Duncan Liddel, M.D. In the brass of Roger Thornton we have another fine rectangular plate, measuring about 7 feet by 4 feet 4 inches. Of the principal figures, the husband wears a long gown buckled at the waist, an anelace hanging from his belt, and the wife a very plain kirtle mantle and veil. Both have collars fastened in front by four buttons. They completely fill the spaces between the side and centre pieces of the canopy, so that no groundwork can be seen. Saints and angels fill the niches, as in so many brasses already mentioned, and the canopy is drawn in perspective. Each soul is represented twice, carried upwards by angels, and also safely placed in the Father's arms. There are, again, diapered head-cushions supported by angels, a border inscription in black letter, and an outer fillet in leaf pattern. Below the figures are seven sons and seven daughters, each under a simple trefoiled canopy. THOMAS POWNDER, MERCHANT, AND HIS WIFE EMMA, 1525 ST. MARY QUAY, IPSWICH FOREIGN WORKMANSHIP 97 The total number of figures is ninety-two, and this is the last of the large brasses, as well as the only example in England of its century. Its origin is quite unknown, but it seems to be the work of German engravers. In some of its details, though not in general effect, it resembles the brass of the two knights, John and Gerard de Heere, 1398, formerly in the church of Heere, near St. Trond, a few miles from Liege, and now preserved in the Fine Art Museum of the Palais de Cinquentenaire at Brussels. The Ipswich and London brasses are both Flemish, and commemorate citizens of their respective towns, while both bear the arms of the Merchant Adventurers. Thos. Pownder was also Bayly of Ipswich, and Andrew Evyngar a member of the Salters Company. The father of the latter is known to have migrated from Brabant to the parish of All Hallows Barking, where he carried on the trade of brewer and beer- house keeper, and the son had a house in Antwerp. The Flemish form of his name was Wyngaerde. Both brasses are rectangular, though not of large size. Pownder's measures 45^ by 28 i inches, and Evyngar's only 34 by 23 inches. The former (cf illustration) has a good marginal inscription in English, with an outer fillet of foliage. In each case the merchant is accompanied by his wife and also his children, who are made to kneel or stand at their parents' feet. In the Evyngar brass there is no border, and the inscription is in raised letters at the foot. The canopies and backgrounds are in the luxuriant style of the Renaissance. Margaret Hornebolt, at Fulham, was the wife of Gerard, a celebrated painter, and was a native of Ghent. Her curious brass is also Flemish. It is a lozenge-shaped plate, and represents her as a half-effigy in a shroud, with angels holding the inscription. The solitary example of the seventeenth century is that of Dr. Duncan Liddel, in the Old or West Church of Aber- deen. It was engraved at Antwerp by one Caspar Bru}de- goms, of the Antwerp mint, under the directions of John H SVB SPEBEyViyERESVRRCCriONIS O DDVNCANI LIDDELl DbCT. g Z. MEDICI, QVEM VIRTVS NASCEN,, r^ TM EXCEPrr.RECGNDITA IN; ^ MEDICIN/I El OIVI\'IBVS PHILOSO,, PHl/E AC MATHESED^S PARTIBVS >!;: PERITIA NATVM EXCOLVIT, LI,, ' ■ BERAIJTAS SVPRA/EQVALES EX.. < VjVj DEBEr PVBLICVS MATHESEQS O ■j/aTm//vai,v/,T.^j > ACADEMl/t: SEX ALVMM.^<;>!-.£X X FAM A POSTHVMA .M ERITORVM PER1T.TVA TlSTISc^ sAniJ^Noaaaav siAiD I i3(jan*oi DUNCAN LIDDEL, M.D., 1613 OI-D CJIURCH, ABERDEEN FOREIGN WORKMANSHIP 99 Liddel, the doctor's brother, and is a little more than 5 feet in height. Half the space within the marginal inscription is occupied by a further eulogistic epitaph, in tall clear-cut Roman capitals. The upper half contains a pictorial repre- sentation of the doctor, who is seated writing at a table, surrounded by a variety of implements, with books and candle upon a side table, and more books upon a shelf close by. Two wholly foreign brasses are preserved in the South Kensington Museum, and are well worthy of attention, though they hardly come within the scope of the present work. The more important is a large Flemish plate, dated 1504, in memory of Sire Louis Corteville and Dame Colyne Van Caestre his wife, which, after finding its way from the ruined chapel of the Castle of Corteville, in Flanders, to a shop in Antwerp, was purchased and brought to the Jermyn Street Museum of Geology, and thence latterly to South Kensington, The other is a small and beautiful German brass, from Nippes, near Cologne, to Henry Oskens, precentor and canon, who died in 1535. From the Archiepiscopal Museum at Cologne, it came into the hands of a Paris dealer, who sold it to the South Kensington authorities. In addition to these complete brasses, there are a large number of fragments which have been reversed and the under surface used in the preparation of English brasses of later date, chiefly between the years 1540 and 1590. They are commonly spoken of as palimpsests. It often happens that by accident or design brasses are loosened or removed from their matrices, and in this way such fragments have been discovered. More than forty instances are known in which the reverse has once formed part of a foreign brass, and all of them have been carefully noted by Mr. Mill Stephenson in the Transactions of the Monumental Brass Society. As an account and lists of these brasses will be found in Chapter X., pp. 257-264, it is unnecessary to enter into further particulars here. CHAPTER VI THE MEDIAEVAL CLERGY OF ENGLAND WHEN brasses first began to be used in the thirteenth century, the principal vestments worn by the clergy of the Western Church had already been absolutel}- fixed for at least four hundred years. It is therefore un- necessary here to trace either their origin or their early development. Nor can we divide ecclesiastical brasses into those periods which are suggested by the changing fashions of armour and civil dress, for the vestments remain the same until the end of the reign of Henry VIII. and the general disintegration of the Reformation movement. The date of an ecclesiastical brass which has lost its inscription can there- fore be assigned only by minute variations in the style of the engraving, or by slight changes in the patterns of embroideries, and by other indications which experience will dictate. For example, long and flowing hair, particularly when it appears curling in profusion behind the ears, is a special characteristic of the earliest ecclesiastical brasses. In the fifteenth century it becomes less and less flowing, and in the Tudor period is represented as quite straight. Again, in the earlier brasses the vestments appear to fit close to the person, as made of fine materials ; the drapery is expressed with much grace- fulness ; the lines are boldly and deeply cut, and there is no shading, except in a few touches where the folds ter- minate. In later brasses all these peculiarities will be found lOO LAURENCE DE ST. MAUR. RECTOR, 1:3:37, HIGHAM FERRERS, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE MEDI/EVAL CLERGY OF ENGLAND loi to have undergone a decided change, and the differences are often conspicuously marked. The illustration given is of the fine brass of Laurence de St. Maur ("laurcci' de sco Muiro"), 1337, upon an altar tomb in the church of Higham Ferrers, Northants. The central panel of the canopy contains the Heavenly Father, the soul, and two angels, flanked by St. Peter and St. Paul, St. Andrew and St. Thomas ; the four evangelists occupy the corner panels of the shafts, and the other figures are St. Gabriel (with probably the Blessed Virgin opposite to complete an Annunciation), St. John the Baptist (and perhaps St. Mar}^ Magdalene), St. Stephen (and almost certainly St. Laurence), the Abbot St. Maur and St. Christopher, whose bare feet stand in the river with a fish. The two dogs quarrelling over a bone below the priest are probably unique. The whole brass measures 8 feet 3 inches by 3 feet 5 inches, and though it was wholly prepared for the priest himself, }'et the tomb may have been intended for some one else, perhaps an Earl of Lancaster. Stone escutcheons on the sides bear " England," and the figure does not fit its matrix with absolute accurac}'. About four hundred and fifty ecclesiastical brasses still remain in England, the great majority consisting of priests in eucharistic, processional, or choir vestments. Of these the most important and numerous, though not generally the most imposing, are the brasses which illustrate the vestments worn at the celebration of the Holy Eucharist or Mass. These were the alb, amice, stole, maniple, and, most important of all, the chasuble. They are figured in more than two hundred examples, and may be examined in the figure just given. The alb was almost invariably made of white linen, and was a long, rather close-fitting garment, with narrow sleeves, and confined at the waist by a girdle or band. Other materials, and even colours, sometimes appear in the old inventories, as, for instance, twenty silk albs at Westminster Abbe>- in 1 388, twent}- red albs for Passion Week, fort>- blue albs " of divers I02 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND sorts," and seven albs called Ferial black, at Peterborough, 1539, or "One olde aulbe of whyte velvyt" at St. Martin's, Dover, in 1536. But the ordinary material was linen and the colour white. In the periods covered by brasses, albs were universally ornamented with pieces of embroidery called apparels, sewn on to various parts of the vestment. Two of these were placed upon the sleeves, at first often encircling the arms like cuffs, but afterwards reduced to small square patches on the other side. A much larger piece, rectangular in shape, was fastened at the foot of the alb, touching, or a little above, the lower hem. These appear in all the brasses. Other similar apparels, not visible, were placed at the back and breast, and behind the skirt. They could usually be removed when the alb was washed. TJie amice encircled the neck. It was in reality a large kerchief with an apparel of embroidered work along one of its sides, and fastened by long strings