THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES i% .^!t^^ '^^ yf.^. 2J./^::^, FKOM A_ CUIRASS 1-N THE ARMOURY AT &0 0r>RICH COURT. BY THE Rev. CHARLES HENRY HARTSHORNE, M.A.F.S.A, h < > ^ I Hinc maxima cura Sepulchris > Impenditur. i. ) Pbudentius. ? M.DCCCXL. TO THE MARQUIS OF NORTHAMPTON. My Lord, When the observations in the text of the following pages were written, I did not remotely contemplate setting them forth in print. But having had it intimated to me by several, that if they were published, they might help to make more generally known the objects of the Society before which they were delivered, and perhaps also be the means of awakening more attention to an interesting yet much neglected subject of inquiry, I could not under such circumstances refuse listening to the suggestion. There is no one, to whom they can now vdth so much propriety be addressed as to your Lordship, whose refined appreciation of whatever is venerable, and beau- tiful, and TRUE, will lead you to regard with indulgence the most humble eiforts when they aim at their illus- IV tration. And if I could suppose that your Lordship deemed it needful for me to adduce other motives for thus coupling your name with the present volume, I should with greater significancy request to offer it you, as a small acknowledgment of the very grateful sense I entertain of your kindness to me as a neighbour and a friend. I have the honor to be, My Lord, Your most faithful and much obliged Servant, Charles Henry Hartshorne. COOKNOE or COGENHOE ReCTORY, NEAR NORTHAMPTON, Dec. 7, 1840. ^ ROM having undertaken to speak to you about Funeral Monuments, you may with justice accuse me of selecting a subject more adapted to depress the mind and fill it with morbid associa- tions, than one that is capable of sup- plying you with agreeable and light amusement. When you look around at the dark and cheerless forms that are suspended from the walls, you will, I am afraid, become instinctively seized with dismal appre- hensions, and anticipate that the matter of this evening's lecture will be sombre and gloomy. Nor can I delude you under the hope that it will be otherwise ; or that I shall so far change its complexion, as even to preclude the chances that the images of these mysterious and unembodied forms may rise up in magnified horror and disturb your sleep. For I am intending not only to introduce you to the personal acquaintance of these grim and ghastly figures, but also, if you will concede me a confiding attention, to carry you with me in imagination to the very graves and cemeteries I 2 FUNERAL MONUMENTS from whence they have been snatched ; and I fancy I hear some of the departed exclaim, What call unknown, what charms presume To break the quiet of the tomb ? Who is he with voice unblest That calls me from the bed of rest ? I would prevail on you to accompany me to the narrow resting-places of the dead. Let us enter reverently, as such spots should ever be approached, and contemplate the silent sanctuaries where the great and the good lie entombed. Their bones are mouldering into dust, and the monuments that decorate their shrine partake of the same fate. The hoary hand of time has spread mildew on the busts and effigies that have escaped the ravages of human despoilers, and with difficulty their fair proportions can be traced. We shall behold the pomp of marble mutilated and over- thrown, and monumental brass corroded and defaced. Yet amid this scene of havoc and death, we shall find still lingering the vestiges of genius and taste, and see the creations of the artist struggling for preservation, rising as it were superior to the shocks of dissolution and decay. Many a damp and neglected edifice yet testifies, by its shivered and disfigured monuments, that these places of worship were once more religiously guarded; they present vivid proofs of the piety of those whose names may be forgotten, but whose charity in erecting them is still a blessing. Nor, if we enter these holy places with a sober and chastened mind, shall we fail to gather therein some godly reflections, which will teach us to moralize on the vanity of earthly greatness, that will shew us our kindred with corruption, and remind us that we ourselves once bore a more intimate and close resemblance to a brighter image, though now it is dishonoured and broken. The study of Funeral Monuments may at first seem to you fatiguing and distasteful : even the very name of the subject is forbidding and chilly, and the bare suspicion IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. of this, has, I must confess, rather increased the difficulties against which I have to contend at present. If, however, it should fortunately transpire in the sequel that your fears have been diminished, and your repugnance to en- tertain the thought of such melancholy pursuits has been overcome ; if I can succeed in shewing to you that these enquiries are both profitable in the best sense of the word, interesting and instructive, — I shall then have just grounds for congratulating myself that our time has been occupied in their investigation ; and the more so, if they originate reflections that carry the mind to higher sub- jects, and add in any degree, however small, to the stock of truth and human knowledge, or in promoting the in- nocent pleasure of my hearers. There is still another difficulty that presented itself when I thought about the present discourse ; and this arose mainly from the great extent of the subject itself. For knowing how comprehensive and varied was the field of our enquiry, I felt that it would be quite impossible to glance over the whole of it, even in a very general and superficial way. It therefore occurred to me that it would be most advisable to select some particular branch of Sepulchral Monuments, to which the attention should be chiefly confined. No part of this ample subject stood forth so prominently, or appeared marked by such interest to ourselves, as those Funeral Remains that exist either in this or the adjacent counties. By this you will un- derstand that it is my intention to invest the present observations as far as possible with a local character. The earliest modes practised for the Burial of the dead in Great Britain were, 1. Under Cairns or heaps of stones. 2. Under Cromlechs, which are monuments consist- ing of three or more upright stones, with a flat one lying across the top. 3. Within Circles or enclosures of upright stones. 4. Under Tumuli or Barrows. 1—2 FUNERAL MONUMENTS These four kinds of monuments are of an age anterior to the Conquest of the Island by the Romans ; they may be ascribed to the Celtic or Belgic Britons, though there are also some that belong to a later period'. Cairns are found chiefly on mountains or hilly places, where the materials for their construction lie at hand. The mountains in Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, exhibit numerous specimens. They are almost equally abundant in the county of Cornwall and the Welsh Borders. There are several in Shropshire ; each of the three Clee Hills, for instance, furnish specimens, though from these remains being found in unpopulated and hilly districts, they have escaped notice. Few Cairns have been opened, but where- ever it has been done, they have been found to maintain a striking resemblance to each other, and all of them alike indicate a state of society that was rude and uncivilized. Cromlechs, (C. Brit, crom-lle^^ a stone that inclines,) or the second class, have erroneously been considered as Druidical Altars, or stones upon which the Druidic Priest- hood performed magical and mysterious rites — where they sacrificed human victims. This false notion, which had never anything better than conjecture to support it, has continued prevalent in the world down to the present time : and you will scarcely open a book that tells you the truth, or what the real design of these monuments was. Authors have been content to copy each others fables, none having been at the pains to excavate or dig into any of the monuments in question, so as to ascertain what was the purpose of their erection. The researches that have very recently been made regarding them by my friend Mr Lukis, in the Channel Islands, in Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, and Sark, where they abound, have set their intention completely out of doubt. Similar opera- * They are not however confined to the North of Europe, as they have been met with in the East. At Belgaum, near Bombay, are two remarkable Cromlechs, precisely like those which occur on our own continent. IN NORTH AMPTOXSH IRE. tions have been carried on by Mr Petrie, an eminent Irish antiquary, and have been attended with the same success. The general contents of these Guernsey Cromlechs consist of a stratum of burnt human bones, and coarse unbaked pottery. All the bodies appear to have origi- nally been deposited with some degree of order and care. The surface of the natural soil was rudely paved with flat beach stones. On this pavement was a stratum of rolled pebbles, on which were placed the human ashes and pottery. Above the burnt bones were flat stones similar to those forming the pavement, and over these a thick stratum of limpet shells. In some cases the urns^ when nearly perfect, contained the bones ; but generally the fragments were scattered about and mixed up with the bones. MuUers, stone-amulets, clay-beads, and stone celts, were the articles chiefly found in them. The Cromlechs are sometimes surrounded by a circle of stones, which brings me to the third class of Sepulchral Monuments I mentioned. And here again I shall correct an error equally pre- valent with the one already adverted to. For whilst the Cromlechs have been considered as Druidic Altars, these enclosures of upright stones have in turn been hitherto reputed as Bardic Circles ! by which I suppose is meant circles where the ancient bards repeated their poetic triads. But this notion is equally vague and incorrect with the former one. I had long felt dissatisfied with the idea that those circles of upright stones were applied to such refined purposes as was pretended, nor could I at all imagine that savage tribes should cultivate verse to such an extent, that the tops of the highest mountains should be consecrated to their recitation, and become almost covered with mo- numents within which the Poetic Priesthood of the day rehearsed their effusions. I could not bring myself to believe that wandering barbarians were so highly gifted; and I suspected that all authorities which would lead me to accredit such improbable notions might be in error, O FUNERAL MONUMENTS and not much better than my own. I had stated these opinions pretty boldly in print", before Mr Lukis made me acquainted with his own labours, or, in fact, before he had commenced them. The result of his operations has fully established my inductions to be facts. They have also been abundantly borne out by the excavations that have recently been carried on within the circles at Killimille in the county of Sligo, where vestiges of no less than sixty Cromlechs are visible on the top of one mountain alone. ' The only semblance of authority that I can find in support of these monuments bemg considered Bardic, exists in the Mabinogi of Taliesin, where the Bard declaring his history, says there ought not to stand where he is "neither stone nor ring" (na maen ac na modrwy); and in the obscure and mythical Gododin of Aneurin, a Cambro-British poet who flourished between 500 and 600. It has been doubted very justly whether this composition is authentic; and I think, in the examination of the question, the reference to "the Rampart of Ofer," which is manifestly Offa's Dyke, erected in the year 786, ought not to be overlooked. It is true, that mention is made of " the stone cell of the sacred fire," and this stone cell can be no other than a Cromlech, where the bodies of the dead were burned and then interred, as in fact Davies, the strongest advocate of the Bardic intention of these monuments, allows. Yet this same author talks of Cromlechs in Anglesea, in which Sepulchral Urns have been found, "as Maenarchs, or stone arks of the Triads, and those in which the British Ceres, and Proserpine, confined and humbled their votaries." And what else does Taliesin signify, than that Cromlechs are sepulchral, when he commences several stanzas with "Addfwyn Gaer y Sydd, &c.?" There is a holy sanctuary, &c. and concludes the whole with reference to funeral ashes (Uudwed), and the flat stone, or Cromlech of Maelwy (Llech Vaelwy). The whole of these poems are extremely obscure, and may be tortured to favor any con- jecture, whether it be funereal, mythological, or Bardic. No satis- factory evidence, perhaps, on either side the question, can be drawn from them. How much safer then to depend upon ocular demonstra- tion, for ones eyes assure us, whenever these monuments are opened, that they present Sepulchral Remains within them. Even Mr Turner, the vindicator of the authenticity of these fragments, calls them ' emi- nently incomprehensible' and 'involved in mythology;' yet it is from these poems alone, that any arguments can be extracted to prove that Cromlechs and Stone Circles are of Bardic intention. IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. And finally, the question has been settled by the additional evidence we have lately derived from Antiquaries at Co- penhagen, where monuments of this nature are very abun- dant. The book of Mons. Sjoborj, which treats upon them is highly valuable, and, if it were not written in Swedish, I should recommend it as extremely entertaining. The remaining class of monuments belonging to this early period that were mentioned, are Barrows or Tu- muli. These are assignable to a later age than the foregoing, and they are more numerously scattered over the surface of the country. There is not in fact any county without them. In Northamptonshire they may be seen at Earls Barton, Draughton, Cransley, Woodford, Little Addington, Irchester, Pitsford, Barrow Hill, Burrough Hill, &c. &c. With the exception of the latter, I believe none of them have yet been opened. For our insight into those which have, we are indebted to a gentleman with whose labours you must all be familiar, whose talents and perseverance have raised the history of his native county to a height which all other topographers may envy, but which, I regret to add, have not received that amount of encouragement they deserve. In the year 1823, Mr Baker, to whom I have just alluded, commenced his researches within the Roman position on Burrough Hill near Daventry. Some of the tumuli he opened had been previously disturbed, and others were unproductive. One of them, however, disclosed signs of being the burial-place of a family, as there were four distinct in- terments on the same level, with earthern urns of dif- ferent sizes containing ashes, burnt bones, and mould: the mouth of one of these was covered, as was customary, with a large stone. With one exception all of these Barrows appear to have been of a late Roman period, and were probably the burial-places of those who dwelt within the earthen walls of the camp. There are reasons for thinking, however, that one, from the peculiar nature FUNERAL MONUMENTS of its contents, (the Barrow which is not assignable to the Roman colonists,) was appropriated to a native Briton. These were not unlike what were discovered by the Rev. John Rocke, in a Tumulus at Clungunford in Shropshire. Beneath a layer of four or five inches of unctious fatty matter, to use Mr Baker's words, were found vast quan- tities of burnt ashes, and charred wood; small fragments of rude British pottery, baked in the sun, crumbling to the touch, black and sooty in the fractures, and ornamented below the rim with a zigzag or vandyke pattern'. The tumulus at Clungunford'^ had its contents covered with a grey slimy composition, extremely like mud that is thrown out of a fish-pool. It shewed the same symptoms of the bodies having been burnt, by the great quantities of charred wood and ashes that were there : boars' tusks were found among the fragments in each, and each may safely be ascribed to the same age. What that was, is a ques- tion to be answered with a certain degree of caution ; but I think I am not stating too much when I express the conviction, that they belong to the time immediately suc- ceeding the conquest and colonisation of the Island by the Romans, perhaps to about the year 150, or 1700 years ago. I lament my inability to state what lies hidden under the other Northamptonshire tumuli that I mentioned. We can only guess at the character of their contents, and the time that claims them. From being situated close to ' This is a very significant description of British pottery. Not unworthy of a place here, is the account given in the Monumenta Kempiana of some Sepulchral Vases found in Goodman's fields, which concisely distinguishes between Roman and British pottery. "Ante et post Csesaris tempora ibi fuisse sepulchretum, ut credam, faciunt vasa hie reperta; quorum alia tenuia, firma, elegantia, rubentia, pul- chre nitentia, per omnia denique figulo Romano digna; aUa e di verso, crassa, fragilia, male tornata, colore fusco, surdoque, rudi manu subacto luto, et solibus excocto, potius quam rota formata, et fornaci imposita videntur." * See Salopia Antiqua, pp. 102 — 106. IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. Roman roads or encampments, the chances are that they belong to the Romans. As searchers after truth, you will, I am persuaded, be discontented with mere surmise; and this laudable feeling will I trust stimulate the liberality of their respective proprietors to open them. AVe have now arrived at a period, when the Romans were in complete possession of the kingdom. With their arms they introduced their arts, and civilised customs. From them the Britons had been taught the practice of burning their dead. For nearly 400 years that they con- tinued to hold the country, we find various examples of Roman Sepulture ; scarcely any, indeed, during that in- terval that can safely be given to the aborigines ; the places selected for whose burial have almost escaped obser- vation : where they are it would be hazardous to say. They are certainly not in Tumuli. Chance alone can de- clare where, and how the dead bodies of the Romanised Britons were interred. The latest Sepulchral Monuments of the Romans themselves may be seen in the Bartlow Hills, in Cambridgeshire, and on the Chatham Downs in Kent; most of these have been entered by tunnelling into them, and careful accounts have been published of the former by Mr Rokewode, in the 'Archaeologia,' and of the latter by Mr Douglas, in a handsome volume, entitled 'Nenia Brit- tannica.' The late Sir Richard Colt Hoare expended con- siderable sums, and unwearied labour, in exploring the Funeral Monuments of Wiltshire; and the account of his discoveries, which by the way were nearly all British, and consequently, more interesting, are embodied in a costly, but invaluable work, that he devoted to their description. But, as I have just remarked, it is difficult to say where or how their immediate successors in the country were entombed. As far as we can authenticate them, their bodies were usually committed to the dust unburned. They were unac- companied by the rites that had marked the sepulture of the Roman ; deposited sometimes in cists or coffins of stone, at others in wooden ones; their arms and ornaments buried ID FUNERAL MONUMENTS with them ; the spear near the right shoulder, the sword on the left-hand side of the body, the shield between the thighs. Sometimes a knife, or buckle that suspended it to a belt, is found ; sometimes pendent ornaments of gold ; beads of amber, of vitrified earth and glass, broaches of silver, and pins of brass. These are supposed to be the characteristic marks that indicate the grave of a Roman- ised Briton'. The next stage of our enquiry brings us to the time of the Saxons. And here there exists great obscurity. The blessings of Christianity were in this long interval becoming diffused, and the heathen methods of burying the dead, consequently fell into disuse. I think it was Charlemagne who interdicted his subjects from placing sepulchral mounds over the bodies of the defunct, and the practice at once fell into disuse. The preaching of Augustine undoubtedly contributed to hasten new and different methods of interment. He himself was first buried without the city of Canterbury, in the open fields, near the church of St Peter and Paul, then unfinished ; but on the dedication of that church, his body was removed and deposited in the north porch, where the five succeeding Archbishops were also buried; Theodosius, the seventh Archbishop, who died in 690, being the first who was buried in the edifice. It was not until 752, that the Pope gave his permission to Cuthbert, the eleventh Archbishop, for cemeteries, or church-yards, to be formed 1 In a fragment tliat is printed in the first volume of tlie Welsh Archaeology, we learn that they were sometimes huried on the tops of hills and lofty cliffs, on declivities, in heaths and secluded valleys, on the banks and near the fords of rivers, and on the sea-shore, " where the ninth wave breaks." (See the Mic Dinbych, of Talicsin, in Welsh Archseologia, p. 67.) Allusions are also made to correspond- ing stones raised on these graves; and it is said, "the long graves in Gwanas no one knows to whom they belong, nor what is their history. Llywar9 Hen, a bard who flourished in the middle of the seventh century, in his elegy on Urien Reged, speaks of the corpse being 'left under stones:' under the greensward and a tumulus." IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 11 near the churches themselves'^. And thus they have con- tinued to the present time. The ordinary funeral of the Anglo-Saxon was simple. The body being enveloped in linen, was carried to the grave by two persons ; one supporting the head, the other the feet, whilst the priest burnt incense over it, and repeated the accustomed prayers and benedictions. According to the means of the defunct, the services performed over his remains were distinguished by pomp and religious solemnity. If he were an ecclesiastic, his body was carried by those of the same rank in the Church as himself. The corpse of a deacon was carried by deacons ; priests were carried by priests. The superior was not permitted to carry his inferior, nor did the clergy carry the corpses of the laity. Bishops were usually buried in their sacerdotal habits ; with their signet on their finger, and the crosier by their side ; sometimes the chalice and paten were interred with them^. But we rarely meet with relics in the tombs of ^ Weever, p. ix. 3 Thus, in 1813, the remains of Bishop TrUleck were found in the Cathedral of Hereford, with those also of his pastoral staff, and a gold ring. Others have been found at Chichester, and elsewhere, of which the reader will find an account in Mr Bloxam's excellent little work on Monumental Architecture, see pp. 72 — 77. On the last illness of a Bishop, and when there appeared no hope of his re- coveiy, he made a full confession of his faith and took the Viaticum, which was brought to him by the most dignified of the chapter, all the clergy standing round in their ecclesiastical habits, and tapers burning. Before he communicated, he put on his Rochet and Stole. And, finally, whUe yet his senses remained, he again made his con- fession, and received extreme unction. The dead body having been washed with wine and warm water, it was clothed first in the com- mon garments of the defunct to his Rochet, and then with his sacer- dotal vestments in which he used to celebrate, first with his caligr^, a covering that went from the thighs to the knees, then his sandals, and successively his amice, albe, girdle, stole, maniple, pectoral cross, tuni- cle, dalmatic, gloves, planet or chesible of a violet colour, his ring, mitre, and even liis pall with the smaU pins that fastened it, and, lastly, a cross was put in his hands. 12 FUNERAL MONUMENTS the laity. The common people were buried without coffins, the wealthier in coffins of wood or stone, and the funeral services in honor of the latter were continued so long as he chose to pay for them'. Thus, if the deceased were wealthy, he ordered masses to be said for the benefit of his soul ; requiems to be sung that he might rest in peace ; chauntries^ to be founded wherein the priest might sing ' Some of the early bequests on this subject singularly shew a mixture of avarice with devotion: thus, in the will of Joan Lady Cobham, there is a desii'e of procuring as many services as possible in the shortest time, and for the least money: for instance, seven thousand masses arc ordered to be said for twenty nine pounds three and fourpence. Alice Lady West (1395) orders that four thousand and four hundred masses should be sung and said for the soul of Sir Thomas West, her lord and husband, her own soul, and all Christian souls, in the most haste that may be, within fourteen nights next after her decease. (See Testamenta Vetusta, p. 71, and pp. 137 — 8.) Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester, appointed in her will (1399), that at each of the masses ordained for herself and husband, before the priest commenced, " Et ne nos &c.," he should pronounce with a loiid voice, turning towards the people, ''for the soul of Thomas, some time Duke of Gloucester, and Alianore his wife, and all Christian souls, for charity paternoster." {Id. p. 147.) Cardinal Beaufort orders (1446) that ten thousand masses should be said for his soul as soon as possible after his decease, namely, three thousand of requiem, three thousand 'de rorate coeli desuper,' three thousand of the Holy Ghost, and one thousand of the Trinity. {Id. p. 250.) Ed- ward, Lord Hastings, (1506) orders Placebo, Dirige, Commendations, with mass of Requiem with other orisons and prayers, to be said for seven years for the benefit of his soul, and bequeaths ten marks a year to the priest for these observances. {Id. p. 476.) George, Earl of Shrewsbury, (1537), orders sixpence each to a thousand priests to say Placebo and Dirige for him ; and three priests, for the space of twenty years, to sing for his soul. {Id. p. 680.) These expences were defrayed by a rent charge on the testator's estate. - Thus, in Northamptonshire, we find Chauntries founded in the churches of Lowick, by the Earl of Wiltshire, for two priests in 1498; at Aldwinckle, by William Chaumbre and his wife (4 Henry VII.) for the prosperity of the King, and the safety of their souls. This Chauntry is now down. A Chauntry was founded circa 1343, by William de Cugenho, in the Church of Cogcnhoe or Cooknoe ; but it IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 13 or say services for the soul's estate of the founder, for his family or his friends ; and those who were unable to pur- chase these supposed means of liberating them from the torments of purgatory, satisfied themselves by ordering in their wills that wax tapers should be kept burning over their tombs', whilst again others more needy signified their wishes in their epitaph, "beseeching us of our charity to pray for the souls of the departed." These bequests will often explain the irregularity that marks several of our churches * ; many of the ex- cresences on the North and South sides of the buildings having been occasioned by such endowments. The religious ceremonies that mark the rites of Burial since the Reformation, must be too painfully familiar to require any comment. We have hitherto been speaking of Funeral Monu- ments, from the earliest age down to the introduction of Christianity. During the whole of this period, we ob- serve but one class of possessors of the island who sought to hand down their names by inscriptions upon the mo- numents themselves. The Romans placed grave-stones to the memory of the dead, and these have repeatedly been found in different parts of England ; but always without the walls of the town or city where the first inhabitants dwelt. Burial, either by simple interment, or is now down. There was a Chauntry at Boughton; others were founded at Rothwell and Rushton, besides, perhaps, some others in different churches. 3 Over the effigy in the church of Cogenhoe, and over that of Sir William Lyons at Warkworth, are small windows now filled up, through wliich the light of the tapers burning over the tombs was seen from without. The weight of these wax tapers was frequently 20 pounds each, whilst that of the mortiers was 10 pounds: it was not unusual to have as much as 200 pounds weight of wax tapers burning round the deceased. * Thus Stanley, Bishop of Ely, ordained in his will (1514) that a chapel should be built to 'rest his bones in,' and twenty pounds a year each were left by him for the maintenance of two priests to sing therein. Test. Vetust. p. 536. 14 FUNERAL MONUMENTS by burning, was forbidden by law within the city itself ; and the Romans carried the same customs with them into their provincial settlements. From the commencement of the eleventh century, to which period we have now arrived, down to the present moment, interment of the dead has been effected either by placing them in coffins of wood, or stone, or lead. Owing to the perishable nature of the first material, but few specimens of this kind of sepulture have survived ; we gather the fact, chiefly from the nature of the mould surrounding the bones that have escaped decay. Stone coffins were hewn out of a single block, wider at the head than the feet, with the upper end rounded inside, so as to adapt itself to the shape of the body. They had little apertures at the bottom to act as a drainage. Specimens of these may still be seen in the churches of Harrowden Parva, Canons Asliby, Strixton, and Castle Ashby, in this county '. The lids of these coffins were at first coped, or an- gular- : by degrees they became decorated with trefoils, crosses and other ornaments ; which again led to de- vices emblematical of the profession of the person whose remains were underneath. Thus the Cross denoted it was an ecclesiastic — the Sword, that it was a warrior. ' Garinus, 20th Abbot of St Alban's (circa 1195), changed the custom of the Monks of that church being interred in mere common graves, and ordered that they should be buried in cofl&ns of stone (Matt. Paris, p. 1040, edit. 1684). He was also the first Abbot of this church who celebrated in his sandals, gloves, and ring. {Id). ^ Sometimes called en dos d'dne, or the ass's back. Of this kind a very curious one of a priest may be seen in the Abbey Church, Shrewsbury, where an ecclesiastic is represented with a bell over his head, and a chalice with wafer in it by his side, with a book and candle below. I have seen several curious monuments of this sort in different churches in North Wales ; at St John's, Chester ; at Quatford, and Buildwas Abbey, Salop ; at Skenfreth, Llantoni Abbey, and Tintern, Monmouthshire; besides in cathedrals and other early ecclesiastical structures. IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 15 Such stones are very commonly found on the sites of old religious foundations ; such as abbeys, monasteries, and cells of mendicant friars. Some have recently been found in this town. They abound in the churches and church-yards of North Wales'^. From the emblems or insignia of a person''s calling, it was an easy and natural step to give a representation or effigy of the person himself, and thus the practice commenced of placing recumbent figures on the tombs of the deceased. When I use the word commenced, I of course limit its signification to the Sepulchral Re- mains of this country ; for the Etruscans, some thousand years ago, long anterior to the very earliest time I have mentioned, placed these kind of monuments over their dead \ So that it seems, effigies of stone even 700 years ago were but ancient inventions revived ; and on the other hand, coffins of stone have been returned to in the present day ; a person residing in London having recently procured a patent for their manufacture. And this may be noticed as an incidental proof, how frequently mankind, whilst affecting to despise antiquity and the habits of their ancestors, yet at the same time have not been ashamed to appropriate to themselves the honor of their inventions without acknowledgement. The earliest effigies of stone are those lying over the tombs of Ecclesiastics, and they are generally the least worthy of notice as works of art. They present little variety of costume ; the clerical habit in which they are represented being subject to none of those alterations 3 About this time we first meet with Longobardic inscriptions. The earliest specimen that I have hitherto seen is in Brixworth Church, Northamptonsliire. * In a collection of Etruscan antiquities lately exhibited in London by Signor Campanari, several of these were exhibited. Some recum- bent figures, the size of life, of the later days of the Roman Empire, may be seen in the British Museum. 