over the breast and round the body. When it was in position, the apparel was turned down like a collar, and was so far open as to leave the throat of the wearer exposed. The material was linen. Alb, girdle, and amice formed also the conventional dress of angels, and will thus be found on brasses. In the evangelistic symbols, so frequently introduced at the corners of marginal inscriptions, St. Matthew is always represented by an angel in this attire. So also where angels support the head-cushions of recumbent figures, or occur in canopies. The stole was a narrow band, usually embroidered through- out its entire length, and longer than the stole of modern use. It hung from the neck and was crossed over the breast, being held in position by the girdle of the alb. The ends were often widened, or terminated in a small square compartment, and were furnished with a fringe. Only the ends are seen in brasses, except in a very few instances. One of these is at Sudborough, Northants., where the small figure of John MEDly^VAL CLERGY OF ENGLAND 103 West, chaplain, is included in the brass of his parents, William and Joan West, 1415, and appears without his chasuble ; others are at Horsham, Sussex, c. 1430, and Upwell, Norfolk, 1435, in the brasses of priests who wear a cope instead of a chasuble over the other eucharistic vestments. TJie maniple was a short piece of embroidered work, with fringed ends like those of a stole, and commonly of the same width and pattern. It was worn over the left arm, hooked or buttoned to the sleeve, or caught together so that the upper part formed a loop, as in the brass of Richard Brodewey, rector of Purse Caundle, Dorset, in 1536. The chasuble was put on over the other vestments, and in English brasses almost always takes the form of a pointed oval, or " vesica piscis," with an aperture in the middle for the head to pass through, but wide enough to show the whole of the apparel of the amice. It hung down over the front and back of the wearer to some distance, and covered the upper part of the arms, though not sufficiently so to interfere with their free action. In a large number of examples the chasuble is quite plain. In many others its hem is ornamented with braid, narrow and simple, or wide and enriched with a pattern of flowers or geometrical figures recurring at regular intervals. Occasionally there is a central orphrey, as it is called, though less often on the chasubles of parish priests than on the richer vestments of bishops and other dignitaries. This orphrey was usually a broad pillar of embroidery on the front, denominated a pectoral, and corresponding with a dorsal at the back. It can be seen in the illustration of the brass of Abbot Estney on p. 113. In the richest examples, as in the foreign work of St. Albans and Wensley, there are side branches which passed over the shoulders, and were called humeral orphreys. When the upper part of the pillar was omitted, as was often the case, the ornament is seen to be in the shape of a Y, and closely resembles the pall of an archbishop. In a few late instances the ground of the chasuble was itself diapered with some rich I04 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND pattern. Its material was always the best that could be procured, as of silk, velvet, or cloth of gold. Thus at Lincoln, in 1536, there was "a Chesable of rede cloth of gold w' orfreys before and behind sett w* perles blew white and rede w^ plaits of gold enamelled ; " another " of Rede velvett w'' kateryn wheils of gold ; " another " of Rede sylk browdered w* falcons and leopardes of gold ; " another " of whyte damaske browdered w*^ flowers of gold ; " and another " of purpur satten lynyd w^ blew bukerham havyng dyverse scripturs." The following list is a selection of perfect or nearly perfect examples of priests in the eucharistic vestments as described above. Demi-figures, which are fairly numerous, as well as mutilated figures, have been purposely omitted. So have most of those small figures which are less than 18 inches in height, and of which there are a considerable number. Indeed, the average size of these brasses is less than that of any other class, and there are few above 3 feet. Higham Ferrers, Horsmonden, Wensley, Northfleet, and Hoo St. Werburgh, are exceptions to the general rule, and the two first are also enriched with canopies, another rare feature in the section. • Higham Ferrers, Northants., 1337, Laurence de St. Maur. Horsmonden, Kent, c. 1340, John de Grovehurst. Sparsholt, Berks., c. 1360, Wm. de Herleston. North Mimms, Herts., c. 1360, unknown, with chalice. Brundish, Suffolk, c. 1360, Esmound de Burnedissh. Wensley, Yorks., r. 1360, Simon de Wenslagh, with chalice. Shottesbrooke, Berks., c. 1370, unknoAvn. Stoke-in-Teignhead, Devon, c. 1370, unknown. Crondall, Hants,, c. 1370, unknown. Althorpe, Lines., c. 1370, Wm. de Lound. Hayes, Middlesex, c. 1370, Robt. Levee. Northfleet, Kent, 1375, Peter de Lacy. Beachamwell St. Mary, Norfolk, c. 1385, unknown. Great Amwell, Herts., c. 1400, unknown. Stanford-on-Soar, Leics., f. 1400, unknown, with chalice. West Wickham, Kent, 1407, Wm. de Thorp. MEDIy^VAL CLERGY OF ENGLAND 105 Emberton, Bucks., c. 141 o, John Mordon. Hoo St. Werburgh, Kent, 141 2, Rich. Bayly. Shere, Surrey, 141 2, Robt. Scarclyf. Haddenham, Bucks., c. 1420, unknown. Little Easton, Essex, c. 1420, Robt. Fyn. St. Nicholas, Warwick, 1424, Robt. Willardsey. Woodford-cum-Membris, Northants., c. 1425, Nich. Stafford. Milton Keynes, Bucks., 1427, Adam Babyngton. Iden, Sussex, 1427, Robt. Seller. Bainton, Yorks., 1429, Roger Godeale, with chalice. Battle, Sussex, c. 1430, Robt. Clere. Monks Risborough, Bucks., 1431, Robt. Blundell. Puttenham, Surrey, 143 1, Edw. Cranford. Great Bromley, Essex, 1432, Wm. Bischopton. Yelden, Beds., 1434, John Heyne. Little Wittenham, Berks., 1433, John Churmound. Tansor, Northants., 1440, John Colt. Polstead, Suftblk, c. 1440, unknown. Arundel, Sussex, 1445, John Baker. Willian, Herts., 1446, Rich. Goldon, with heart. Turweston, Bucks., c. 1450, unknown. Tattershall, Lines., 1456, AV'm. Moor. Whitchurch, Oxon., 1456, Roger Gery, with chalice. St. Peter's, Bristol, 1461, Robt. Lond, with chalice. Wood Balling, Norfolk, 1465, Robt. Dockyng. Lingfield, Surrey, 1469, John Swetecok. Broxbourne, Herts., c. 1470, unknown. Letchworth, Herts., 1475, Thos. Wyrley, with heart. Fulbourn, Cambs., 1477, Gulfrid Bysschop. Cirencester, Glos., 1478, Ralph Parsons, with chalice. West Harling, Norfolk, 1479, Ralph Fuloflove. Childrey, Berks., c. 1480, unknown. Laindon, Essex, c. 1480, unknown, with chalice. Sharington, Norfolk, i486, John Botolff. St. Ethelred, Norwich, 1487, Roger Clerk. Childrey, Berks., c. 1490, unknown, with chalice. Hitchendon, Bucks., 1493, Robt. Thurloe. Blewbury, Berks., 1496, John Balam. St. John's, Stamford, Lines., 1497, Hen. Sergeaunt. io6 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND Higham Ferrers, Northants., 1498, Hen. Denton, with chalice. Great Musgrave, Westd., 1500, Thos. Ouds, small. Lingfield, Surrey, 1503, John Knoyll. Campsey Ash, Suffolk, 1504, Alex. IngUsshe, with chalice. Fladbury, Worcs., 1504, Wm. Plewme, small. Houghton Regis, Beds., 1506, Wm, Walley. Brightwell, Berks.^, 1507, John Scolfifyld, with chalice. Soulderne, Oxon., 1508, Thos. Warner. Aldbourne, Wilts., 1508, Hen. Frekylton, small. Wimington, Beds., c. 15 10, John Stokys, with chalice. Ashover, Derbys., c. 15 10, unknown. Littlebury, Essex, c. 15 10, unknown, with chalice. Great Greenford, Middlesex, c. 15 15, Thos. Symons. St. Cross, Winchester, Hants., 1518, Thos. Lawne. Clothall, Herts., 15 19, John Wryght, with chalice. Tattershall, Lines., 15 19, Wm. Symson. Great Addington, Northants., 15 19, John Bloxham, with chalice. Stanton Harcourt, Oxon., 15 19, Hen. Dodschone. Latton, Essex, c. 1520, unknown, with chalice. Hickling, Notts., 152 1, Ralph Babyngton, with chalice. Great Rollright, Oxon., 1522, Jas. Batersby, with chalice. Birchington, Kent, 1523, John Heynys, with chalice. Totternhoe, Beds., 1524, John Warwickhyll, with chalice. Evershot, Dorset, 1524, Wm. Grey, with chalice. Bettws, Montgy., 153 1, John ap Meredyth, with chalice. Betchworth, Surrey, 1533, Wm. Wardysworth, with chalice. Eton College, Bucks,, 1535, Wm, Horman, with chalice, Wyvenhoe, Essex, 1535, Thos. Westeley, small, with chalice. Purse Caundle, Dorset, 1536, Rich, Brodewey, small, Chalfont St, Peter, Bucks., 1545, Robt. Hanson, small. In a few brasses, chiefly by inferior local engravers, the stole, or maniple, or both, are sometimes omitted, probably through ignorance or carelessness. Examples, almost all poor, occur at Dronfield, Derbys., 1399; Clothall, Herts., 1404; Blisland, Cornwall, 1410 ; Newton Bromshold, Northants., 1426 ; Great Ringstead, Norfolk, 1485 ; Walton-on-Trent, Derbys., c. 1490 ; Sparham, Norfolk, c. 1490 ; Coleshill, g te^aa»WiiiiMii iiiii.iiiii iiiiiiiLiaiiii»mmawBaaimmii ||i| s B :t.»^--rj i' lTr".