16 FUNERAL MONUMENTS which mark the dress of the laity, and which render that so pecuharly interesting to the artist, the antiquary, and the historian. The only examples of Ecclesiastical effigies to which I can refer you in this county, are those in the Cathe- dral of Peterborough. The finest that lie near to it are, one in the church of Ivinghoe, in the county of Buck- ingham, and at Stoneleigh, in the county of Warwick. The earliest are those of the Abbots which lie in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey, which may be assigned to the years 1082 and 1117; those of the Bishop of Salisbury, which comes a little later, and the effigies of St Oswald and Wulstan, in the Cathedral of Worcester. These are the earliest specimens. They are executed in low relief \ and were introduced about the time of the Conqueror, probably by the Normans. • Mezzo-Relievo, and Basso-Relievo, or Relievo in general, in its original signification must have been taken from a globe or some such simple figure, half of which is sunk in a fond. Complex figures must in all cases have many of their parts compressed and bent towards the fond, as well as in Basso-ReUevos flatted. Reliefs are indicated gene- rally by the ancients under the term Anaglyphum : when executed in metal they were called toreuma, but the name assigned by Pausanias is typus. In reality there are but two kinds of Relievo; statue being a different thing. 1. Alto-Relievo, or more than half relievo. 2. Mezzo-Relievo. And both may be flatted. When Alto-Relievo is so, it does not project so far from its fond as a statue of the same tiling would do, having the same quantity of it buried in that fond. Mezzo-Relievo so flatted makes what is constantly and properly called Basso-Relievo, Bas-Relief, Low-Relief, and this is what we commonly meet with in Sculptural Friezes, Tablets, Medals, Coins, &c.; indeed a real Mezzo-Relievo /^ ^ is hardly to be found. The highest relief ! ■ in coins of Nero, or Greek Medals even, falls very far short of half the thickness of the human head A to B, but yet it is sufficient to cause enough variation of light and shade to make the thing IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 17 Of stone effigies of the laity, from the twelfth cen- tury down to the present time, ahiiost every church you enter exhibits specimens. I will only direct the attention to those in your own county, and briefly clas- sify them, so that you may see their respective ages and relative value in point of antiquity. Cross-legged effigies, or as they are more commonly called, Crusaders, under a fanciful idea that they went to the Holy Land, are monuments of the highest de- gree of interest. Whether the individuals they represent actually entered on tliis religious enterprise or not, it is impossible to say. They have at all events, the credit of having done so,- and though the name is ob- jectionable in the same degree as ' DruidicaF monuments has been shewn to be, yet they each serv-e to distin- guish works that belong to a particular age^ ; and it is A intended to be represented distinct and intelligible; and indeed to give a very fair and good idea of it There is one kind of Basso- Relievos, which is very uncommon, that is, where the rounding of the figure begins, a thickness of the stone is left standing thus / N ; which renders the outlines very plain and distinct, ^^^ — ^ whereas in very low relievos they sometimes cannot l)e well ascertained. One thing peculiar to the moderns has a very bad eiFect, and indeed is absolutely wrong. The Ancients in their Relievos usually give us the heads either in profile or in front directly, rarely in any o1)lique view : but there are instances of modern Relievos where it is managed in such a way that if we stand a little on one side it appears hideous, with great part of the face cut off and sunk in the fond, as may be seen in a Monument in the Church of W^histon, and some in Westminster Abbey. This is not Alto-Relievo, but a most injudicious attempt at Mezzo-Relievo, or Basso-Relievo, allow- ing a multiplicity of outlme, and producing absurdity. Antique Basso-Relievos are never so much raised as to endanger the spectators losing sight of their outlines at any point, from which he is at all likely to look at them. Some moderns ones are ; especially some by French artists. ^ There is no actual proof that effigies representing the defunct with his legs crossed have reference to his having gone to the Cru- 2 18 FUNERAL MONUMENTS worthy of notice, that they are pecuhar to Great Britain. Effigies >of Crusaders then, or as I should famiharly call them, of Cross-leggers, abound in this county. The churches of Castle Ashby, Stow Nine Churches, Dodford, Cold Higham, Braunston, Barnack, Sudborough', Rushton, Warkworth and Cooknoe, have all fine specimens, and all of them exhibit slight differences of costume ; pre- cisely, no doubt, as the deceased used to dress them- selves. Nay, further, it is more than probable that these effigies were as close likenesses of the personages themselves as the sculptor could possibly make them. There is as much reason for such a supposition, as there is for thinking that those at present are executed with such an intention. The hand of the same artist is frequently perceptible in these works, though nothing has yet transpired to inform us who they were. From having carefully drawn and examined the fine effigy of forest marble that adorns the church of Castle Ashby '■^ sades. In entering upon this speculation it ought not to be forgotten that the fashion continued for more than half a century after the cessation of the last holy war, whilst several effigies of a much later period are thus sculptured. It may be asked likewise why monu- ments in this attitude should be confined to England, whereas the continent partook equally in the religious phrenzy, and even priests, according to Ordericus Vitalis, shared in the enterjirise, yet we no- where find an Ecclesiastic in this attitude. Wliat Mr Bloxam says is well worth notice, Avhen he intimates that the surcoat by its flowing outline gave greater elegance to the monuments by having the legs crossed, than if they were straight. (See Glimpse, p. 138.) The hand in the attitude of sheathing the sword has also been conjectured to signify that the defunct performed his word ; but I am fearful that all of these cliivalric notions partake too much of that imaginative spirit, that renders them so peculiarly pleasing in poetry. ' It is the effigy of Sir Robert de Vere, who went to the Ploly Land and was slain, when the Saracens took Lewis, the French King, prisoner. (See Holinshed, Matt. Par. 766. 757). ^ Effigies in Forest Marble are uncommon, and from its peculiar hardness as well as the distance from which it was procured, they must have been costly. The Effigy in the Church of Castle Ashley is in a high state of preservation, merely a prominent part of the face IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. ] .0 and also proceeded in the same way with respect to that of Sir William Keynes, in the church of Dodford, I am induced to believe they are both executed by the same individuaP. Mr Way, from having drawn the superb freestone effigy of Sir Wni. Lyons, at Warkworth^, subsequently detected, whilst drawing another at Clee Monger in Here- fordshire, by the peculiar spirit and vigor of the effigy, by the minute attention paid by the sculptor to elabo- rate points of detail, and by the characteristic impress of the chisel upon the stone, that it was the work of the same artist who executed the monument in Northamp- tonshire. Immediately after the Crusades, which were probably the means of introducing a richer and more florid species of decoration into our monuments, the arts of ai-chitecture and sculpture arose to a prodigious height of perfection. During the reigns of the first three Edwards, they acquired a degree of magnificence, that has been un- known since that period. In proof of this, there need only be recalled to your recollection the two beautiful crosses that exist at Hardingstone and Geddington, in this having been destroyed. I have detected paint upon several parts of it, and there is little reason for doubting that nearly the whole of the Effigies now remaining were oiiginally ornamented in this way. ^ The Effigy of Sir William Keynes (circa 1344) is remarkable for being one of a very limited number (not I tliink more than three altogether) that represent tlie defunct in banded mail. A second is at Tollai-d Royal, county of VFilts. In Sepulchral brasses it is a more common feature. * This most beautiful and elaborate monument lies on an altar tomb, in the dilapidated little Church of \Farkworth. Every point of the figure has received the sculptor's careful attention. In allusion to the arms of the deceased lions are the predominating onianient. Thus, one is spiritedly represented on his shield ; another sits on his body to keep the shield from pressing it. The baudrick, roundels, handle of sword, and misericord, are similarly decorated. It is among the finest works of art of the Edwardian Period in Great Britain. The Church is rich in brasses, carved oak, and sculptured corbels. 20 FUNERAL MONUMENTS county, which were erected by the affection of the first of these monarchs, as a means of indicating to posterity where the remains of his beloved consort Eleanor rested on the way from Herdeby in Lincolnshire, where she died, to their final interment within the walls of Westminster Abbey'. The attention need only be called to the statue of the queen herself" — to the monument of her ill-fated son in the Cathedral of Gloucester — to that of Edward III. in the Confessor's Chapel at Westminster — to those of Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, who commanded the armies of Edward I., and to Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster, in the same building. All these examples of monumental sculpture are of the most chaste and exquisite kind, whether we look at their conception as works of genius, or their execution as objects of art. The pure and placid expression of moral beauty that is stamped on the countenance of Queen Eleanor, the natural and easy recumbency of the figure, and the simple yet graceful flow of the draperies, render her effigy the most remarkable in that national sanctuary. If we look at the effigy of her ill-fated son, it at once conveys the idea of regal and dignified station : nor is it less worthy of observation for the sumptuous canopy under which it lies, with its rich pinnacles and tracery, than it is for the solemn repose of the figure itself. The death of Eleanor's son (1327) is too remarkable ' The other crosses were at Lincoln^ Newark, Grantham, Leices- ter, Stamford, Stony-Stratford, Wobum, Dunstable, St Albans, Wal- tham, London, and Westminster. ^ I have little doubt that the architect of the cross at Harding- stone was the sculptor of the exquisite and graceful effigy of Scholastica de Meaux in the neighbouring Church of Gayton, and each of them betray the same hand that is visible in the effigy of Eleanor herself, in Westminster Abbey. The Church of Gayton is unusually rich in Monumental Remains, and the few injuries that time has made in them have been faithfully repaired under the direction of the learned and excellent incumbent, Dr Butler, Chancellor of the Diocese. IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 21 not to allude to. In the absence of Lord Berkeley from his Castle, where Edward had been confined through the intrigues of Queen Isabella and her paramour Mortimer, he was murdered by his ruthless keepers. His assassins are said to have entered his chamber in the dead of the night ; they first threw him down on a bed, and held a table over him, and then thrust a red hot iron through a pipe into his bowels, which prevented any external signs appearing to betray the dreadful agonies they had inflicted. The ancient walls of the Castle, and the shores of the Severn resounded with his dying shrieks. The peasant was aroused from tranquil slumber, so little known to the royal couch ; as our poet says in allusion to the event : Mark the year, and mark the night. When Severn shall re-echo with affright The shrieks of death thro' Berkeley's roof that ring, Shrieks of an agonizing king ! She-wolf of France, with unrelenting fangs, That tear'st the bowels of thy mangled mate. By a benevolent establishment of nature, these modes of death are often more terrible to those who see or hear of them, than painful to the sufferers, who are often more commonly relieved from them by death, than the murderer contemplates. He was buried in the Abbey Church of Gloucester, without any tribute of pity or regret from the people, whose unrelenting indifference to such a fall, and to royal sufferings, cannot be disregarded in the estimate of his character^. Again, if we observe the other monuments I men- tioned, we shall discern the same taste predominant — the hands uplifted in the attitude of prayer, representing the deceased in his last days beseeching mercy at the throne of grace : we shall observe what delicacy and sanctity of thought possessed the mind of the artist, when we see the angels represented as supporters to the ^ See Mackintosh Hist. vol. i. p. 286. 