^. -i^ ii^^ ROBERT UK WALDEBY, S.T.I)., ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, I397 ST. Edmund's chai'el, Westminster aubey io8 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND Warvvs., 1500; Blockley, Worcs., c. 1500; West Lynn, Norfolk, 1503; Laindon, Essex, c. 15 10; Wiveton, Norfolk, 1512 ; Middleton, Lanes., 1522 ; Somersham, Hunts., c. 1530 ; and Brisley, Norfolk, 1531. In at least one instance, Long Newnton, Wilts., 1 503, the maniple is placed on the right arm instead of the left. Bishops and mitred abbots wore the same eucharistic vestments as priests, but with the addition of the tunicle and dalmatic below the chasuble, sandals, gloves, a ring upon the second finger of the right hand, mitre and crozier. The dalmatic was properly the distinguishing mark of a deacon. It was a vestment much shorter than the alb, slit up for a short distance on either side, and with a straight edge before and behind. The left side and lower edge were usually fringed for a deacon, both sides for a bishop. No known English brass of a deacon has survived, except a palimpsest fragment at Burwell, Cambs., but the dress appears in figures of St. Stephen, St. Philip, and St. Laurence, where they are introduced into canopies or ornamentation. The material of the dalmatic was rich, like that of the chasuble, and in the later examples was covered all over with an elaborate pattern. The tunicle was worn underneath the dalmatic, and was similar to it in shape and ornament, though usually made only of linen. It was appropriated to the use of sub-deacons and bishops, and while sometimes entirely hidden by the dalmatic can be perceived in most episcopal brasses. The sandals were often richly adorned with jewels and gold, and their open-work displayed the scarlet stockings, which were also part of the official dress of the episcopate. lite gloves, sometimes in brasses omitted, were also frequently embroidered and jewelled ; often a large stone is seen on the back of each hand. The episcopal ring \\d,s a circlet with a precious stone, never engraved, and it was large enough to pass over the gloved MEDIEVAL CLERGY OF ENGLAND 109 finger, though not beyond the second joint. The stone was usually a sapphire, sometimes an emerald or a ruby. TJie mitre and crosier are almost the only ecclesiastical ornaments which show any considerable development during the era of brasses. The two horns of the mitre were at first in the shape of plain triangles, bent round so as to adapt them to the outline of the head. In the thirteenth century the material was changed from white linen to silk, and overlaid with embroidery and pearls or other jewels. The early mitres were low in height, with plain edges. As time went on they grew in size, and crockets were added to the sides of the horns. At a still later period they assumed the swelling or rounded outline still retained. Their weight also increased, until in the reign of Henry VIII. a silver-gilt mitre removed from Fountains Abbey weighed as much as 70 ozs. Mitres were classified according to the manner in which they were ornamented. One simply made of white linen or silk, with little or no enrichment, was called a " mitra simplex ; " one with embroidery, but without precious metals or jewels, a " mitra aurifrigiata ; " and one of rich metals and studded with gems, a " mitra pretiosa." Two narrow strips of silk or embroidery called " infulae," with fringed ends, hung down from the back of the mitre, and can be well seen in the brasses at York and East Horsley. In writing of the crozier, it is necessary to explain that the word is altogether synonymous with the title Pastoral Staff, and that it was borne alike by bishops, abbots, and arch- bishops. An impression prevailed amongst the antiquaries of a past generation that the shepherd's crook should be called distinctively a " pastoral staff," and the cross-staff of an arch- bishop a "crozier." Such nomenclature will be found in Haines, and to a certain extent in Boutell. But latterly this has been shown to be an error, and the shepherd's crook rightly called a "crozier," a name not properly applicable to the cross-staff at all. no THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND The crozier is usually represented as held in the left hand or lodged against the arm, leaving the right hand free to be uplifted in blessing. Its curved volute is enriched with foliage, and in early examples encloses the Agnus Dei, as at St. Albans, or some other device. The head gradually becomes more heavy and less graceful ; it rises from clustered taber- nacle work of considerable size and weight, and the volute encloses foliage only. The staff, shod with a pointed ferule, was generally of some precious wood, such as cedar or ebony, and the head, detachable in later examples, of metal or occa- sionally ivory. A scarf was frequently attached to the knop below the crook, and was either called, like the lappet of the mitre, an " infula," or else the " vexillum," in reference to the labarum or cross-banner of the emperor Constantine. The latest croziers are to be found in the post-Reformation brasses of Henry Robinson, Bishop of Carlisle, 1616, at Queen's College, Oxford, and of Samuel Harsnett, Archbishop of York, 1 63 1, at Chigwell, Essex. The latter is a fine brass, and though the old vestments are discarded, the swelling mitre and voluted crozier, with its central rose, are worthy of study. The brass of Bishop Robinson, here illustrated, is small and very curious, being an allegorical picture 21 by i6f inches, like the frontispiece of a book, and depicting the bishop in a ruff and skull-cap, vested in rochet and chimere, kneeling before his cathedral and his college, of which he was provost. The volute of his crozier ends in an eye, while a large stork stands upon the outer curve. The staff is in.scribed, " Ps. 23. — Corrigendo — SVSTENTANDO — Vigilando — Dirigendo," and the infula has become a napkin, and bears the one word, " Velando." A duplicate of this brass, copied from the original at Queen's, was put over his grave in Carlisle Cathedral by his brother, the Vicar of Crosthwaite. Archbishops are usually, though not always, represented with a cross-staff instead of a crozier, or even with both, as in several foreign examples. They also wear the pall, which was HENRICO ROBIN^ONO CARLK,(JLEj\51 , COI.I ECU tn l\ 5 ANMSAViiJ PR.tP05IT0 PROVIDlSSIMO.TAJs'DEMQ. ECCLE5Lt CARLEOLENS/5 TOTIDEM ANNJ5 tP/5COPO VJCILANTISSIMCXlIi' CAL: IVLIJ ANNO A PARTY \^RG7N;5 M DC XVT ^ yV.TAI : LXI)/ Plk JN DOJO OBDORAilENTJ, £T in ECCLE5IA CARLEOL; .^PVETO, ii'OC COLL: IPSWS LAB0RJBV5 VAST/TA'n EREPTV, MVNIFICEjNTIA DEM'V LOCVPLE'rATVM , IS TVD qVALECVNC^ MNHMEION GRATJTADJNl^" TESTJMONIVAI COLLOCAVIT. Ntin .lil'i.jeJ Pjind- p-^luxit,LampjJu m^tiir. I In mitumis fiJc I'^erva.mnwnhus avtc . D/ni-nfiTb rhiim.ncn meram 111/ Juam I Maximn mm,- Domini aiiuAui iiAirr jMiir C^j/fi i u^n mf HENRY ROBINSON, D.I)., BISHOP OF CARLISLE, 1616 queen's college, OXFORD 112 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND made only at Rome, and was specially bestowed by the Pope upon all archbishops. It was simply a narrow loop or circle of white lamb's wool placed over the shoulders, with a weighted band hanging down behind and before. It was adorned with purple or black crosses of silk, and originally fastened to the chasuble by three gold pins. England has retained a fair number of brasses showing the episcopal vestments, as the following list will show : — ■ ' York Minster. 13 15, Wm. de Grenefeld, Archbishop of York. Hereford Cathedral, 1360, John Trilleck, Bishop of Hereford. • St. Albans Abbey, c. 1360, Thos. Delamere, Abbot of St. Albans. Salisbury Cathedral, 1375, Robt. Wyvil, Bishop of Salisbury. Adderley, Salop., c. 1390, an unknown bishop or abbot. Westminster Abbey, 1395, John de Waltham, Bishop of Salisbury. ,, „ 1397, Robt. de Waldeby, Archbishop of York. St. Albans Abbey, 1401, lower part of Abbot Moote. ' New College, Oxford, 1417, Thos. Cranley, Archbishop of Dublin. East Horsley, Surrey, 1478, John Bowthe, Bishop of Exeter. Carlisle Cathedral, 1496, Rich. Bell, Bishop of Carlisle. Westminster Abbey, 1498, John Estney, Abbot of Westminster. Edenham, Lines., c. 1500, an unknown archbishop. Manchester Cathedral, 15 15, Jas. Stanley, Bishop of Ely. New College, Oxford, c. 1525, John Yong, Titular Bishop of Callipolis. Ely Cathedral, 1554, Thos. Goodryke, Bishop of Ely. St. James', Clerkenwell, 1556, John Bell, Bishop of Worcester. Tideswell, Derbys., 1579, Robt. Pursglove, Suffragan Bishop of Hull. The mutilated brass of Archbishop Grenefeld has already been described at the end of the second chapter. Many of the others are very fine. Thus, Bishop Trilleck's brass is furnished with canopy and super-canopy. So is that of Waltham, though grievously worn and mutilated. So is that of Cranley, with triple pediment and super-canopy almost perfect. Bishop Bell and Abbot Estney have also triple canopies, and Archbishop Waldeby a fine single one. Abbot JOHN ESTNKY, AliltOT OF WESTMINSTER, I498 NORTH AMmi.AKiKY, WESTMINSTER A13BEY 114 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND Delamere, with his great rectangle of foreign workmanship, has one of the largest and most splendid brasses in England. Bishop Wyvil is represented at three-quarters length, standing within a large battlemented castle, with his champion at the portcullis beneath him, in memory of his recovery of the Castle of Sherborne for the see of Salisbury. The first illustration, given on p. 107, is of the brass of Archbishop Waldeby, and exhibits the vestments at a good period, when simplicity and dignity were generally of more account than elaboration of detail. Robert de Waldeby himself was a notable personage. At first Bishop of Ayre, in Aqui- taine, he was a chosen companion of Edward the Black Prince, and tutor to his son Richard II., by whose influence he was made Archbishop of Dublin, Bishop of Chichester, and finally Archbishop of York. Richard's arms are placed at the finial of his canopy. He had been a physician in his youth, and was renowned for his learning both in medical and divine science. The second illustration is of John Estney, formerly Prior of Westminster, and elected abbot in 1474 by Papal provision on the recommendation of King Edward IV, He died in 1498, and his tomb and Sir John Harpedon's (cf. p. 152), raised about 4 feet above the abbey floor, with their canopies and iron railings, once formed the screen between the chapel of St. John and the north ambulatory of the choir. Both were moved and mutilated in the eighteenth century to make room for the huge and cumbrous monument of General Wolfe. They have been cut down to about a foot in height, and placed on either side of the ambulatory. Estney's grave was twice opened in the eighteenth century, in 1706 and 1772, and a curious though gruesome account remains of the condition in which he was found. He was "lying in a chest quilted with yellow satten ; he had on a gown of crimson silk girded to him with a black girdle. On his legs were white silk stock- ings, and over his face, which was black, a clean napkin, MEDI/EVAL CLERGY OF ENGLAND 115 doubled up and laid corner-wise ; the legs and other parts of the body firm and plump." The other brasses are of less importance, though all of much interest. At Adderley a book is held in the left hand, and