22 FUNERAL MONUMENTS head, and the tenderest sentiments of concern variously expressed on the countenances of the relatives, who are ranged in order round the basement — all forcibly arrest- ing the attention — concurring to fill the soul with sacred emotions, and to carry the thoughts not only to other ages, but to higher states of existence. Whilst the statuaries were sculpturing these monu- ments from the living stone, other artists, where there was no material of the kind ready at hand, or adapted to the purpose, were carving effigies out of wood. These figures which are all of an early date, are more common in Shropshire (which is chiefly an old red sandstone formation, and therefore unsuitable for works of art) than are effigies of the preceding class. They may be observed also at Gayton, Woodford, Alderton, Paulerspury and Cold Higham, in this county'. Our time will not permit me to speak more particularly on this branch of the subject, and I must pass over too briefly the monuments of the next two centuries, in which were executed those to the Greens, at Green's Norton'', ^ Nearly all the wooden effigies that I have seen are of the same age. Amongst them are three very fine ones carved in chestnut^ in the Church of Little Horkesley, Essex, intended, as I imagine, to "William de Horkesleigh, Emma his wife, and their nephew John de Roos. Another at Elmstead in the same county : one in the Priorial Church of Abergavenny, assigned by Churchyard in his Worthiness of Wales, to John de Hastings : one of oak at Pitchford, and another at Berrington, county of Salop : three, one of them apparently to a dwarf, or youth, at Clifton Reynes, county of Bucks : Robert, Duke of Normandy, in the Cathedral of Gloucester : two at Hildersham, county of Cambridge ; besides others. * The Monuments at Green's Norton are much defaced. Those in the Church of Lowick, (which structure may perhaps challenge even that of Tong in Shropshire, for its monuments, stained glass, and architectural beauty) are admirably preserved. Both the elaborate decoration of the building itself, its elegant octagonal lantern and richly ornamented tower, as well as its sumptuous interior, render it, for its size, one of the most imposing churches in Great Britain. It will well repay the antiquary and artist for diligent examination IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 23 and Lowick; some of those to the noble family of the Spen- cers at Brington ; and to the Parrs (1546) at Horton. Whilst still later may be enumerated some in the beautiful church of Easton JNIaudit to the Yelvertons (1611 — 1703); those at Weekly, to the Montagus; those at Dean, to the Brudenels (1531 — 1652) ; those at Faws- ley, to the Knightleys : a costly and cumbrous one at Raunstone, to Lord Nottingham, and that at Stowe Nine Churches, (1617), to Lady Danvers'^ It would be difficult to represent these accurately, and impossible to describe them. They should all be visited, if a person wishes to gain any satisfactory know- ledge of what they are : and there is not one church that has been enumerated, but what will amply reward him for the trouble of looking within its walls. and drawing. The grey and simple monument of Edward Stafford, Earl of 'W^iltshire, (1499,) in tlie South aisle, is solemn and imposing. That in the North chancel, of Ralph Grene and his wife (1459), is a most refined conception of the sculptor, who, from the style of it, was probably an Italian. There is an air of gallantry in the idea of the husband having cast aside his gauntlet to take hold of his wife's hand ; a placid and noble sentiment, not to say a devotional one, characterises tliis splendid memorial of an ancient family. But all description of such things is superfluous ; they can only be understood by contem- plation and study, and no individual's mind can be thoroughly imbued with chaste notions of English art, or capable of rightly appreciating creations that are marked by genius and tnith, unless works Hke these receive his attention. A knowledge of them serves to advance not merely the cause of antiquarianism, but it enriches the mind, makes the eye conversant with the swelling outlines that gi-aceful figures assume, and in fact refines and dignifies, at the same time that it excites the better feelings of our nature. In Halsted's Genealogies the whole of the monuments at Lowick are engraved, as well as those to the Lords jVIordaunt, at Turvay, in Bedfordshii-e, and Robert de Vere, at Sudborough ; unfortunately tliis elaborate and beautifully executed work is rare and costly, and therefore less known than its interesting contents deserve to be. ^ It was the w^ork of Nicholas Stone, statuary and stone-cutter, master-mason to James and Charles the First, and cost £220. (See AValpole's Anecdotes of Painting, vol. ii. p. 23.) 24 FUNERAL MONUMENTS From the foregoing observations, it will readily be gathered, that Monumental Sculpture has been encouraged to a very great extent in this country ; sometimes in- conveniently so, and to the detriment of church accom- modation ; the building frequently being circumscribed through the number of its effigies in relief, and the space for pewage consequently lost. These circumstances gave rise to a totally different kind of monument to those already described ; that is to say, different as to surface and material, but not at all so in the valuable results that they offer to the en- quirer. The fashion of representing on tombs the likeness of the deceased, graven on a plate of brass, which was im- bedded in melted pitch, and fastened down by rivets to a slab, either of sandstone or forest marble \ appears to have been adopted about the middle of the thirteenth century. They are recorded to have been introduced into England long before any specimen now existing. That of Simon de Beauchamp, who completed the foun- dation of Newenham Abbey, and died before 1208, and was buried in front of the high Altar, in St Paul's Church, at Bedford, is the earliest instance that can be quoted. They were not unfrequently placed to the memory of Ec- clesiastics, during the remainder of this century ; though none of them have remained to the present day. The earliest Sepulchral Brass perhaps that continues is the fine one of Sir Roger de Trumpington, which may be assigned to the year 1290, as he died in the year preceding. Having brought our subject to this point, it becomes needful to explain more particularly the nature of this class of monuments, and to state how they were manufactured. In its original and more perfect state, the Sepulchral ' The Kirdford Quarries, in Sussex, fumisli this kind of marble in the highest perfection : the material lies from ten to twenty feet heneath the surface, embedded in flakes from nine inches to a foot in thickness. (See Dallaway's History of Sussex, vol. ii. p. 367.) IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 25 Brass was a work of great beauty. It may be said to be a copper-plate engraving, from which, as you may observe by the surrounding examples, impressions could readily be obtained. And considering that the art of engraving was not discovered until 1460, or two hundred and sixty years later than the invention of these sepulchral plates, it seems surprising that with them in existence, the art of taking impressions should have continued unknown during the whole of that interval. The discovery of copper-plate engraving is attributed to Mazo Finiguerra, a Florentine goldsmith, who was ac- customed to take impressions in clay of every thing he cut, and to cast melted sulphur into the mould ; at last he hit upon a method of taking impressions of them on paper, by smearing the figures of sulphur with oil and lamp black. And this further led to the discovery of multiplying im- pressions from blocks of wood, or the art of wood-engraving, which was so successfully practised immediately afterwards by Albert Durer; to whom it may be said that the art of Xylography owes its origin. It is very remarkable, I repeat, that with the Sepulchral Brass already in existence, the practice of transferring impressions from it should have remained unknown during the whole of this period of two hundred and fifty years ; especially when we see how readily they are obtained — a point to which I shall come presently. From careful examination of these brasses, it is evident that the incised lines were filled up with pitch, or some dark resinous substance. The armorial bearings, as well as parts of the figures, were also ornamented with coloured mastick, or coarse enamel, in the same way as all the effigies of stone. The injuries of time have spared but few of these decorations, though traces of their existence are sufficiently obvious. Of this kind, there is still remaining a small mural brass of the highest beauty in the Quay Church, at Ipswich, and another, less costly, in St Peter's Church, at Colchester. 26 FUNERAL MONUMENTS Sometimes the metal surface was gilt, and diapered, or punctured with fine lines, as in the instance of the brass to Sir Thomas Beauchamp and Lady, in the Church of St Mary, at Warwick. The most sumptuous brasses of this kind still remain- ing are all of Flemish workmanship. They are those of Thomas de la Mare, Abbot of St Alban's, engraved in his lifetime, about 1360^ ; one, extremely beautiful, to an ecclesiastic in the Church of North Mimms, Hertford- shire^ ; two sumptuous ones at Llynn — one to Adam de Walsokne and his wife, who died 1349, — the other to Robert Braunche and his two wives, in 1364^, and one to Alan Fleming, at Newark. They are all by the same hand, and, with one exception, they are as much remark- able for their magnitude as for their elaborate execution. It has been supposed that these Monuments were intro- duced into Great Britain by the Flemings, that they came chiefly from Ghent, and are therefore mostly found in those counties where they traded for wool. This very reasonable conjecture will serve to explain why we meet with them in greater abundance on the coasts that lie nearest to their continent. In Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Kent, they exist in a greater proportion than in other counties. The influence of this taste extended itself very widely through Leicestershire and Northamptonshire. In the latter county, we have still remaining 1 36 examples ; the number of those originally existing cannot be computed at less than four times this number. Every church we enter exhibits proofs of the despoiler ' by the marks where these memorials were ' This has been engraved by Carter. ^ Engraved in Clutterbuck's Hertfordshire, and about to appear in the forthcoming number of the Illustrations of Sepulchral Brasses published by the Cambridge Camden Society. ^ Engraved by Cotman. "* A great number of those in the Cathedral of Peterborough, were destroyed by a part of the Parliamentary forces on their way to attack the Royalist party at Crowland, in the middle of April, 1643. They are stated to have rifled the tombs and violated the monuments IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 27 let into the stones. These indents disclose in some degree the character of the brass itself, and on that account they are always worthy of observation. I need only illustrate this remark by saying, that recently the knowledge of the former existence of two others have been added to the five specimens of cross-legged brasses (like Trumpington) which were known ; and a friend of my own has proved, by no- ticing the indents, that brasses once existed in the churches of the Channel Islands, of a nature precisely like those of the time of Queen Elizabeth, though the brasses themselves of the dead, beginning with those of the two Queens interred there. First, the tomb of Queen Katharine and the black velvet pall that covered the hearse, were demolished, and then the gravestone itself was displaced. The body of the Queen of Scots, with the hearse and pall, had been removed by James I. to ^Westminster Abbey when he came to the crown, or it might have shared the same fate; but the royal arms and escutcheons were pulled down and torn. The monuments of Bishop Dove, Mr Worm, and Dr Ainger, were also destroyed. Sir Humphrey Orm, to save his heir the expense, had thought fit to erect his monument in his lifetime, and he had the dissatisfaction of seeing it fall a sacrifice to their indignation, and himself carried about in effigy. It is reported, on the same authoi'ity, that the soldiery next forced off the Sepulchral Brasses with their inscriptions. One to the memory of Abbot William, of Ramsey (circa 1496), whose gravestone was plated over with brass, was among the number that are lost. There was also a brass here to Robert Thorp (1372), and to WiUiam Thorp (1375). However, all of this sacrilegious work must not be attributed to the Puritans, because, when Elizabeth visited Fotheringhay, she found the monuments in that beautiful church to Edward Duke of York, who was slain in the battle of Agincourt, in the 3rd year of Henry V. and that of his nephew, Richard Plantagenet, who was slain at Wake- field, in the 37th year of Henry VI. so defaced, that she ordered them to be restored (1.573). All the National Monuments in her day were so much neglected and mutilated, that it became necessary to ensure their protection by legislative enactments. A proclamation was accordingly issued in the 2nd year of her reign, and another in tlie 14th, to hinder them from being broken up and defaced by the ignorant zeal of covetous and malicious fanatics, as well as to shield the memory of virtuous and noble hearts, and places of prayer, from slanderous desolation. 28 FUNERAL MONUMENTS are gone\ As we travel westward, such monuments be- come more rare. There are but few in Warwickshire, Worcestershire, and Gloucestershire — scarcely one in Shropshire, except at Llanwryst, none in North Wales — whilst the last, though of very careful and minute work- manship, are of a small size. These brasses to the Wynns, at Llanwyst, are in several respects worthy of attention. They are among the latest of importance with which I am acquainted, and they are cut with a degree of delicacy that no line engraver at present need feel ashamed to own. From a careful examination, I am induced to consider they were intended for portraits of the deceased. It is singular that the name of their engraver, Silvanus Crewe, (an artist whose works are equal to those of Marshall, or Faithorne,) should have entirely escaped the notice of biographers of the fine arts. The latest Sepulchral Brass in England, that has hi- therto attracted notice, is that to the memory of the learned Jeremiah Markland, in the year 177^, in Dorking Church"'^. ' It is important to notice the indents, or sunken parts of the surface of slabs when the Brasses themselves are gone, as they gene- rally furnish an accurate idea of what was there originally. Gunton speaks of a Brass to the memory of Senour Gascelin de Marham, which represented him cross legged with a dog at his feet, but de- spoiled in his time. (See Histoiy of Peterborough, p. 94.) 2 Since this was written, I have become acquainted with the ex- istence of two others, executed at a much more recent period. One of them was placed about ten years back in the church of Yarnton, near Oxford, to the memory of Alderman Fletcher, representing him in a civic gowTi. The other is lately put down in the ante-chapel of Caius College, Cambridge, to the memory of the late Master, Dr Davy. I believe it was suggested by the Rev. J. Smith, felloAv, and the design made by Mr Shoubridge, a pensioner, of the same college. Whether 1 look at the chaste style of this monument, or at the rich contrast between the brass and its enamels with the fair marble in which the figure and its architectural accompaniments are inlaid, I cannot sufficiently admire it. Mr Shoubridge has shewn great taste IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 29 The earliest in Northamptonshire, is that of Laurence Seymour, Rector of Higham Ferrars, (1337^) The brasses of the Chetwodes, at Warkworth, are all within the first twenty years of the 15th century, and they are all interesting — so are those at Wappenham. Those of the Andrewe family, at Charwhelton, are extremely curious. At Brampton by Dingley, is one to a Knight, exhibiting some singular points of costume, and there is a fine one at Cotterstock, to a Provost'. in the conception, and proved that this species of monument, under such treatment, is still applicable to the purpose for which it is designed, and in point of beauty and richness imsurpassed by any, I would take the liberty to suggest that a work so delicate should be placed against the wall, instead of under foot, as a means of effectual preservation from the injuries it must necessarily receive in its present position. 