the crozier, therefore, transferred to the right. The head of Cranley's cross-staff, now mutilated, is a crucifix, as was commonly the rule. Bi.shop Bowthe's small kneeling figure is drawn in profile, and exhibits the lateral aspect of the episcopal attire. Bell, like the prelate at Adderley, holds a book, but it is open and in his right hand. The brass at Edenham formerly occupied an almost inaccessible position in a panel on the outer face of the church tower, 40 feet from the ground. It has recently been taken down and placed inside the church. Most probably it is not sepulchral, but the effigy of St. Thomas of Canterbury, the patron saint of the donor of the tower, the rivets of whose brass, with a kneeling figure, can be seen lower down upon the tower. Bishop Goodiyke was one of the compilers of the reformed Prayer-book, which he holds, clasped and with a seal attached, in his right hand. It is, perhaps, remarkable that he, and Bell and Pur.sglove who follow him, should still use the full vestments of the mediaeval church. The effigy of John Bell, the lower part of which is lost, was sold in 1788, when the old church of St. James', Clerkenwell, was demolished, and passed into the hands of Mr. J. B. Nichols. After his death' it was fortunately placed in the new church at the instance of the late Mr. Stephen Tucker, Somerset Herald. CHOIR AND PROCESSIONAL VESTMENTS The vestments already described were used only at celebra- tions of the Holy Eucharist. On other occasions, in choir and at processions, the clergy customarily wore cassock and surplice, much as they do now, with the addition of the almuce and hood, and the cope. The almuce was a large cape turned ii6 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND down over the shoulders and Hned with fur, which varied in quaUty and colour with the degree of the wearer. Doctors of Divinity and canons wore an almuce lined with grey fur, the former being further distinguished from the latter by the scarlet colour of the outside cloth ; all others wore ordinary dark brown fur, the tails of the animals from which the lining was taken being sewn round the edge, and two long pendants or lappets made to hang down in front. A good many brasses show priests thus attired, without the cope. The fur lining, which is the part exposed, is represented by cutting away the metal, and filling up the surface with colouring matter or lead inlaid. The brass of John Fynexs, at St. Mary's, Bury St. Edmund's, will serve as an illustration. He was Archdeacon of Sudbury, 1497-15 14'. Examples, chiefly of late date, are found at — Winchester College, Hants., 141 3, John Morys, First Warden. Cobham, Kent, 14 18, Wm. Tannere, demi. Arundel, Sussex, 1419, Wm. Whyte, Master of College. Bampton, Oxen., c. 1420, Thos. Plummyswode, demi. Manchester Cathedral, 1458, John Huntington, Warden. Wells Cathedral, c. 1465, unknown, demi. Billingham, Durham, 1480, Robt. Brerely. Tredington, Worcs., 1482, Hen. Sampson, kn. Eton College, Bucks., 1489, Thos. Barker, Fellow, in cap. Byfleet, Surrey, 1489, Thos. Teylar, Canon. Borden, Kent, 1490, Wm. Fordmell. Aylsham, Norfolk, c. 1490, Thos. Tylson, B.C.L. St. Cross, Winchester, 1493, Rich. Harward, Warden. Great Haseley Oxon., 1494, Thos. Butler. Turvey, Beds., c. 1500, unknown. Dean, Beds., 1501, Thos. Parker. Eton College, Bucks., 1503, Henry Bost, Provost. St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford, 1507, Edm. Croston. Chartham, Kent, 1508, Robt. Sheffelde, M.A. Tong, Salop., 1510, Ralph Elcok. Luton, Beds., c. 15 10, Edw. Sheffeld, LT^.D., in cap. Bury St. Edmund's, Suffolk, 15 14, John Fynexs, Archdeacon. JOHN KYNEXS, ARCllULACON OV SUDBUKY, 1514 ST. MARY'S, BURY ST. EDMUND'S ii8 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND Magdalen College, Oxford, 15 15 Wm. Goberd, B.A., Archdeacon. Great Cressingham, Norfolk, 15 18, John Aberfeld, B.C.L. St. George's Chapel, Windsor, 1522, Robt. Honywode, LL.D. qd. pi. East Mailing, Kent, 1522, Rich. Adams, with chalice. Greystoke, Cumberland, 1526, John Whelpdale, demi, very small. King's College, Cambridge, 1528, Robt. Hacombleyn, Provost. St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, 1528, Robt. Sutton, Dean, qd. pi. Sibson, Leics., 1532, John Moore, M.A. St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, 1537, Geoff. Fyche, Dean, qd. pi. Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, 1557, Jas. Coorthopp, Dean of Peterborough. King's College, Cambridge, 1558, Robt. Brassie, S.T.P., Provost. But it was much more usual for priests in surplice and almuce to wear also the cope, especially if they were dignitaries of the Church. The brasses of more than a hundred coped ecclesiastics have come down to us, many being of large size and richly canopied. In this they form a striking contrast to those of the parish priests in eucharistic vestments, of which the majority are small. The cope, therefore, generally shows the church dignitary, or at least the man of wealth. In itself too, the cope was a costly and imposing vestment. Its material was silk, cloth of gold, velvet, or other precious stuffs, and its form was that of a heavy cloak, fastened on the breast by a jewelled brooch called the morse. Richly ornamented orphreys invariably adorned the straight edges in front, and were some- times carried round the lower hem. The general surface was usually plain, though occasionally covered by a bold pattern, as in the figure (cf. illustration) of Robert Langton, D.C.L., 1 5 18, at Queen's College, Oxford, who also wears a doctor's cap. A small triangular or semi-circular hood was attached to the cope, but this is hidden, except in a very few instances, by the upper part or hood of the almuce, which can be seen at the neck, just as its lappets are visible beyond the long sleeves of the surplice. Henry de Codryngtoun, Prebendary of Oxtoun and Crophill, RU15ERT LANGTON, U.C.L., I51S queen's college, OXFORD (A square plate with rebus and initials is omitted) \2o THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND in Southwell Collegiate Church, and Rector of Bottesford, Leicestershire, 1404, is here given as an illustration. The brass is a particularly fine one, the figure alone measuring about 4 feet 9 inches. The pairs of saints upon the orphreys of the cope are St. Peter and St. Paul, St. John the Evangelist and St. James (of Compostella), St. John the Baptist and an unknown bishop, St. Catherine and St. Margaret, and it will be noticed that the morse bears a representation of the Holy Trinity. The Blessed Virgin is placed in the central pedi- ment of the canopy, and a curious roundel and four-leaved rose are inserted just below the finial. The list now following is believed to include most or all of the finest coped priests, while some of the smaller examples, as well as a few demi-figures, have been omitted : — Rothwell, Northants., 1361, Wm. de Rothewelle, Archdeacon of Essex. St. Cross, Winchester, 1382, John de Campeden, Canon of South- well. Cottingham, Yorks., 1383, Nich. de Luda. Fulbourn, Cambs., 1391, ^^'m. de Fulburne, Canon of St. Paul's. Shillington, Beds., 1400, Matth. de Asscheton^ Canon of York and Lincoln. Boston, Lines., c. 1400, unknown. Balsham, Cambs., 1401, John Sleford, Master of the Wardrobe. Castle Ashby, Northants., 1401, Wm. Ermyn. New College, Oxford, 1403, Rich. Malford, Warden. Bottesford, Leics., 1404, Hen. de Codyngtoun, Prebendary of South- well. Ashbury, Berks., 1409, Thos. de Bushbury, Canon of Hereford. Horsham, Sussex, 141 1, Thos. Clerke. Exeter Cathedral, 141 3, Wm. Langeton, Canon of Exeter, kn. Havant, Hants., 141 3, Thos. Aileward. Flamstead, Herts., 1414, John Oudeby, Canon of Ware. Knebworth, Herts., 1414, Simon Bache, Canon of St. Paul's. Ring wood, Hants., 141 6, John Prophete, Dean of Hereford and York. tF -^«^#« . 2SWW <» ' l«' PPiSuiB-^Ji»'gnip u HENRY DE CODRYNGTOUN, RECTOR, I404 BOTTESFORD, LEICESTERSHIRE 122 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND Great Shelford, Cambs., 141 8, Thos. Pattesle, Prebendary of South- well. Cotterstock, Northants., 1420, Robt. Wyntryngham, Canon of Lincoln. Pulborough, Sussex, 1423, Thos. Harlyng, Canon of Chichester. Thurcaston, Leics., 1425, John Mershden, Canon of Windsor. Tredington, Worcs., 1427, Rich. Cassey, Canon of York. Upwell, Norfolk, 1428, Hen. Mowbray. Broadwater, Sussex, 1432, John Mapylton, Chancellor to Joan of Navarre. Hereford Cathedral, 1434, John Stanwey, Dean of Hereford. Upwell, Norfolk, 1435, Henry Martyn. Warbleton, Sussex, 1436, Wm. Prestwyk, Dean of St. Mary's College in Hastings Castle. St. George's Canterbury, 1438, John Lovelle. Bottesford, Leics., c. 1440, John Freman. Harrow, Middlesex, 1442, Simon Marcheford, Canon of Sarum and Windsor. Ashbury, Berks., 1448, Wm. Skelton, LL.B. Winchester College, Hants., 1450, Robt. Thurbern, Warden. Chartham, Kent, 1454, Robt. Arthur. They don Gernon, Essex, 1458, Wm. Kirkaby. Balsham, Cambs., 1462, John Blodwell, Dean of St. Asaph. Harrow, Middlesex, 1468, John Byrkhed. Merton College, Oxford, 147 1, Hen. Sever, S.T.P., Warden. Beeford, Yorks., 1472, Thos. Tonge, holding book. Charlton-on-Otmoor Oxon., 1475, Thos. Key, Canon of Lincoln. Wilburton, Cambs., 1477, Rich. Bole, Archdeacon of Ely. Buckland, Herts., 1478, Wm. Langley, with chalice. Magdalen College, Oxford, 1480, Wm. Tibarde, S.T.B., President. Faversham, Kent, c. 1480, Wm. Thornbury. Hanbury, Staffs., c. 1480, unknown. Kirkby Wharfe, Yorks., c. 1480, Wm. Gisborne, Canon of York. Quainton, Bucks., 1485, John Spence. Eccleston, Lanes., c. 1485, unknown. Girton, Cambs., 1492, Wm. Malster, Canon of York. New College, Oxford, 1494, Walter Hyll, M.A., Warden. Girton, Cambs., 1497, Wm. Stevyn, Canon of Lincoln. Hitchin, Herts, 1498, Jas. Hart, B.D. MEDIy^VAL CLERGY OF ENGLAND 123 God's House, Southampton, c. 1500, unknown. Stevenage, Herts., c. 1500, Stephen Hellard, Canon of St. Asaph. Wimpole, Cambs., 1501, Thos. Worsley. All Saints, Stamford, Lines,, 1508, Hen. Wykys. Tattershall, Lines., c. 15 10, unknown. Orpington, Kent, 15 11, Thos. Wilkynson, M.A., Prebendary of Ripon. Croydon, Surrey, 1512, Silvester Gabriel. Trinity Hall, Cambs., 15 17, Walter