3 That to William de Rothwell, at Rothwell, who died Arch- deacon of Essex in 1361, comes next. He was instituted incumbent of the Vicarage of Rothwell about the year 1820, and successively became Archdeacon of Essex and Prebendary of Croprych, Ferring and Yalmeton (Hallaughton ?) and Confessor to the King, wliich indicates that he was a person of importance. The style of art is rude, and so far as execution and design is concerned, it is a work assignable to the above period. The Scripture underneath, as the inscription was called, is incised in two parallel columns. On the right side it is thus : " Nunc Xre te peto. Misere queso qui venisti redime p'ditum noli dapnare me tuu redeptu." On the left side: " + Pur lalme William de Rothewelle qi cy est sepule jadis Ercliidakn de Essex Provendier de Croprych Ferryng & Yalmeton anoine (or anome) Prietz au Roy de glorie qe de lui eueyt pyte en honour de qi devoutement dites Pater noster et Ave." As William de Rothwell was appointed Archdeacon of Essex by the King, June 20, 1351, (Pat. 25. E. III. p. 2), and John de Barnet his successor, Nov. 80, 1361, (v. Le Neve, p. 190), the date of this Rothwell Brass therefore must be assigned to the year 1361. * This list might be rendered complete if it were necessary; but I shall only mention those Brasses that are best worth notice. Ashby Ledgers Church has two fine ones to the Catesbys, 1464, etched in Mr Baker's History of the County: there are also others. At Ald- winckle AU Saints is a good Brass to John Aldwinckle, 1463. At 30 FUNERAL MONUMENTS The latest Sepulchral Brass in Northamptonshire, with which I am acquainted, is to George Butler, in 1685, at Ashton le Walls. This much will serve to convey a general idea of this species of Sepulchra^l Monument. I shall now proceed to treat of those impressions from them that are hanging up, and endeavour to point out such features as render them most worthy of attention. And in the first place, their value to the historian, the genealogist, the antiquary, and the artist, is very consider- able. As subordinate illustrations of history, as notices of heraldry, as faithful pictures of the fashions and habits of succeeding ages, and as signs of the gradual decline and debasement of art, from the Edwardian period to the present day; — in all these several respects Sepulchral Brasse are monuments replete with interest'. Blakesly, Matthew Swetenham, Kt. 141G, fine. At Brington, a priest on a bracket (privately etched by Mr Geary.) At Charwhelton, Tliomas Andrewe, jun. and wife, 1490, Thomas Andrewe and wife, 1441, with others. All of these are fine, and that to Thomas Andrewe highly curious, as representing a smgularity of costume. Chacomb, a Brass illustrative of the Trinity (1500). Canons Ashby, Sir John Dryden 1584. Castle Ashby, an Ecclesiastic in a Cope: fine. Cotterstock, Robert Wyntryngham, a fine specimen of a Priest, 1420. Dodford, two very pretty speimens of Knights, 1414 and 1422. Fawsley, some to the Knightly family. Greens Norton, a fine one to Sir Thomas Green and wife, 1462. Grendon, two or three Knights, and all good. Heyford inferior, a fine Brass to Walter Mauntell and wife, 1497. Higham Ferrars, a magnificent specimen of an Ecclesiastic, a cross fleury, and eight or nine others, most of them good. Great Harrow- den, an excellent example of a Knight. Horton, three good ones to the Salisburys. Lowick, one to Henry GrcMjn and wife, 1467. VTap- penham, several, and each of them good, especially one to a I^ight, which is very much mutilated (his elbow-pieces are fastened by spring pins): the Brass to Sir AVilliam Prelatte (1462) at Cirencester is in all respects, like it; and one to Judge Billing, 1479. It is needless to specify others. All these early Brasses were probably imported from Flanders. ' Nor is mere curiosity the only feeling that they are able to gratify. A recent decision on the Camoys Peerage having shewn that Brasses were important evidence. ir %f <^i!* ^^ "STmiftipf but IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 31 It will be enough now for our purpose merely to single out one from the variety of topics they serve to elucidate ; and we will examine them simply with reference to the light they impart about costume. Commencing with the earliest known specimen, that of Sir Roger de Trumpington, we observe him depicted in the dress of a warrior of the 13th century — " In glittering arms and glory drest." And this may be appealed to by the historical painter, the actor, or the novelist, in the exercise of their respective pro- fessions, to settle the exact portrait of a warrior of the time. With such models as these to study and consult, there is no excuse for them departing from a true and faithful portraiture, or for clothing their heroes in garments that were never worn ; for anticipating fashions by centuries, or covering the body with habiliments as unlike their real ones, as our modern clothes will be to those introduced two or three hundred years hence — when hats and bonnets will be supplanted by more graceful coverings — when perhaps, our conquerors from Pekin will have brought into vogue their own modes and materials — when the wear of ]\'lan- chester cottons will be superseded by the silks wove at Weedon and Blisworth, and Roade, and when this flourish- ing town of Northampton will have dwindled into a dila- pidated village, and all its coimnerce and wealth have become transferred to the Railway Stations. The order in which Sir Roger de Trumpington, and Knights of the period, clothed themselves in armour, was most probably this". 2 Chaucer, in his Rime of Sire Tliopas, describes the manner in ■\vhicli tliat Knight dressed himself to have been thus. First of all he put on his shirt, which was made of "cloth of lake;" over that came the Haketon, and to this succeeded the Hauhergeon, (Lat. Halsherga) ; then the Hduherk (Lat. Hanhercum: Fr. Hauher), the Jambeuux, &c. (See vv. 18785 — 1381}}). A Plastron defer was sometimes placed under the hauberk, to keep it from injuring the body. 32 FUNERAL MONUMENTS First of all, they put on the Shirt\ which was made of linen or silk. Then they drew on the C/iausses, or pantaloons of maiP. To these succeeded the Gambe- ' The small pieces of fine linen found in Manuscripts that are designed to protect the illuminations will convey an idea of the per- fection to which this material was brought at a very early period. ^ Chaussons or breeches were worn over the Chausses, and were made of thick cloth. (See the Monument of Robert, Duke of Nor- mandy, in the Cathedral at Gloucester.) The Effigy of "Vtllliam Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, in the Temple Church, and that of William de Golding, in Rushton, county of Northampton (circa 1250) have Chaussons: so have most of the wooden effigies. Poleyns were generally fastened on their knees. The body armour may be distinguished, says Sir Samuel Mey- rick, by the appellations of trelliced, ringed, rustred, mascled, scaled, tegulated, single mailed, and handed. An example of the Trelliced may be seen in the seal of David, Earl of Huntingdon, as engraved in Anderson's Diplomata Scotiae. Ringed Armour consists of flat rings of steel, placed contiguous to each other, on a quilted linen tunic. The form of the Rustred seems to have grown out of the ringed armour that was used at the Conquest, being nothing more than one row of flat rings, about double the size of those then used, laid half over the other, so that two in the upper partially covered one below. Mascled, or Maculated hauberks, were composed of several folds of linen covered with diamond-shaped pieces of steel touching each other, and perforated; and so called from their resemblance to the meshes of fishemien's nets, termed, by the Romans, macula?. The perforations in the rustres being found too large securely to protect the body from the points of adverse weapons, originated the Scaled. Tegulated succeeded the scaled, and was made of little square plates, covering one another in the manner of tiles. (See the Lontrell Psalter, Monumenta Vetusta, vol. vi. pi. 20.) Single Mail was composed of rings set edgewise on quilted linen, and came into use about the close of King John's reign. The single mail was liable to be cut off^ by the blow of a sword, and the tunic laid bare, which was an evil that occasioned the use of Banded, which consisted of alternate rows of leather or cotton, and single chain mail. Double Chain Mail: an example of this may be seen in the effigy of Robert de Roos. (See Stothard, pi. 38.) IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 33 son^, which was a vestment fitting closely to the body, and reaching to the middle of the thighs. It was generally quilted and stuffed with cotton, to keep the Hauberk, which came over it, from chafing or pressing the body. The upper part of the Hauberk, or that part covering the head is called the Coif de Mailles or Capuchon\ or The Seal of John (1199) presents the first instance of an English king wearing a surcoat. Surcoats originated with the Crusaders. (Meyrick, vol. i. p. 99.) The Armilausa was the forerunner of the Surcoat, and different from it in having sleeves, which that had not, and also in being longer. The Hauketon was stuffed with cotton, the gambeson with wool. A Brass in the Church of Chatham to one of the Harflete family exhibits a specimen of the Hauketon at the wrists and below the hauberk : so does the effigy at Asli, in Kent. (See Stothard, pi. 61.) Tlie Hauqueton was worn sometimes alone, and sometimes like the Wambeys under the Hauberk. The Jack (Lat. Jaquetanus, Jacobus) was another garment not unlike the Hauqueton. It was made of very thick materials, usually of leather. The sleeves fitted pretty closely to the anus ; the vest- ment round the body was buttoned down in the front, and had a puckered shirt reaching to the knees. The effigy of Eudo de Arsic is represented wearing one. ^ The Gambeson or Wambeys, from its derivation originally im- plied a covering for the belly (A. Sax. Wamb. Germ. Wamhe. Lat. gamvisum). It was sometimes called Subarmale. It was made with sleeves and reached to the middle of the thigh, was usually stuffed with wool and stitched down, or padded in parallel lines, as may be seen in the effigies of Sir William Lyons, at Warkworth ; Sir William Keynes, at Dodford, county of Northampton ; Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, at Hatfield Broad Oak, county of Essex (1221); Richard Wellysbume de Montfort, at Hitchendon, county of Bucks (126.5) ; Sir John de Ifield, at Ifield, Sussex (1317) ; Sir Roger de Kerdeston, at Reepham, county of Norfolk (1337) ; Sir John de Ercal, at High Ercal, county of Salop, &c. &c. * Fr. Capuchon, Chaperon, Coifde Mailles : (Lat. Capitium e ferro,) a hood of mail. The Chapelle de fer, or flat cap of iron (Lat. Capel- lina), was worn over the mail, as may be observed in the effigy of Geoffry de Magnaville. (See Stothard, pi. 10.) The Cerveliere was I conceive simply a skull-cap, less pointed than the Bascinet: the Dictionary de Trevoux says it was invented by 3 34 FUNERAL MONUMENTS Hood. It is sometimes thrown back ' : and occasionally bound round over the forehead with a plain jillet. At the back of the shoulders were affixed the fanciful decorations of Ailettes or Gonfanons, which at a later period were fastened at the end of a lance. These were orna- mented with the armorial bearings of the wearer. Over the Hauberk came the Bliaus or Surcoat, which also was frequently charged with the arms of the wearer, as may be witnessed in the figures of Sir Ralph Verney, in Aldbury Church, co. Herts, and Wra. Catesby, Ashby Ledgers, co. Northampton. A narrow waist-belt, Cingulum, confined the Surcoat to the body ; and a larger one, called a Baudrick, (Lat. Baltheus aureus gemmatus), was buckled on to carry the sword. The shield was suspended by a Gi^ue or small strap, which took some of its weight from the left arm. The feet were inclosed in Sahbatons, or shoes of mail, having the heel shod with a short Prick Spur. The feet generally rest upon a Lion or Dog, the pre- cise intention of which has hitherto escaped observation. The head rests on his Bacinet % or conical head-piece of steel or iron, fastened by a chain to the Cingulum. Michael Scot the astrologer (circa 1240). It is represented in Stot- hard, pi. 61. (Consult Meyrick, vol. i. p. 166.) The AventaiUe was a plate that protected the face, having openings in it. The same object was also attained by a closed helmet with merely an Ocularium to look through. There is a fine specimen of this kind in the Hastilude Chamber at Goodrich Court. '■ In the Effigy of Robert, Earl of Clermont, one of the beautiful etchings by the late Mr Kerrich, which were the model followed by Stothard, but not equalled by him, we see the hauberk in folds round the neck. ^ The earliest kind of head-piece was the Coif de Mailles ; after this in due succession came the ChapeUe de fer ; then the Bascinet ; then the Salade whose characteristic mark is the projection behind. The Salade or Sallet, had sometimes a moveable vizor (Lat. video). The Bascinet had a Ventaille, Baviere, and Visor, attached to it, and removable at pleasure. The Helmet was seldom used except at the .M ^ c[> ..^^r ^^i P''"- l-iii.^ «,w^--' (iffi a ^^ \ w ^>>pii!£,^ I ./^x &v\ i.Y-:'' ^^i:'^J^M±^^ Btr 3(!Jkt k ffrA^. IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 36 The first important change observable in the equip- ment of a warrior, consists in the admixture of plate with chain armour. The use of mail gradually became less, until it ceased to be worn, except at those parts where freedom of action for the limbs, and for the bend- ing of the body, was essential. The expence also of mail might in great measure have hastened its disuse. In the brass of Sir John de Creke (1324), in the church of Westley- Waterless, co. Cambridge, we find the front of the arms covered with plate, instead of mail ; and the gauntlets no longer entire, but divided into fingers. Sometimes we see the knuckles ornamented with gads or gadlings. The HauberJc is shorter, and bears the name of the haubergeon. He also wears the Cyclas '\ Instead of a Surcoat we see a shorter and closer vestment called a Jupon ', which was usually of silk, tournament. It was sometimes protected by a Mentoniere (Lat. Men- tonalis), or plate over the chin. The Beevor (Fr. boire) was worn with the Mentoniere, it covered the mouth and was lifted for drink- ing ; the Vizor shut over the eyes. The Mentoniere was screwed on the upper part of the Placcate. Sometimes a demi-Mentoniere was put over the Beevor, and made to correspond with the air holes in that, but with larger perforations. I believe I am indebted to my friend Sir Samuel Meyrick for this information, but to which of his works I cannot tell. Bourgoinots succeeded the helmets. Then came Casques. Sometimes Casques have Orcillets or pieces overlapping the ears: and lastly Morians, iron hats, or pot-helmets. ^ The Cyclas, Ciclaton, or Siglaton, was a military garment not unlike a Dalmatic, but shorter before than behind. It was made of woven gold, sometimes of silk and emblazoned. It may be seen in the effigy of Sir William Lyons, at Warkworth ; in those of Sir Oliver Ingham (1343), and John of Eltham (1334); in the Brass at Minster, in the Isle of Sheppey ; and in those of Sir John de Creke, at West- ley Waterless, county of Cambridge, and Sir John D'Aubernoun (1327), at Stoke Dabernon, county of Surrey. * The Jupon as a military garment (for it was also ecclesiastical), was of silk or velvet, and succeeded the Cyclas, being worn over the armour: it was frequently emblazoned with the arms of the owner. 3—2 36 FUNERAL MONUMENTS embroidered, pamboised, or quilted, and charged with the armorial bearings of the wearer. Instead of Chatisses, the front of the thighs are covered by Cuisses or Cuissarts : the legs by Jambs or Greaves^ or shin-pieces': the knees by genouailles. A CamaiP or tippet of mail is occasionally fastened to the Bacinet, by a lace or Vernille; the joinings being often hidden by the Orle or Chaplet, a device borrowed from the twisted tur- bans of the Saracens, and still retained as the support of our modern crests'^. Between the elbow and the top of the shoulder are Brassarts \ fastened by straps inside the arms. The top of the shoulder is ornamented by Epaulieres ; at a later period they are jointed like a lobster's tail. The elbows were guarded by Coutes, or Coudes, and downwards to the wrists by Vamhraces. (See Plates 4, 5, and 6.) There are SoUerets on the feet, formed of separate lames or pieces of steel. Gussets of mail were often put on the instep to ease the bending and motion above the ankles. Creke has the rowel or wheel-spur at the heels. In addition to the large sword on the left side there is often a small dagger or anelace, called a misericord or knife of mercy, because with this the conqueror put ' Shin-pieces, bainbergs, or broigns (Germ. Beinhergen, Lat. Bru- nia) were at first made of leather or quilted linen. " The Monument of Thomas Berkeley, 1243, is the earliest in- stance of the Camail attached by a cord to the round skull cap. The Camail was the hood of mail deprived of its coif, and took its name from its resemblance to a camel's hair tippet, as is conjectured by my friend Sir Samuel Meyrick. (Vol. i. p. 141.) ^ Crests (Lat. tymhricg) originally were conferred as marks of favor by sovereigns ; thus Edward III. in 1333, granted one to WOliam Montagu, Earl of Salisbury. (Meyrick, vol. ii. p. 96.) •• The Avant Bras, or pieces for the fore arm ; the Arriere Bras, a piece for the upper arm. (Meyrick, vol. ii. p. 189.) The Avant Bras was the same as the Vam Brace — the Arriere Bras like the Rere Brace. ilr '^^ ^ €hmne. 1575 » IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 37 an end to the pain of his captive, by using it to stab him, after he had been disabled with the larger weapon. The Brass of Sir Thomas Cheyne^, exhibits a good specimen of Pourpoint''. Betwixt this and the fore- going there are points of material difference. In fact every brass I have yet seen exhibits some feature pecu- liar to itself, just the same as we observe in the dress of those around us, no two persons being dressed precisely alike. The Cuisses of Sir Thomas Cheyne, are of Pourpoin- terie. His Sabbatons or shoes of mail are formed of small overlaying pieces of steel, like scales : they are im- bricated Sabbatons, tegulated Sollerets, laminated Pou- lains, or scaly shoes, the only examples known to exist. In the brass of his son we see another change. This suit may be looked upon as a fashionable dress of the period, and its wearer considered a beau. ' He was standard-bearer, " dilectus armiger suus," to Edward III., Constable of Windsor Castle, and Ranger of Guildford Park. Rot. Orig. pp. 287, 294. '' The seal of Heniy the Third affords the earliest specimen of Ponrpointerie (Lat. perpunctuni). It resembled the Hauketon in being stuffed : externally it was embroidered, or covered with silk, and was furnished with sleeves. The Pourpoint and Jacke, seem to have had little difference. About this period we first meet with Mamelieres or breast-pieces, to which were attached chains connected wth the sword-hilt and the scabbard. See specimens of these in the cross-legged Brass in the Isle of Sheppey, and on a Knight of the Blanchefront family, engraved in Stothard, and in the Brass of Ralph de Knevynton (1370), in the Church of iyveley, county of Essex, recently engraved in the accu- rate and beautiful work publishing by Messrs Waller, which on this subject leaves nothing to desiderate. The Pourpoint was not quite so stiff and inflexible as the Hau- queton, nor so tliick and clumsy as the Gambeson or Wambeys. Its character may be traced in the name Perpunctuni, stitched through, so as to appear on both sides, but with the threads knotted on the exterior, as it were emliroidered. Its facing, or covering, was usually of silk. It was furnished with sleeves. (Sec Meyrick On the Ancient Military Garments worn in England : Archseologia, vol. xix.) 38 FUNERAL MONUMENTS The Cuisses are just like his fathers, and are most likely what he wore, as armour was so costly that it frequently descended from father to son, and is the sub- ject of testamentary bequests His knee-caps, or Genonuailles, are singular, being not unlike pot-lids. The Jambs or Shin-pieces are also highly curious, and very uncommon; being formed of straight bars or strips of steel, decorated with studs. His Sollerets are like those of Robert Albyn, in the church of Hemel Hempstead; and he has the rowel-spur. The Camail also is unfrequent, being formed of banded mail, like that worn by Sir John Creke, and by Sir Wm. Keynes, at Dodford. The plate representing Sir John Wydeville, grand- father to Elizabeth Woodville, consort of Edward IV. is taken from an incised alabaster slab, in the church of Grafton Regis, It possesses some curious points. In the first place it represents him in a suit of armour, almost entirely Plate ; chain-mail having now gone out. The hood is pointed, and studded with nails. He wears a Hausse Col, or Gorget, round his neck'. There are Pallettes, or small circular plates at the joints of the arms and shoulders. A Cuirass'- covers the breast. The body from the waist to the hip is protected by Taces, composed of six lames, all of them ornamented with studs. The chain-apron is seen beneath them, and has the form of the tuilles of the next reign, and therefore, as Sir Samuel Meyrick thinks, are their prototype. And 1 The Gorgette of Chain- Mail, Lat. {Gorgalium) sometimes called the Fendace or Protector, is represented in the brass of Sir Hugh Hastings at Elsyng, county of Norfolk (see Cotman, pi. 1); on the incised slab of Sir John Wydeville (1892) at Grafton Regis, county of Northampton ; and on the brass of Lord Beaumont and Bardolf, in Wivenhoe Church, county of Essex. 2 Another name for the Cuirass is the Hallacret. The projecting ridge of the breastplate is called the Tapul. 5lr3«.l)EimjWiiHf.IM2, ht %hMnt^ "3^ ■^mfittt. 143 ®o IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 39 the head rests on his tilting-helm\ which was made of laton or burnished brass. The Brass of Sir Thomas Bromflete' in Wymmington Church, CO. Beds. (1430), is a fine example of a knight in a complete suit of plate', though those in the church at Dodford, are of a previous time. The earliest of this cha- racter is perhaps Sir John Lysle (1407), in Thornton J^ATA/^tX,^^^ Church, Hampshire, engraved in the second volume of Gough's Sepulchral Antiquities. In the Brass of Bromflete there is no appearance of chain-mail in any part, neither jupon, nor gambeson. There are plates on the knees, and below ; fan-like pieces on the elbows ; palettes over the arm-pits, and a simple bacinet on the head. A baudrick, or ornamented belt, goes diagonally from the hip to tlie thigh ; he has sollerets on his feet, and wears the rowel- spur. It is the finest specimen of a brass representing a Knight in plate-armour in existence. Sir Thomas Green has a Pauldron'"' over his EspauUeres or Epaulettes, with the edge turned up, as a pass-guard. There is a lance-rest on his cuirass, or buckler. The brass also of Robert Ingleton, at Thornton, co. Bucks, has a pauldron, and pointed coutes. The Brass of William Viscount Beaumont, Lord Comyn, 3 In the effigy of Sir Oliver Ingham (1343), we find the first ap- pearance of the Tilting-helm. (See Stothard, pi. 66 and 67.) ^ He was cupbearer to Henry V. * Or probably the earliest example of plate is found in the monument of Sir Humphry Littlebui-y, in Holbeach church, county of Lincoln. (See Stothard, pi. 75.) '^ The Pauldron, or Shoulder-shield, was not unlike a gambado in form ; it was worn on the left shoulder. The earliest specimen of it that I have met with, is on the brass effigy of Richard Beauchamp (1439). The brass of Sir Thomas Shernbourn, at Shernbourn, county of Norfolk (1459), and the monument of John, Duke of Somerset, (1444), exliibit early examples. The first approach to the use of the Pauldron is seen in the brasses of Sir Nicholas Dagworth (1401), in Blickling Church, county of Norfolk ; and in those of Sir George F'elbrig at Playford (1400); and Sir John Wingfield at Leatheringham (130O), county of SuifoJk. 40 FUNERAL MONUMENTS Bardolf and Erpingham (1507), is remarkably fine. It furnishes an example of the Orl, or crest, round his tilting-helm ; he has a gorget of chain-mail round his neck ; a curved lance-rest' on his right side ; tuilles^ buck- ' The Lance-rest was a small projecting piece of steel that was screwed upon the Cuirass (Lat. Curacice), against which the vamplate of the lance rested, helping to relieve the arm from its great weight. In the Hastilude Chamber at Goodrich Court, there are specimens affixed to the different suits of armour. Representations of it occur in the brasses of Sir Thomas Green (1462), Green's Norton, county of Northampton; Sir Miles Stapleton at Ingham (1466); Sir Henry Grey at Ketteringham (1492), county of Norfolk, &c. (see Cotman); and Lord Bardolf (1507), at Wivenhoe, county of Essex. Another piece of armour, worn on the breast, was the Placcate or Placcard. It was fastened on the breast-plate by three screws. (See a specimen in the Hastilude Chamber, Goodrich Court.) A Shoulder- shield was occasionally screwed on the Placcate; and it formed a grand guard on the breast-plate. The Placcate is represented in Stothard, pi. 131. (1475). They are sometimes called a Pair of Plates. The effigy of Richard Beau- champ has a Demi- Placcate. The brass of Sir Thomas Peyton in Isleham Church, county of Cambridge (1484), has the Moton, another kind of protection for the right shoulder, and also a Demi-placcard. The Moton answered the same purpose as the Palette. At a later period (1481), a Garde-brass (Lat. Bracciaiuola) was laid on the upper part of the gauntlets ; see monument of John, Earl of Arundel. (Stothard, pi. 119.) The Garde-de-Bras was also a large curved plate, occasionally worn on the left elbow. There is a speci- men of it in the Hastilude Chamber at Goodrich Court. (It is repre- sented pi. Liii. of the Critical Enquiry.) - The Tuilles or Toiles, (Lat. Tegulee) were flaps of plate ap- pended to the lowest tasse, by straps and buckles; and which, as the term signifies, hung over the thighs like tiles. Lord Bardolf has Tuilles appended to his tasses. Tuilles were usually pointed, of one piece, fluted, like those in the armour of the footmen in the Has- tilude Chamber, at Goodrich Court. When they lost their point, and there was a pocket underneath, they were called tasses. The diff^er- ence between a Tuille and a Tuilette is this ; a Tuille consists of one piece, a Tuilette of several. The brass of Sir Bryan Stapleton (1438) in Ingham Church, county of Norfolk, (see Cotman, pi. 22,) repre- sents him in Tuilles. In the effigies of Richard Beauchamp (1439), IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 41 led to his taces" ; chaucons of mail underneath ; poleyns on his knees, and poulains' on his feet. The Brass of his wife is equally fine. She died 1537, having married, after her first husband's death, John the fourteenth Earl of Oxford. She is buried by the side of her first husband. The Brass represents her with a coronet on her head, to which is attached a Veil. She wears also the Cordon and Cloak of Estate. That of Sir Ralph Verney, and Wm. Catesby, are remarkable for the emblazoned surcoat — the petticoat of mail^ and tuilles. These points are all highly characteristic of this period. (1546) Up to the final disuse of armour, which its weight was gradually bringing on, something was annually left off". We now see nothing but protections for the breast, the leg, and arms — by degrees all these vanished — and in the year l640 they wear the appearance of the dress repre- sented in the brass of George Coles, in St Sepulchre's Church, in this town. It would occupy too much time to trace these monu- ments lower — in fact, after this period their value in great measure ceases. We will now turn our attention to the Ecclesiastics. John, Lord Talbot (1453), and Robert, Lord Hungerford (1455), the Tuilles are all pointed and fluted. When the Tuilles were behind, they were called Culettes. (See Stothard, pi. 124.) When the two were united, they were_ termed Brichettes (Lat. Braccse). The brass of Sir Henry Gray (1492) in Ketteringham Church, county of Norfolk, having seven tasses, has very small Tuilles. His Lance-rest, like that of Sir Thomas Green, is hooked or curved. (See Cotman, pi. 40.) The l)rass of Sir Robert Clere in Ornisby Church (1529), county of Norfolk, has Tuillettes. (See Cotman, pi. 62.) So has that of John Corbet at Sprouston. (pi. 71.) The brass of Lord Bardolf has Tuilles. ^ The earliest specimen of plate armour with Taces, is seen in the monument of Sir Humphrey de Bohun, in the Cathedral of Hereford. (Meyrick, vol. ii. p. 57.) ' Fr. Poulaines, pointed shoes: they were introduced from Po- land. (See Roquefort Gloss.) 42 FUNERAL MONUME.NTS In these, very few variations of costume are traceable. Before the Reformation, the different vestments worn by the Clergy underwent but little change. A little more than a century ago, however, the Roman Catholic Priests of France made innovations in the forms of several — in the shape of the chasuble, the maniple, and the stole, for instance, by curving the right lines at the sides of the two latter, and changing the ends of the former from being pointed, to making them nearly round, or square. The order in which the Roman Catholic Priesthood vested themselves at the period when the surrounding Ecclesiastical Brasses were engraved, was the same they follow at present. The Amice, (Lat. Amlctiis, amicire,) a small oblong square linen vestment thrown over the back of the neck, and partially covering the shoulders, and tying before, was put on first. It was considered by some figurative of the helmet of salvation ' ; others thought it allusive to the duty of restraining the tongue , and others again fancied it had allusion to the description in the Apocalypse (chap. x. 1), where the angel is de- scribed as clothed with a cloud. I shall, however, leave these points to be settled by those who feel a particular interest in vindicating the figurative representation of the vestments themselves, it being simply my province to describe them, and more especially with reference to the Brass of Laurence Seymour, (see plate 7) who died about 1337. Having bound on the Amice the priest next put on the Albe, so called from its colour, being made of white linen It bears also the names of the Camisia^ and Linea: by Eusebius and Gregory Nazianzen it is called the Tro^rj- ' Thus when the Amice is put on there is an appointed prayer in the Breviary for that purpose, which has reference to this point. ^ See Psalm xxxix. 1 . ^ Camisia is a word derived from the Lat. Barb. Cama, which signifies a bed; from that a night-shirt was called Camisia, and hence the French Chemise. JkwmliE^^ t^ §i&mt$ Tfcimt4!>. 153^7, IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 43 pr)^, in Latin Talaris, because it descends to the feet : though it is never allowed actually to touch the ground. This garment is worn at the present day by priests, deacons, and sub-deacons, whilst offering mass. Origi- nally it fell in ample folds, but during the middle ages it became plaited, in which form it still continues. At the bottom, (as may be seen in the brass of Laurence Seymour, there was usually a lace border. The Albe in some degree answers to our surplice, though it is not so full in the sleeves, or in the body generally : it does not however supersede the use of the surplice among Roman Catholics, as they use two or three different kinds of these, according to the respective de- grees of the wearers. Of these surplices, that called the Roman surplice, bears the closest resemblance to ours. The Albe was bound round the waist with a Girdle, (Lat. cingulum, haltheus, zona), which was tied in a Roman knot in front. At the present time the girdle is white and like a cord, having large tassels at the ends; formerly it was like our surcingle for the cassock, more like a broad band.