Hewke, U.C.L. Willesdon, Middlesex, 1517, Wm. Lichefield, LL.D., Canon of St. Paul's. Queen's College, Oxford, 15 18, Robt. Langton. AVooburn, Bucks., 15 19, Thomas Swayn, Prebendary of Aylesbury, St. Just, Cornwall, c. 1520, unknown. Dowdeswell, Glos., c. 1520, unknown. Hackney, Middlesex, 1527, Christopher Urswic, Dean of Windsor. New College, Oxford, 1521, John Rede, B.D., Warden. Eton College, Bucks., 1522, Wm. Boutrod, "Pety-canon" of Windsor. Higham Ferrers, Northants., 1523, Rich. Wylleys, Warden. Hereford Cathedral, 1529, Edm. Frowsetoure, Dean of Hereford. Withington, Salop., 1530, Adam Grafton, Chaplain to Edward V. Wendron, Cornwall, 1535, Warin Penhallinyk, Prebendary of Glaseney. Rauceby, Lines,, 1536, Wm. Styrlay, Canon of Shelford. Clothall, Herts., 1541, Thos. Dalyson, LL.B., Master of Hospital. Winchester College, Hants., 1548, John White, Warden. Sessay, Yorks., 1550, Thos. Magnus, Archdeacon of East Riding. In a few of the examples, as at Clothall and St. George's, Canterbury, the almuce is not worn, and such brasses will show with more or less distinctness the neck of the surplice, which is gathered, or pleated, or even smocked. In a very few others the alb and amice of the eucharistic vestments are substituted for cassock and surplice. Instances occur in the brasses at Horsham, 141 1; Upwell, 1428 and 1435 ; Beeford, 1472 ; Hitchin, 1498 ; and Rauceby, 1536, Canons of Windsor were entitled to wear, instead of a cope, the mantle of the Order of the Garter, of which they were members. It is to be recognized by a small cross on the left 124 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND shoulder, but there are v^ery few examples of its use. The earliest is at Northstoke, Oxon., c. 1370, in the headless demi- figure of Roger Parkers ; except for its badge, the mantle is quite plain, and is fastened by a tasselled cord passing through two pairs of lace-holes and falling on the breast. Another is at Bennington, Herts., c. 1450, and consists only of the mutilated fragment of a priest in an ordinary cope, but with the badge upon his shoulder. The third and last is at Eton College, 1540, to Roger Lupton, LL.D., Provost of Eton ; his mantle is worn over a furred cassock, and is fastened by a small brooch. The cassock has been mentioned as the first of the choir vestments. As a matter of fact, it was the ordinary walking dress of the clergy, and was worn at all times, and under all other vestments, being, however, completely hidden by the long alb. There are a few brasses in which priests are represented in the cassock only. Cardynham, Cornwall, c. 1400, Thos. Awmarle. Aspley Guise, Beds., c. 1410, a kneeling figure. Quainton, Bucks., 1422, John Lewys, kn. Cirencester, Glos., c. 1480, unknown. North Creake, Norfolk, c. 1500, unknown. Shorwell, Isle of Wight, 1518, Rich. Bethell. Cley, Norfolk, c. 1520, John Yslyngton, S.T.P. Northleach, Glos., c. 1530, Wm. Lawnder, kn. Awmarle might easily be mistaken for a civilian, and carries an anelace at his girdle. Bethell and Yslyngton have each a scarf fastened by a small rose-brooch to the left shoulder, and thrown about the neck, the latter wearing also a doctor's cap. The North Creake priest, if indeed he be one, is even more unusual. He wears a hood, loosely fastened by a single button, and his rosary and bag hang from the belt of his cassock. He carries a church, of which he must have been the founder, upon his left arm. The brass has lost its MEDIEVAL CLERGY OF ENGLAND 125 inscription and is unidentified, but may have been moved to the church from Creake Abbey after the dissolution. ORNAMENTATION The details of the ornamentation applied to ecclesiastical vestments are of great variety. Stole and maniple almost always match, and are of the same breadth, the pattern being continued throughout the entire length, with sometimes a (uMilMiJ STOLE FROM (LOST) BRASS OF ADAM DE BACON, C. I3IO FORMERLY AT OULTON, SUFFOLK MANIPLE FROM BRASS OF PETER DE LACY, 1375 NORTHFLEET, KENT slight widening or a larger square compartment at the end. The apparels of alb and amice usually agree with one another, but often differ from the stole and maniple, while the other vestments have their distinctive patterns. Rows of lozenges, squares, or rounds, are of frequent occurrence, with four-leaved flowers or cinquefoils. Such patterns are stiff and formal, but often give place to elaborate floral designs. It is remarkable that the cross is seldom used, except in the form of the fx'lfot, a mysterious figure which appears in many different parts of the world and among many different peoples : on Runic monuments in Britain, in patterns of Greek vases and Roman jiavements, in China ten centuries before the Christian era, 126 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND and in Buddhist inscriptions and coins in India and in Thibet. Each arm of the cross is turned at right angles, and forms the Greek letter gamma. Hence it is also called the "cross gammee." The fylfot is found in the patterns of many vest- ments, as at Merton College, Oxford, 1310; Kemsing, Kent, 1320; Horsmonden, Kent, c. 1340; Lewknor, Oxon., 1370; Shottesbrooke, Berks., c. 1370; Crondall, Hants., c. 1370; Stifford, Essex, 1375; Chartham, Kent, 1454. The illus- AMICE FROM BRASS OF WALTER FRILENDE, C. I360 OCKHAM, SURREY tration is from the amice of Walter Frilende, at Ockham, Surrey, c. 1 360. But it is in the orphreys of copes that the most interesting designs will be found, for they were not only richer, but in a manner less sacred than vestments used exclusively at the eucharist. Upon them alone, with but few exceptions, were admitted personal devices, initials, names, heraldic s3^mbols, as well as figures of apostles, saints, and angels, at full length. Initials occur on the brasses at Horsham, where the letter C enters into the composition of the orphrey, Fulbourn, Balsham, New College, Tredington, Winchester College, and in the half-effigy of Thomas Mordon, LL.B., 1458, Treasurer of St. Paul's, at Fladbury, Worcestershire. At Broadwater, Sussex, a Lombardic M for Mapylton, the name of the priest commemorated, alternates with a maple-leaf, his rebus. The Fulbourn priest has the initials W. F. for William de Fulburne, occurring alternately in lozenge-shaped spaces at the intervals MEDI^:VAL CLERGY OF ENGLAND 127 of a bold floral design. He was an ecclesiastic of considerable importance, being a prebendary of St. Paul's, chaplain to King Edward III., and baron of the exchequer ; he was also patron of Fulbourn Church. Both the wardens, Malford and Hyll, at New College, have a like arrangement of their initials, R. M. and W. H. A mutilated brass at Great Shelford, Cambs., 141 8, exhibits the entire name, Thomas Patesle, with the letters separately inscribed in circles between lozenges. Heraldic symbols are met with at Havant, where a wheat- sheaf alternates with fleurs-de-lys in lozenges, between circles with roses and leopard's masks. William de Fulburne, just mentioned, is more definitely heraldic, for his morse is charged with armorial bearings as if it were a shield, argent, a saltire sable betiveen 4 martlets gules. A similar arrangement is found at Castle Ashby, in 1401, with the arms of William Ermyn, Ermine, a saltire gules, on a chief of the last a lion passant gar dan t or. The burial-service text from Job is a favourite in monu- mental inscriptions ; in one instance, the fine canopied brass at Warbleton, it occurs along the orphreys of the cope, with the Credo of the comimencement inscribed on the morse. The figures of saints often appear on the orphreys of copes in the largest and finest brasses, four or five on each side, and add conspicuously to their merits. Examples occur at Boston,^. 1400; Balsham, 1401 ; Castle Ashby, 1401 ; Ring- wood, 1416 ; Harrow, 1468; Merton College, 1471 ; Tatter- shall, c. 1 5 10; Trinity Hall, 15 17, and elsewhere; the illus- trated figure at Bottesford (p. 121) being an excellent specimen. The morse was commonly jewelled or otherwise ornamented, as a rich brooch might be expected to be. The letters IHS (or its variants) occur at Balsham, 1401 ; Broadwater, 1432 ; Clothall, 1541, and other places; the full name lESUS at Sessay ; the Sacred Face at Knebworth, Ringwood, and Tattershall ; a half-length figure of the Saviour at Trinity Hall ; the Holy Trinity at Cotterstock and Bottesford. Or, 128 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND as in the cope itself, a personal device may be given, such as the coat-of-arms at Fulbourn, or at Havant the initials T. A. for Thos. Aileward. It is difficult to close this chapter without a further account of some of the great brasses of coped priests which rank amongst the finest memorials of their kind. But the list is too long, and it must be enough to speak of those two splendid brasses at Balsham, which have been already several times mentioned. They lie upon the chancel floor between the beautiful stalls and within the rood-screen, which were erected by the first of the two priests. This was John de Sleford, rector of Balsham, Master of the Wardrobe to Edward III., Chaplain to Queen Philippa of Hainault, Canon of Wells and afterwards of Ripon, Prebendary of St. Stephen, West- minster, 1363, and Archdeacon of Wells, 1390. His brass measures in all nearly 8^ by 4h feet, and the figure 5 feet 2 inches. There is an elaborate triple canopy, in which the central pediment supports a shrine or tabernacle, divided into two storeys by a transom, arched below. In the lower compartment the soul of the deceased is supported in a sheet by two angels, after the manner of those foreign compositions which the chaplain of Queen Philippa may well have seen and studied during his travels on the Continent. In the upper storey there is a representation of the Holy Trinity, to whom the church of Balsham is dedicated. The finials of the side pediments are gone, but there remain the figures of two seraphim which w^ere poised upon them. Between the seraphim and the outer pinnacles of the canopy are shields. On the dexter side is Quarterly— \st and d^th, semee of fleurs- de-lys. Old France ; 2nd and yd, three lions passant gardant, England. On the sinister is the same, impaling Hainault : Quarterly — \st and 4th, or, a lion rampant sable, Flanders ; 2nd and ^rd, or, a lion rampant gules, Holland. The arms of the See of Ely, gules, three crozvns or, are also displayed, upon a shield of which the companion is lost. Sleford's figure is of MEDIEVAL CLERGY OF ENGLAND 129 no less interest than his canopy, for the orphreys of his cope are ornamented with five pairs of saints under embattled canopies supported by singular twisted shafts. The name in black letter is inscribed underneath each as follows : — S' Maria cu fil S' Johes Bap S' Johes Ewg S' Etheldreda S' Katarina S' Petrus S' Paulus S' Margarita S' Maria Mag' S' Wilfridus On the morse there is the sacred monogram IS. It is repeated upon two roundels, one on either side of the figure, and also occurred twelve times upon the now slightly muti- lated 'marginal inscription, where it marks the beginnings of the hexameters in which it is written. The brass is much worn, and is not very familiar, perhaps on account of the isolation of the village, which is situated about twelve miles from Cambridge, on the Newmarket Downs. The second brass is equally large, and measures altogether 8 feet 9 inches by 4 feet i inch. John Blodwell was born at Llan-y-Blodwell, near Oswestry, was Dean of St. Asaph in 1418, Prebendary of Lichfield and of Hereford, Canon of St. David's, and finally Rector of Balsham, 1439-1462. His canopy is of a totally different character to that of his pre- decessor. It is embattled with a single arch, rising from broad shafts, in each of which are four niches, containing saints and labelled with their names, as on Sleford's cope — S' Johes Baptista Scs Johes Eviig Scs petrus Scs Andreas S' Assaph Epc Ss Nicholaus Epc Sea Brigida Sea Wenefreda The cope also has saints, in embattled and canopied niches down the orphreys, but they are so worn that it is almost impossible to make out the names. The two uppermost are St. Michael and St. Gabriel, the two next are archbishops, i-.o THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND J and the next bishops ; the two lowest are St. Catherine and St. Margaret. The surface of this cope is ornamented with Hons' heads in roundels. The inscription is at the foot, and is most curious, being cast in dialogue form as though between Blodwell and his guardian angel, the former's words being in relief and those of the angel incised. A border fillet surrounds the whole composition. APPENDIX (i) The Religious Orders It would be almost impossible to over-estimate the power and influence of the English monasteries during the era of brasses up till the time of the general dissolution in the reign of Henry VIII. In the first volume of this series of " Antiquary's Books," upon English Monastic Life, Abbot Gasquet enumerates more than eighteen hundred religious houses, nearly all of which were still in their prime in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. But in Henry's reign " there was no room for either the virtues or the vices of monasticism," and the reports of Thomas Cromwell's Royal Commissioners were laid before Parliament in 1536, with the result that all houses whose incomes fell below ^200 a year were at once suppressed, and their revenues granted to the Crown. In 1539 the greater abbeys became involved in the same ruin with the smaller, and their property was confiscated or destroyed. The vast majority of their churches were wantonly swept away, and with them the monumental brasses which had adorned the gravestones of multitudes of the departed brethren. Even where the churches remained, as in the case of the great cathe- dral abbeys, the brasses were usually destroyed, and in many instances a long array of despoiled slabs still testifies to the malici- ousness of their desecration. Less than thirty monastic brasses now remain, including those of five abbots, two priors, a sub-prior, seven monks and one friar^ two abbesses, a prioress, four nuns, and five or more vowesses, for the whole of England. In the list which follows, the three abbots already mentioned as THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS 131 affording examples of the episcopal vestments are not included. Neither are four mutilated fragments which occur on the reverse sides of palimpsest brasses at St. John's Maddermarket, Norwich, c. 1320; at Tolleshunt Darcy, c. 1400, and at Upminster, c. 1410^ in Essex; and at Binfield, Berks., c. 1420. These also were all of abbots (or bishops) in eucharistic vestments, the first being part of the reverse of Robt. Rugge, 1558, the next of a lady, c. 1535, the third of a civilian, c. 1540, and the last of an inscription to Rich. Thurnor, 1558. The monastic brasses, then, are these — Ouinton, Glos., c. 1430, Joan Clopton, widow, vowess. Cowfold, Sussex, 1433, Thos. Nelond, Cluniac Prior of Lewes. Nether Wallop, Hants., 1436, Dame Maria Gore, prioress. St. Laurence, Norwich, 1437, Geoff. Langley, Benedictine Prior of Horsham St. Faith. Denham, Bucks., c. 1440, John Pyke, friar. St. John's Maddermarket, Norwich, c. 1440, a nun, daughter of lady on reverse of inscription to Nich. Suttherton, 1540. St. Albans Abbey, c. 1450, a Benedictine monk. Halvergate, Norfolk, c. 1460, Brother Wm. Jernemut, demi, on reverse of Alice Swane, 1540. Yeovil, Somerset, c. 1460, Martin Forester, monk, demi, on a lectern. St. Albans Abbey, c. 1470, Robt. Beauver, Benedictine monk. St. Albans Abbey, c. 1470, a Benedictine monk, demi. Dagenham, Essex, 1479, a nun, one of children of Sir Thos, Urswyk. Hornby, Yorks., 1489, a nun, one of children of Thos. Mountford. Witton (Blofield), Norfolk, c. 1500, Juliana Anyell, widow, vowess. Great Cotes, Lines., 1503, a nun, one of children of Sir Thos. Bar- nardiston. Minchinhampton, Glos., c. 15 10, a monk and a nun, amongst children of John Hampton. Dorchester, O.xon., c. 15 10, Rich. Bewfforeste, Augustinian Abbot of Dorchester. Over Winchcndon, Bucks., 15 15, John Stodelcy, Augustinian Canon of St. Frideswide's, Oxford. Frenze, Norfolk, 15 19, Joan Braham, widow, vowess. St. Albans Abbey, 1521, Thos. Rutlond, Benedictine sub-prior. Elstow, Beds., c. 1525, Dame Elizth. Hcrwy, Benedictine abbess. St. Mary de Crypt, Gloucester, 1529, Joan Cook, widow, vowess. Shalston, Bucks., 1540, Susan Kyngeston, widow, vowess. Denham, Bucks., c. 1540, Dame Agnes Jordan, Abbess of Sion. Burwell, Cambs., 1542, John Lawrence, Benedictine Abbot of Ramsey. Islcworth, Middlesex, 1561, Marg. Dcly, nun, Treasurer of Sion. 132 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND There is a doubtful ecclesiastic at Watton, Herts., c. 1370, usually described as wearing a plain cope, but more probably in monastic attire. A small fragment, showing the head of a nun, c. 1380, was found on the site of Kilburn Priory, and is preserved at St. Mary's, Kilburn. There is also a figure at South Creake, Norfolk, 1509, given in an inscription of local origin as John Norton, clerk, vested in a cope, and holding a crozier, assuredly in some way monastic. The dress of monks usually consisted of the tunic, the scapular, the gown, and the hood or cowl, and these varied in colour and material according to the Order to which the wearer belonged. The Benedictines or Black Monks were the most important and numerous, holding many of the greatest abbeys. At St. Albans they are fairly well represented by a sub-prior, a third prior, and two others, on all of whom the gown appears with long sleeves, like those of a surplice, and a cowl worn low upon the shoulders, as though to serve for tippet as well as hood ; the sleeves of the tunic are also seen at the wrists. Beauver the third prior is stated in his inscription to have served the convent as kitchener, refectorer, infirmarer, and spicerer at various times during forty-six years. This inscription is perhaps of sufficient interest to be given in full : — " Hie iacet ffrater Robertas Beauuer qudm hui' Monasterii Monachus qui qdraginta sex annis | continuis & Ultra ministrabat in diusis officiis maioribus & minorib' couent' monasterii | pscripti Videlic' In Officiis Tercii poris Coquarii Reffectorarii & Inffirmarii Et in | officiis subreffecto- rarii & sperii couent' Pro cui' ala ffratres carissimi ffunie pees dignemini | ad iudicem altissimu piissimu dmu ihm cristu Ut concedat sibi suor' veniam peecator' amen." It is a little uncertain how the word for his last office in the convent should be extended, but " spicerii," spicerer, seems to meet the difficulty best. The contractions are somewhat arbitrary through- out. The monk, who is very tall and thin, holds in his hands a bleeding heart, which was inlaid with colour, and is charged with six drops of blood. The Prior of Horsham St. Faith was also a Benedictine, and is dressed in the same way. His brass was saved from destruction by being removed from the priory church to Norwich. Lawrence, the Benedictine Abbot of Ramsey, was originally represented in full eucharistic vestments, but, surviving the dissolution THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS 133 of the monastery, his brass was altered, and he appears in cassock, surplice, and almuce. Part of the first engraving, however, still exists on the reverse side of the lower portion of his efifigy, and the outline of a mitre can be seen above the cushion on which his head now rests. The Cluniac was an adaptation of the Benedictine Rule, and Prior Nelond at Cowfold precisely resembles the monks of St. Albans. His brass is a very magnificent one, as the illustration shows, and its canopy the finest in existence of purely English character. It will be noticed that the central pediment is itself triple, and supports a shrine containing the Blessed Virgin and Child, while figures — of St. Pancras and St. Thomas of Canterbury — supply the finials of the others. The outside measurements of the brass are 7 ft. 2 in. by 3 ft. It seems to be by the same hand as the almost equally fine, though mutilated, canopy of Abbot John Stoke at St. Albans, of which the date is 1451. The one Augustinian abbot, at the Oxford Dorchester, wears his gown and cowl open, over the ordinary choir vestments of