* The Stole was a narrow strip of fine linen thrown over the shoulders, and reaching below the knees ; the ends of it were decorated with gold fringe, and the * The Albe as used in the Western church is mentioned as early as the fourth Council of Carthage (252). It is directed by the English Ritual to be worn by the bishop, presbyters, and deacons, in celebrat- ing the Eucharist. (Palmer's Antiquities of the English Ritual, p. 316.) Thus in the Ritual of 1549, it is appointed that " Where- soever the Bishop shall celebrate the holy communion in the Church, or execute any other public ministration, he shall have upon him, beside his rochctte, a surplyss, or albe, and a cope, or vestmente, and also his pastoral stafFe in his hande, or else borne or holden by his chaplain." When the Church Inventory vias. taken at Peterborough, 1539, as I have reckoi^ed them up in Gunton, there were no less than three hundred and eighteen Albes belonging to the Cathedral. (See History of the Church of Peterborough, p. 59—61.) 44 FUNERAL MONUMENTS intervening part embroidered with various ornaments. Its original name was the Orarium, from the Latin ora\ because it was first used merely as a handkerchief to wipe the face, but by degrees became unfit for this purpose, from being rendered so rich and costly. In the Reformed Church it is still used under the slightly changed form of the scarf. It is used by priests and deacons, but with this trifling difference; the priests wear it over both shoulders, the deacons only over their left"^. 1 The etymologies of the word are different according to the sense of it. It may come from ora, the border or edge, because it appears just below the Chasuble ; or from os the mouth, from being first used as a pocket-handkerchief. * The Stole, like all the other ecclesiastical vestments, had a figurative meaning. Alcuin and others thought it represented the Obedience of Christ. (Alcuinus de Divin. Offic. 1. 88.) Whilst some again conceived that it intimated the duty of spiritual prayer, in reference as 1 imagine to the title Orarium: thus, they adduce the passage from Scripture, "Orabo et mente; psallam spiritu, psallam et mente." (Casalius de Veter. Sacr. Christ. Rit. p. 154.) The sub- deacons were forbidden its use. (Durantus de Ritibus, p. 321.) The Council of Mayence (818), ordered that priests should wear the Stole to indicate that they belonged to the Sacerdotal order. The Council of Braga (562), decreed that deacons should not cover the Stole, but wear it over the shoulder to distinguish them from subdeacons. (Fleury) The Stole found with the remains of St Cuthbert had the groundwork woven exclusively with thread of gold, and upon this was embroidered the representation of the prophets, Jonas, Jeremiah, Daniel, Amos, &c. (Raine's St Cuthbert, p. 202.) Until within the last few years the use of the Stole or Scarf was confined in the Reformed Church of England to bishops, chaplains of the nobility, and doctors in divinity. Of late, however, it has been universally worn by the London clergy. The antiquity of the vest- ment will hardly be disputed, but the privilege, if it be one, of wearing it, seems ambiguous. The Eastern and Western churches have worn it from the sixth century, but its use is nowhere men- tioned in the English Ritual. Of the vestments covering the shoulders or upper part of the body, the following were the principal ones, and, as far as I can make them out, the chief characteristics that distinguished them. IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 45 The Maniple,^ (Lat. ma/ms), so called because it slips over the left hand, was originally a narrow strip of linen to cleanse the face, and serve the purpose of a napkin The Amictus was tlie same as the Humerale of the Jews, bearing analogy to the Ephod worn by the Levites. In the Sepluagint it is termed 'ETrw/xk, or Superhumerale. It was introduced into the Roman Catholic Church about the eighth century. (Caspar Calvtir, Rituale Ecclesiasticum, p. 482.) In the Benedictional of St iEthelwold, as illustrated in the Archicologia, (vol. xxiv.) the Confessors, Gregory the Great, St Benedict, and St Cuthbert, are represented with the Superhumerale, joined with the Rationale, and likewise the Pallium. There is much difficulty in distinguishing between these ornaments ; writers on the subject seem rather confused, and uncertain where the distinction lies. Mr Rokewode says, "That the Superhumerale re- sembled the Pallium or Pall in shape, and was an ornament of silk or other stuff over the shoulders, with a label in front and behind, but wanting the crosses of the Pallium, and of the Greek Omophrion, which it resembled." The Rationale, also borrowed from the Jews, was a small square decoration for the breast, made of cloth, embroidered with jewels and gold, and connected with the Superhumerale. Writers are at variance about the nature of this ornament likewise ; Menardus considers it an ornament for the breast : the voluminous Gretser thinks it much the same as the Archiepiscopal Pall, and Du Chesne endeavours to shew their identity. The Pallium or Pall was a mark of high dignity, and was the peculiar distinction of sovereign pontiffs, patriarchs, and archbishops, and occasionally conferred by the Pope upon his legates and nuncios. In 74.5, Egbert, Archbishop of York, recovered the honor after it had been unconferred since the first archbishop. OfFa obtained, by great solicitation, from Pope Adrian, the Pallium for Ealdulf, Bishop of Lichfield, (See Matt. Westminster, pp. 271. 27fi.) In 1152 Eugene III. sent into Ireland four Palls for the four archbishops. It appears from the dissertation appended to the Acta Sanctorum, (See Propylyeum ad Acta Sanct. Mali. P. i. p. 208) that the Pallium was in use in the sixth century, but with a different form, and that its shape became changed in the eleventh century. TertuUian describes a Pallium in use in the Church in his days somewhat different from that used in the Roman Catholic Church. " In viris autem Pallii extrinsecus habi- tus, et ipse quadrangulus, ab utroque laterum regestus, et cervicibus circumstrictus, in fibulae morsu humeris acquiescebat." (Lib. de Pallio, c. 6.) Not very unlike this is the squared hood worn by 46 FUNERAL MONUMENTS or handkerchief; it is now merely an ornamented band, wrought with embroidery and fringed with gold thread. the proctors in the University of Cambridge. The Cope was some- times called Pallium Pluviale. The Pall was made of white lamb's avooI, in the form of a band, a part of it like a collar went over the shoulders and round the neck, and two ends hung from it, one before, the other behind; in the tenth century, like the Greek Omophrion, they reached below the knees ; at present they terminate in a point below the breast. The end before is double ; that behind single, and each of them are embroidered with four purple crosses. The wool of which the Pall is fabricated is sheared from two lambs, which some of the order of St Agnes offer every year upon the anniversary of her feast, during which they sing at mass Agnus Dei. They are received by two canons of the Church of St John Lateran, who place them in the charge of the subdeacons of the Vatican, whose business it is to feed, and at the proper season, to clip them. It is their peculiar province also to manufacture these Palls, which when they are finished, they carry into the Church of St Peter and St Paul, and place on the grand altar, and then make their prayers over them the whole of the night, according to the appointed method. As I read in the Ceremoniale Episcoporum of Clement VIII., the form observed in the delivery of the Pall is this: first, mass is celebrated; the Palls, being wrapped in silk, are placed on the centre of the altar; and when Mass is finished, the bishop or his com- missaries, vested with the Amice, Stole, Cope, and simple mitre, sitting before the altar upon their Faldstools or other seats, receive from the newly invested priest, who is clothed in all his pontificals, except his gloves and mitre, the oath of fidelity to the Apostolic see. The senior bishop then rises, and places the Pallium upon the shoulders of the recipient who remains on bended knees, the former saying from the Pontifical, Ad honorem omnipotentis Dei, &c. And this being done, the newly invested dignitary ascends to the altar, carrying his cross before him, and blesses the people, saying. Sit nomen Domini, &c. (See also Casalius de Veteribus Sacris Christianorum Ritibus, p. 159.) ^ It was sometimes called the Fanon, or Phanon, the Sudarium, Manuale, and Mappula. The Greeks and the Maronites wear it on both arms. The bishops of the Latin Church only put it on at the feet of the altar after the confession, when the subdeacon places it on the arms. Durantus says it was substituted in lieu of a napkin. IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 47 A sixth vestment, which was common to all priests and deacons* of the Latin Church, was the Chasuble^, (Lat. casa). It is kno\vn under the various terms of chasuble, chesible, and vestment. It descended before and behind in a point, as it was originally shaped, but of late years it has been squared at the extremities, with the corners slightly rounded '. This is the richest garment worn by the priesthood when they celebrate mass, being always made of silk, and embroidered with gold. The ancient form is full, and falls in folds over the arms when they are raised, the modern one is scanty. A cross is usually fixed on the back by the English, which the priests formerly used to wipe the tears from their eyes, the perspiration from the brow, and the moisture from the mouth, whilst they celebrated mass. Its application for all these purposes was metaphorically applied to a spiritual use, as in the other cases I have mentioned. (See Amalarius and Durantus.) Two Maniples were found in the tomb of St Cuthbert. (See Raine, pp. 205-210.) Formerly the Maniple was of the same breadth throughout, as may be seen in every example where it is represented, until about a cen- tury back. The Roman Catholic clergy have lately returned to the earlier fashion. ' It was granted (743) to the deacons, at the Council of Estines. (See Canon 7.) ^ So called by diminution from the Latin Casa, because it covers the whole body. (Durantus, p. 324.) It is occasionally called from the Greek the Planeta, though Durantus says he had not read a Greek author in which the word occurred, (p. 326.) ^ Modem Shape of Ancient Shape of Chasuble. Stole. Chasuble. Stole. 48 FUNERAL MONUMENTS but on the front by the Itah'an CathoHcs\ It is worn by Laurence Seymour, rector of Higham Ferrars, over his Dalmatic. (See plate 7.) • In a nionumeiit in the Cathedral of Salisbury the cross is affixed before. (Hierurgia, vol. ii. p. G43.) The collar is called the Parura or Parameiitum, and a very common ornament upon it the Fylfote. At the Council of Ratisbon (742), it was ordained that the priests and deacons should not wear cloaks like the laity, ])ut Chasubles, from whence some conclude that it Avas the ordinary vestment of eccle- siastics in the seventh century. Nearly all the ecclesiastical brasses and effigies I have seen re- present bishops and priests in the Chasuble. The English Ritual appoints the Chasuble or vestment to be worn by bishops in cele- brating the Eucharist, and in all other public ministrations; in which however they may use a Cope instead of it. The vestment is appointed to be used by priests in celebrating the Eucharist, but on no other occasion. At the Roman Catholic College of St Mary, Oscott, there is a highly curious and beautiful set of ecclesiastical vestments, probably as early as the time of Edward the Third, that were found many years back walled up in the Cathedral at Wexford. They consist of suits, for subdeacon, deacon, and priest ; and were presented to the College by the Earl of Shrewsbury. It is not saying too much when I state the belief that they are the earliest and most interesting vestments in this country. Their peculiar value will, I hope, arrest the attention of antiquaries, and induce the possessors to allow them to be made more known. Whilst writing about such ancient eccle- siastical vestments as are known to exist in Great Britain, I ought not to omit mentioning the existence of some that I have heard of, but not actually seen, which are stiU preserved in the Church of Campden, in Gloucestershire ; and also a fine set of robes, comprising Chasuble and Cope highly wrought, in the Church of Laughame, county of Pembroke. In the Universities there is no trace of such habits. I question whether a remnant of the undergraduate's gown worn in my time by the pensioners of St John's, Christ's, Magdalene, Jesus, Caius, Sidney, Clare Hall, Corpus, and Emmanuel Colleges, still exists. Through the eyes that I look at such changes, they appear whimsical and unmeaning, though perhaps they are not so much to be con- demned as the practice which has of late arisen, of throwing aside the academical dress altogether. However, after the University of Cambridge, in 1769, consented, at the petition of the young men, to IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 4ft The Dalmatic^ was a vestment used in the earliest ages of the Christian church by deacons and subdeacons, when they assisted the priest at the altar, or when they change the shape of the cap from round to square (see Hartshome's Book Rarities in the University of Cambridge, p. 447), they could produce but weak reasons for adhering to the cut of the gown. The habits that were worn at the earliest ages of Christianity were of the most simple kind, both in form and texture. There is not, at least that I am aware of, any sacerdotal vestment mentioned in the New Testament. We frequently, it is true, read of garments, but of none which can be correctly considered ecclesiastical. It is not intimated in the Epistle to Timothy, that the cloak which St Paul left at Troas was any other than a common one; nor is there any evidence for the first four centuries that particular vestments were appointed to be worn during divine service. Whatever they were, they would be prompted by necessity, and arise simply from the cir- cumstances of the period. The I'oga, or the Penula, being then used would be most likely to suggest the shape of the Chasuble; though there is no evidence to show that it did so. We can only date these habits from the period they are first named in ecclesiastical councils ; and, having done that, we should next proceed to enquire what the circumstances were which caused their origm, and how far fashions of the period called them forth and influenced their shape. ^ Bingham clearly distinguishes between the Colobium and Dal- matic: the former was a short coat without sleeves, the latter was a long one with sleeves. (Antiq. of the Christian Church, vol. ii. p. 212). Originally it had no sleeves, and was called the Colobium, because it was short and without sleeves. (Isidor. Orig. lib. 29, c. 32). It was worn by virgins and deacons at the earliest period, and after- wards by monks. It was a hooded garment or Coif, like that worn by seijeants-at-la\v. (Fortescue de Legibus Angliae, c. 51). The name seems to have been derived from the Gi'eek ko/\o/3oc, because it is curtailed. Originally it was white, and marked down the sides with two purple stripes (Lat. clavi), but about the tenth century these stripes were