cassock, surplice, and almuce, his crozier reclining on his right arm ; he is not mitred. At Over Winchendon, where there is a canon of the same Order, the dress is a fur-lined cassock, a shorter tunic or rochet fastened by a belt at the waist, and an open gown and cowl like those of Richard Bewffbreste. Unlike the stricter Orders, Austin canons were allowed to live away from their own communities, and this one was vicar of his parish. The Abbey of Nuns at Elstow was under the Benedictine Rule. Its abbess. Dame Elizabeth Herwy, might be mistaken for a widow in common life were it not for the crozier on her right arm. The dress seems to have consisted of a long white gown, a black mantle or cloak, a white plaited barbe or chin-cloth, a veil headdress, and a ring. Dame Agnes Jordan, Abbess of Sion, is attired in the same way, but has no crozier, perhaps because her abbey was already sup- pressed. One of her nuns, the treasurer of her house, Margaret Dely, died still later, and wears no mantle. Her brass is extremely small. The other monastic brasses call for little remark, more especially as their identification is incomplete, and it cannot be stated to what Orders they belonged. The single friar, in cowl and gown and knotted cord, is on the reverse of a late brass to a lady, Amphillis luira -. :ii rnimonufnii' siiorai - ww.iii ■J^iUnillHUIliillUlinilJlHIIIHIHIIIilll THOMAS NELOND, CLUNIAC PRIOR OF LEWES, I433 COWFOLD, SUSSEX THE UNIVERSITIES 135 Peckham, 1545. The inscription and a shield are alike palimpsest, and the latter bears, on the friar's side, a staff and birch-rod in saltire, hence the supposition that Pyke — if Pyke it were — was a school- master. With regard to the vowesses, it should be explained that widow ladies frequently at the time of their mourning attached themselves to a nunnery, and took monastic vows, dedicating themselves to God. Like nuns, they were entitled to the appellation of " Dame," and are usually so called. It is probable that Alianore de Bohun, Duchess of Gloucester, whose fine canopied brass is in Westminster Abbey (cf. p. 57), should be included in the list. After the murder of her husband in 1397 she retired to the nunnery of Barking, in Essex, where she died. APPENDIX (2) The Universities It seems to be an established fact that most of the distinctive University costumes were originally derived from ecclesiastical and monastic dress, and that the schools were held within the precincts of religious houses, or in churches. At Cambridge the Benedictines maintained the College of St. Mary Magdalene, then known as Monks' or Buckingham College, and there were houses of the Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites, Gilbertines, Austin Friars, Friars of the Sack, Bethlemite Friars, and Friars of Our Lady. The first independent college, Peterhouse, was formed by a body of scholars who had seceded from the monastic Hospital of St. John. At Oxford the Benedictines, always first in learning and teaching, held Canterbury and Durham Colleges and Gloucester Hall, the Austin Canons St. Mary's College, as well as the Priory of St. Frideswide's, and the Cistercians St. Bernard's College. As at the sister University, there were also Dominicans, Franciscans, and Car- melites, Austin Friars, and Friars of the Sack. There were also Crutched Friars. In academical brasses, therefore, we should expect to find an ecclesiastical element predominant, and indeed with hardly an 136 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND exception it is of priests in academicals that we now have to treat. Of these about seventy-five examples can be so described as distinct from priests in almuces or in copes. Rather more than one-third are at Cambridge and Oxford, the latter having the larger number, and the rest are widely scattered. But an insuperable difficulty meets us at once. A system of degrees was established before the era of brasses began, but the distinction in habit between one degree and another was chiefly expressed, as it still is, by the colour and material of the garments worn, rather than by their number and shape. As this is not shown upon brasses, it is usually impossible to assign the exact degree of a person in academicals, unless it is stated in the inscription. A very frequent dress consists of the cassock and a garment of about the length of a surplice, but with much shorter sleeves, open and pointed, reaching to the elbow, and generally of some thin material. It may represent a linen rochet, or it may be a plain cloth " tabard." Over the shoulders is a cape or tippet, much shorter than an almuce, and with a plain edge. It usually has a hood attached. A second dress is distinguished by the fact that the outer garment has no sleeves, though it is equally short. It is then certainly the academical tabard. The wide sleeves of the cassock are thrust through it, and the tippet and hood are worn as before. Thos. Mason, M.A., 1501, and Nich. Goldwell, M.A., 1523, at Magdalen College, Oxford, John London, M.A. and S.T.S., 1508, at New College, may be given as examples. David Lloyd, LL.B., 15 10, at All Souls, a demi-figure in the dress first described, has beside him a student {scolasticns) of civil law, in a cassock, civilian's cloak looped upon the left shoulder, and hood, and is without the tonsure. He, and perhaps Goldwell, who is also untonsured, are merely exceptions to the rule that academical brasses are usually those of priests. A more distinctive gown reaches to the feet, and, like the last, has two openings at the sides without sleeves, the tippet and hood being worn over. It is then either the pallium or another form of the tabard, called the " taberdum talare," and is believed to imply a higher class of degree, possibly that of B.D. It is worn by John Bloxham at Merton College, who held that degree, but also by the small kneeling figure of Wm. Blakwey, 1521, at Little Wilbraham, who THE UNIVERSITIES 137 was only an M.A., and by a few others. The Doctorate in Divinity, D.D., S.T.P., is more definitely expressed. A plain sleeveless gown is worn, sometimes called the "^ cappa clausa," from which the arms appear through a single opening in front, which reaches only to a short distance below the waist. The tippet is frequently of fur, and a cap is worn, either fitting closely to the head, or raised about two inches and brought to a low point in the middle. The skull-cap is worn by Dr. Billingford at St. Benet's, Cambridge, and Dr. Hautryve at New College, Oxford, the raised cap by Dr. Towne and Dr. Argentein at King's, and apparently by most other Doctors, whether in academicals, or in surplice and almuce, or in cope. Dr. Argentein is here illustrated, and is a good example, for his belted cassock can be well seen through the opening of the cappa clausa. He was elected Provost of King's College in 1501, and proceeded to the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1504, dying in 1507. Being also a Doctor of Medicine, he was formerly physician to Arthur, Prince of Wales. The length of the figure is 2 feet 4 inches, and it is now screwed to a board and kept in one of the side chantries of King's College Chapel. A marginal inscription, now lost, ran thus : — " Orate p' aia iohls Argentein artiu magistri medicinaru doctoris alme scriptare professoris et huius collegii prepositi qui obiit An" diii millmo quingentesimo vii" et die mesis fifebruar' secudo cuius aie ppiciet' de' Ame." Doctors of Law and other faculties than that of Divinity wear the cap, but seem to have used the pallium instead of the cappa clausa. At New College, Oxford, there is a fifteenth-century manuscript (c. 1464) entitled Brevis Chronica de ortu, vita, et gestis iwbilibus reverendi viri Willelini de Wykeham, at the beginning of which there is a most interesting drawing (one of four) representing a bird's-eye view of the college, and of the whole Society paraded in front of it in their various habits. It has been carefully illustrated in the Transac- tiofis of the St. Paul's Eccksiological Society, vol. iv., Part III. According to the statutes of William of Wykeham, the Society was to consist of precisely loo persons, viz. a warden, 70 scholars, 10 chaplains, 3 clerks, and 16 choristers. The scholars were to be divided into ten Students of Canon Law, ten of Civil Law, and fifty ■»^-f ftigenlrra^ lapis WiiiMS^ JOHN ARGENTEIN, D.D., PROVOST, 1507 king's college, CAMBRIDGE THE UNIVERSITIES 139 of Philosophy (or Arts) and Theology. All these hundred persons are arranged in groups, with the Warden in the centre, facing the rest, and dressed in cassock, tabard, tippet, and cap. Four Doctors of Divinity are in the cappa clausa, tippet, and cap. Fifteen other doctors are in the pallium or tabard — for none of them are visible quite at full length — tippet, hood, and cap. Six Bachelors of Divinity are hidden, all but their bare heads, behind the Doctors. Thirteen Masters of Arts turn their backs to the spectator, and show the tabard, tippet, and a hood, with one liripipe hanging nearly to the waist. Ten Bachelors of Canon Law and eight of Civil Law are distinguished by what appears to be a sleeved tabard, or cappa manicata, with tippet and hood. This is possibly the dress first described on p. 136. Fourteen Bachelors of Arts are similarly dressed, but turn their backs, and show a liripipe like that of the M.A. group. The chaplains and clerks wear surplices, and some of them scarves, and the choristers are also in surplices. The drawing is not coloured, but may be taken to some extent as a key to the broader divisions of academical attire. At least the Doctorate stands out clearly, as it does in brasses. The sleeved tabard also appears to indicate Bachelors of either Canon or Civil Law or of Arts. The Arts hoods have their liripipes, but these, of course, are not to be seen in a front view. In the list of brasses which follows there are some doubtful instances, but it has been made as complete as possible, and all those figures have been included which can in any way be described as being " in academicals." Great Brington, Northants., c. 1340, unknown, in cap. Chinnor, Oxon., 1361, John Hotham, Provost of Queen's, "Mag. in Theol.," in cap, demi. Merton College, Oxford, 1372, unknown, sm. in head of cross. Upper Hardres, Kent, 1405, John Strata, M.A., kneeling, in skull-cap. St. John's College, Cambridge, c. 1410, Eudo do la Zouch, Master, nuit. Ledbury, Heref., c. 14 10, Wm. Calwe, kn. sm. Lydd, Kant, 1420, John Mottesfont, B.C.L. Great Hadham, Herts., c. 1420, unknown, demi, Merton College, Oxford, c. 1420, John Bloxham, B.D., and John Whytton. New College, Oxford, 1427, John Sowthe, " Juris Civilis Prof.," in skull-cap. St. Benet's, Cambridge, 1432, Rich. Billingford, D.D., kn. in skull-cap. Royston, Herts., 1432, Wm. Taverham. I40 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND Little St. Mary's, Cambridge, c. 1440, John Holbrook, mutil. New College, Oxford, 1441, Wm. Hautryve, D.D., in skull-cap. Merton College, Oxford, 1445, John Kyllyngworth, M.A., demi. New College, Oxford, 1447, Geoff. Hargreve, S.T.S. Thaxted, Essex, c. 1450, unknown. Heme, Kent, c. 1450, John Darley, in skull-cap. Boxley, Kent, 145 1, Wm. Snell, M.A. New College, Oxford, 145 1, Walter Wake, S.T.S., demi. Pakefield, Suffolk, 145 1, Rich. Folcard, M.A., demi. Brancepath, Durham, 1456, Rich. Drax, LL.B., demi. Surlingham, Norfolk, 1460, John Alnvvik, M.A. Harrow, Middlesex, c. 1460, unknown, demi. Ewelme, Oxon., c. 1460, Wm. Branwhait, demi. New College, Oxford, 1468, Thos. Hylle, S.T.P., in skull-cap. Stourmouth, Kent, 1472, Thos. Mareys. Cheriton, Kent, 1474, John Child, M.A., sm. Magdalen College, Oxford, 1478, Thos. Sondes, Scholar of Div. Magdalen College, Oxford, 1478, Ralph Vawdrey, M.A., demi. New College, Oxford, 1478, Rich. Wyard, B.C.L. New College, Oxford, 1479, John Palmer, B.A. Little St. Mary's, Cambridge, c. 1480, unknown D.D., in skull-cap. Little Shelford, Cambs., c. 1480, unknown. Barking, Essex, c. 1480, unknown, with chalice. Strethall, Essex, c. 1480, unknown. Great St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, London, 1482, Nich. Wotton, LL.B. Great Horwood, Bucks., 1487, Hen. Virgine, sm. Blockley, Worcs., 1488, Philip Worthyn, M.A., kn. All Souls College, Oxford, 1490, Rich. Spekynton, LL.B., sm. Welford, Berks., c. 1490, John Westlake, sm. Fovant, Wilts., 1492, Geo. Rede, qd. pi. King's College, Cambridge, 1496, Wm. Towne, D.D., in cap. Barningham, Suffolk, 1499, Wm. Goche. Great St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, London, c. 1500, unknown. Magdalen College, Oxford, c. 1500, Geo. Jassy, demi. Abingdon, Berks., 1501, Wm. Heyward, S.T.D. Magdalen College, Oxford, 1501, Thos. Mason, M.A. Magdalen College, Oxford, 1502, Walter Charyls, M.A., sm. demi. Stokesby, Norfolk, 1506, Thos. Gerard, B.C.L., mutil. King's College, Cambridge, 1507, John Argentein, D.D., in cap . New College, Oxford, 1508, John London, M.A., S.T.S. Ashby St. Legers, Northants., 15 10, Walter Smyght. All Souls College, Oxford, 15 10, David Lloyde, LL.B., and Thos. Baker, S.C.L., demi. Wantage, Berks., c. 15 10, unknown, sm. THE UNIVERSITIES 141 Broxbourne, Herts., c. 1510, unknown. St. Michael Penkevil, Cornwall, 15 15, John Trembras, M.A. Ewelme, Oxon., 1517, John Spence, B.D. Tong, Salop., 15 17, Arthur Vernon, M.A. Bredgar, Kent, 15 18, Thos. Coly, with chalice. Merton College, Oxford, 15 19, John Bowke, M.A., demi, with chalice. Cley, Norfolk, c. 1520, John Yslington, S.T.P., in cap, with chalice- Little Wilbraham, Cambs., 1521, Wm. Blakwey, M.A., kn. sm. East Rainham, Norfolk, 1522, Robt. Godfrey, LL.B., with scarf. St. Alphege, Canterbury, 1523, Robt. Gosebourne. Magdalen College, Oxford, 1523, Nich. Goldwell, M.A., sm. Winchester College, Hants., 1524, John Barratte, B.A., kn. sm. Eton College, Bucks., 1525, Walter Smith, M.A. Childrey, Berks., 1529, Bryan Roos, LL.D. Barcheston, Warw., 1530, Hugh Humfray, M.A. and S.T.B. Trinity Hall, Cambridge, c. 1530, unknown. Offord Darcy, Hunts., c. 1530, Wm. Taylard, LL.D., kn. in cap. Queens' College, Cambridge, c. 1535, unknown sm. Christ's College, Cambridge, c. 1540, unknown. Eton College, Bucks., 1545, Thos. Edgcomb, demi. Westminster Abbey, 1561, Wm. Bill, S.T.D. It must be remembered that many other academic persons are included amongst the priests given in almuces and copes, the choir and processional vestments being amply represented in the college chapels, and sometimes in conjunction with the doctor's cap. There are also a few of later date, belonging to the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. These almost invariably have mural brasses, and represent men in the ordinary civilian gown of the time, from which apparently has developed both the Genevan preaching-gown and the University gown of present use. The latter has no affinity whatever with the ancient " tabard." CHAPTER VII THE LANCASTRIAN PERIOD 1400-1453 THE number of brasses becomes greatly increased in the period which we have now reached, and it includes very many splendid examples. No finer English canopies exist than those already mentioned in the memorials of Prior Nelond, 1433, at Cowfold, and of Abbot Stoke, 145 1, at St. Albans. Indeed, several of the very best ecclesiastical brasses are referred to this period, and the same may be said of both military and civil brasses as well. And yet in the manner of engraving there begin to be signs of that general deterioration which in the next period plainly shows itself The mediaeval arts had passed their best point. There was less freedom, greater constraint and conventionality. Gothic architecture was beyond its prime, and had adopted forms less graceful than before. So with brasses we find that the lines of the engraver's work were stiffer, narrower, and cut less deeply and boldly than in the Plantagenet period. Side by side with the great brasses of the time there appear a few of inferior work, and many of small size and comparatively little interest. By way of compensation the brasses become more and more representative in character. The knights and country gentlemen of England are to be found in abundance. So are its merchants and traders. The bulk of ecclesiastical brasses are of plain parish priests. In fact, it is the upper middle 142 THE LANCASTRIAN PERIOD 143 class, always the strength of England, which will be chiefly found. Of about five hundred brasses recorded as belonging to the Lancastrian period, only five appear to commemorate members of the nobility. These, however, are of special interest, and deserve a few words of description. The first is a fine brass at St. Mary's, Warwick, once upon an altar-tomb, and adorned with canopy and marginal in- scription, but now, with its accessories lost, relaid and fixed to the wall of the south transept. It commemorates Thos. de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, 1401, in the full armour suited to his rank and importance, and with armorial bearings upon his jupon, and Countess Margaret, daughter of William Lord Ferrers of Groby, in heraldic mantle and kirtle. Her hair is partially confined within a rich net, and on her fore- head is a bandeau of jewels. The earl's jupon is charged with Gules, a fesse betiveen six crosses crosslet or, the arms of Beauchamp, and the lady's mantle is embroidered with the same ; her kirtle displays those of Ferrers, Gules, seven mascles, three three and one, or. These heraldic charges in both the figures are all wrought with an elaborate diaper, produced by delicately puncturing the surface of the plate, and by means of the same process additional ornament is also imparted to the costume. It has been pointed out that the intricacy of the design and the beauty of the workmanship evince the hand of no common artist, and that the pattern is similar to that which appears upon the cast-metal effigy of Anne of Bohemia, the Queen of Richard II., in Westminster Abbey, already described upon p. 60. As the brass is only three or four years later than the royal tomb, it is not impossible that both monuments were executed under the superintendence of the same designer. The figure of the earl, besides the flowing pattern of its diapered decoration, is pounced re- peatedly with the ragged staff, the badge of the House of Warwick ; and his feet rest on a chained bear, the other 144 THE BRASSES OF ENGLAND ancient cognizance of his family. With the exception of its occasional introduction into the works of the great German brass engravers, this brass appears to be the only example of enrichment by this species of diaper. The next brass is that of Bartholomew, Lord Bourgchier, 1409, and his two wives, at Halstead, Essex, and represents the same general style of armour and dress, though with much less magnificence and a few later details. The first wife was Margaret Sutton, and the second Idonea Lovey. The third is at Spilsby, Lincolnshire, 1410, to William, 4th Lord Willoughby d'Eresby, and his first wife Lucy, daughter of Roger, Lord Strange of Knocking. The whole brass is peculiar, and probably of local origin, by a school of engravers settled in Lincolnshire. The armour is very rich, and the bascinet upon Lord Willoughby's head is encircled with a coronal of stiff roses. The lady's elaborately netted head- dress is surmounted by a low fine coronet. The figures are not large, but rest upon an architectural base, in which shields are inserted, and below a beautiful doubly-triple canopy (six pediments), of which the side-shafts only are lost. At Merevale Abbey Church, Warwick, is the large and fine brass of Robert Lord Ferrers of Chartley, and his lady, 141 2, but without any distinctive marks of nobility. Lord and Lady Camoys, 1419, at Trotton, are not only represented by a very fine brass upon an altar-tomb, with double canopy and embattled super-canopy, but are of prime historic interest as well ; for Lord Camoys accompanied Henry V. in his first great expedition to France, commanded the left wing of the English army at Agincourt, and for his bravery was created a Knight of the Garter. The brass is an apt illustration of the words which Shakespeare has put into the mouth of King Henry V. (act iv. scene 3) in his address to the Herald of the Constable of France just before the battle— I £:*nii))B(i,BP>piiiii9:'i#ilTiaP'.irT?n"ffliflir:i=ruiin:c.iinli^ifCi