of gold, and the garment became made of various colours. Alcuin says that Pope Sylvester introduced the first use of it into the Church (Durantus de Ritibus, p. 330), but the shape was different from the present one. It was made in the form of a cross, had on the right side large sleeves, and on the left ample fringe, which signified, according to Durantus, the cares and superfluities of this life. They are put on the right side because the other life is exempt from them. It is a practice at the present day to bestow 4 50 FUNERAL MONUMENTS took part in any procession or ceremony ; it was worn also by emperors and kings, both in private and at their coronation. At the latter it is still continued when English monarchs are crowned. The Dalmatic is a long robe, partially open at both sides, and having short wide sleeves, and is ornamented with two stripes. It is worn under the Chasuble. The Cope' was another vestment worn, and, in fact, the Dalmatic upon deacons when they are ordained^ and this custom, according to Martene has been established for nearly five centuries. In the work of this learned Ritualist there are various Pontificals or Rituals of the Church of Rome, Mayence, Besan9on, and Tours, which are observed at the ceremony, and the words and chants are given that are used on the occasion. The origin of the Dalmatic must be sought for in Dalmatia, from whence it came. (Isidor. Orig. lib. 19, c. 22). Capitolinus, in his Life of Pertinax, enumerates among the possessions of the Emperov Commodus, "tunicas, penulasque lacernas, et chiridatas Dalmata- rum." Lampridius, in his Life of Commodus, says that this prince appeared m public clothed in a Dalmatic. And the same historian relates, in his Life of Heliogabalus, that he appeared in the forum clad in one after his supper; circumstances which were considered discreditable, from the effeminate and extravagant habit they in- dicated. ' In the first Prayer Book of Edward the Sixth, there is a Rubric concerning the ornaments of the Church, which enacts that upon the day, and at the time appointed for ministration of the Holy Com- munion, the priest that shall execute the holy ministry shall put upon him the vesture appointed for that ministration, that is to say, a white Alb plain, with a vestment or Cope. This custom was observed when Parker was consecrated to the see of Canterbury, (Palmer Antiq. of British Ritual, p. 814). The twenty-fourth Canon also (1603) ordains that the principal minister officiating at the Holy Commvmion in all cathedral and collegiate churches should wear a decent Cope. The injunction has never been rescinded, but the use of the vestment has altogether ceased in the English Church. I believe some of the ancient vestments formerly belonging to the Cathedral of Durham are still preserved there. If we may credit an anecdote, the cause of their ceasing to be worn was this. Bishop Warburton, who was a hot tempered man, could never be pleased by the verger in putting on his robe ; the stiff high collar used to ruffle IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, 5 1 like all of the preceding ones, still continues to be worn in the Latin church. Originally it was nothing more than a cloak which necessity dictated to ecclesiastics his gi'eat full-l)ottonied wig, till one day he threw the robe off in a great passion, and said he would never wear it again ; and he never did, and the other dignitaries soon afterwards left off theirs. (Quar- terly Review, vol. xxxii. p. 273.) The Hood of the Cope gave rise to the simple Hood (Lat. Capu- tium, Cucullus), which denotes, according to its material. University degree. Originally the hood was intended for use, and was so con- trived as to shelter and protect the head in wet weather, and when it was required, to fall back also, hanging upon the neck by the lower end, after the same way that it does at present. The Cope is also a regal vestment, being worn by English monarchs at their coronation, together with the Dalmatic, Tunic, and Stole. The Cope (Lat. Capa), is so called says Isidore, "quod totum capiat hominem." (Orig. c. 31). It is sometimes called the Cara- calla, because it was hooded. Matthew Paris relates that Pope Innocent IV. seeing some Orfreys (Lat. Aurifrasia), or gold em- broidery on tlie edge of Copes belonging to Englishmen, was so struck with their beauty that he sent letters to all the Abbots of the Cistertian order in England, desiring them if they could do it for nothing, to send him the same kind to adorn the Copes and Planets of his own choir. (Matt. Paris, p. 616). From this it appears that embroidery in England had, during the reign of Henry the Third, reached a high state of perfection. And that this species of workmanship was very sumptuous may be further inferred, from Otto the Papal Legate, sent over to Henry the Third, 1237, having, in the Council held at St Paul's, for the reformation of abuses that had then crept into the English Church, laid down regulations for restraining immoderate expense and luxury in the clerical habit. (Matt. Paris, p. 381). And that English embroidery was then much better than any other, may be gathered from the circumstance of the high price it cost. Thus, in the 42d of Henry the Third, William de Gloucester, goldsmith, receives 20 marks for working a precious cloth for the altar of the Blessed Edward. (Issue Roll of the Exchequer.) And a citizen's wife received 100 marks for a cap ornamented with coral, purchased from her by Queen Isabella, to make a present to the Pope. (Id. 10th Edw. II.) In procession the whole choir wear their Cope. The Cope of St Martin was a precious relic formerly carried by the French kings to battle. It was a veil of taffeta, upon which the saint was painted after it had lain a day or two upon his tomb. 52 FUNERAL MONUMENTS during the penitential seasons, when they went in pro- cession on foot to some of the more celebrated Basilical churches of Rome. To protect them from rain the This veil was carefully guarded, and placed under a separate tent, and before it was handled was carried in a sort of triumph round the camp. For six hundred years the Cope of St Martin was in high repute, and in the twelfth century was succeeded by one not less famous, Avhich was called the Oi-iflamme. "By the Cope of St Martin," was formerly an oath. The history of St Martin dividing his cloak is sufficiently known from the various representations of it by painters. (Molanus de Historia SS. Imaginum, p. 377; Sevenis Sulpitius, c. 2; Fortunatus, Carm. lib. 10). The Banner of St Cuthbert was scarcely less celebrated. (See Raine's interesting Account of the opening of his Tomb, 1827, p. 108). The Cope is represented in the sepulchral brass of William Fulbourn at Ful- boum ; in that of Sleaford and Blodwell, at Balsham, and in Walter Hewke, Trinity Hall, county of Cambridge. There are examples of it in the brasses of Warden Sever (1471), Merton College, Oxford ; Archbishop Harsnet (1631), Chigwell, Essex ; besides in the Churches of Castle Ashby and Cotterstock, Northamptonsliire. The ornamental parts of the Cope, such as the collar and the borders in front, are generally called the Par amentum, by the French Parure or Parement, properly signifying that which adorns, whether it be stuffs for the altars, or trimmings for any kind soever of vest- ments. In Low Latin, parure signifies to ornament, and paratus decorated. The parements of Pourpoint are the front of Pourpoint, which the Spanish make of velvet, but having a lattice-work behind called Nihilaudos. When applied to a habit, the word Parement signifies an ornament to set off the reverse of a sleeve of pourpoint, for example a piece of taffeta united or quilted, a piece of watered silk, or of any other stuff of the same kind. The Orfreys, strictly speaking, signifies fringe of gold, from the Lat. Aurifrasium, the term more commonly applied to the ornamental part of the Cope. It appropriately belongs to the broad borders on each side of the opening in front, which are usually embroidered with saints on one side and females on the other. Cotgrave explains the word Orfrais, as broadwelts or guards of gold or silver imbroiderie laid on Copes, and other church-vestments. The Phrygians, says Pliny, were the inventors of embroidery (lib. viii. c. 48), and Isidore says the same thing (lib. xix. c. 22). Menage, with his usual quickness, says, that in lieu of aurum Phrygium, it has been said it ought to be fregium by corruption, and thence the Italian fregio. Aurifrassium, IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 53 Pluviale or Cope was assumed, and by degrees became one of the regular vestments used at mass, and, like the rest, partook of the same costliness. It is fastened in front by a clasp, called a Morse, (Lat. mordeo), and had formerly a hood trimmed with fur, the hood is now dis- continued, and its place supplied by a collar, which is ornamented with gold lace or fringe. The Cope is chiefly worn in the Roman Catholic church at Vespers. The Rochet\ (Lat. Rochettus, Boccus), is the same as the Cotta, and was a dress worn by bishops and abbots. Aurum fregium, Orfregium, Orfroye. The will of Rotheram, Arch- bishop of York (1498), mentions an Orfra. (Liber Niger Scaccar. p. 674). In the Romance of the Rose it is called Orfray, which Chaucer translates by the same word. (See vv. 562, 869). Blount explains the word Orfraies as frizzled cloth of gold, made in England both before and after the Conquest. (Glossographia, sub voce). That Orfrais meant fringe of gold, is still further seen from the inventory of the Regalia belonging to Henry the Third, in which mention is made of two bundles of Orfraies to fringe the king's sandals. (See Issue Roll of the Exchequer. 5 Hen. III.) ' It is derived from the Germ. Rock, vcstis exterior et manicata, sed soluta et aperta ; A.-Sax. roce ; Franc, roch; Belg. and Suec. rock ; Camb. rhuchen ; Lat. Barb, hroccus, roccus, rochus ; and hence the term Roquelare, for a cloak. By some writers the Rochet is termed the Superpellicium, by others the Amphibalum, the Ephod, Phelo- nium, Lacernum, and Birrus; though the latter term is less accurate than any, because it is derived from the Greek, which means red instead of white. The Rochet differs also from the Superpellicium, because it has not, as that has, ample and hanging sleeves, but narrow ones. Lindwood says the Rochet is without sleeves, and appointed for the priest, or for the priest about to celebrate the Sacrament of Baptism, lest his arms should be incumbered by sleeves. (Lindwood ad Provincial. Eccles. Cantuar. c. 3, tit. 27). The Rubric of the first Common Prayer Book of Edward the Sixth prescribes what habits should be worn in all public ministrations, and also those which shall be used at the Communion. It appears that a bishop is enjoined to wear the Rochet at the latter service. "He shall have upon him besides his Kochette a surplice, or Albe, and a Cope or vestment, and also his pastoral staff in his hand, or else borne or holden by his chaplain." This Rochet was a linen habit peculiai* to bishops, and 54 FUNERAL MONUMENTS It was somewhat like a surplice, but with narrow sleeves, or not dissimilar to an Alb. Prelates of the Reformed Church wear it with a piece of black satin inserted be- twixt the shoulders behind. There are other points of episcopal costume, such as the Sandals, and Gloves, the MrrRR with its Inful.e, the Ring, and the Pastoral Staff; but they require no explanation, being sufficiently intelligible in the monu- ments where they occur\ From the Sepulchral Brass itself, we now come to the best methods of taking impressions from it. And to do this we must work with materials that are a very staple commodity in this town. If in my own use of them they have been misapplied, I owe an apology to that valuable class of artisans for which Northampton is so justly celebrated. There is a well-known adage, that shoemakers should not go beyond their last ; and if one worn under the Chimere. Before and after the Reformation, till Elizabeth's time, the Rochet was always of scarlet silk, but Bishop Hooper scrupling first at the robe itself, and then at its colour, as too light and gay for episcopal gravity, it was changed for a Chimere of black satin. (Wheatly's Rational Illustration, p. 64, edit. 1819). When the bishop celebrated in an evening he took his Amice, and put it over his Rochet or Cotta, and over that his Pluviale or Cope, without, however, the Formalium for the breast ; and then he put on his ring. (Cerem. Episc. pp. 25,26). The master of ceremonies was required to put on the Cotta over a vestment of violet colour. (Id. p. 19). The Formalium was the same as the Morse, being a kind of jewelled clasp. Sometimes it is called the Firmaculum. It differs from the Pectorale in this respect, that the former was for use ; the latter solely for ornament, and only worn by bishops and abbots : it is a small cross pendant from the neck, to indicate their dignity. It is represented in the effigy of Bishop Wulstan, in the Cathedral of Worcester. ' The reader, desirous of knowing anything more on these points than the brass of Abbot De la Mare, at St Alban's, will shew him, is refen-ed to Durantus, Calvor, and Casalius ; I may also add Gavanti, and Martene ; but I think any one of these authorities will be suffi- cient for his purpose, as they copy each other. IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 55 who does not exercise their calling should depart from his own, and take up their tools, he may perhaps use them clumsily. But if in meddling with their business without serving a regular apprenticeship, I have fallen under the censure implied by the old proverb, I hope at all events that I shall shew to the legitimate owners of the material in question, that it may be applied to more refined purposes than the heels of shoes. They tell me that the application of this invaluable composition of Ullathorne, or lithographic chalk, or heel-ball, has been interdicted by the master shoemakers, under the idea that it is vmfit for fine work. But they little knew, when they forbid its use by such mistaken arguments, that they banished from the tack-holes of Crispin's stall the most serviceable thing they contained — -a substance that was equally useful to the arts as manufactures — applicable at one moment to polish the understandings of their customers, and at another to multiply the resem- blances of these monuments by exact representations. The earlier rubbers of Sepulchral Brasses acted too implicitly upon the aphorism of a fable we have well known from infancy, " that there is nothing like leather," and they took all their impressions with it. But all that I have seen, including a great number of my own, have considerably faded — Mocking the air with colors idly spread. It is however worthy of remark, that leather has some connection with Funeral Remains, for Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, in 1101, was buried in leather, and so was Henry the First, in 1135. So was the Empress Maud, in 1282, besides others. Nor is the cumbrous nature of the material, when applied for taking rubbings, the least draw- back. Some have used a ball dipped in oil and black lead ; some a ball rubbed over with black lead and soft soap. Both of these methods are objectionable, as the incised parts of the brass, which ought to be represented perfectly 66 FUNERAL MONUMENTS white, in contrast to the unengraved surface, are indistinct and dirty, and have an unctuous appearance. A plummet is too hard, and also too faint to be applied with efficacy : a black-lead pencil too small : the apparatus required to use printers'" ink and a roller, or a dabber, involves more labour, not to add more uncleanly work than any of the foregoing ; besides, after all, it produces a reversed im- pression. But this little piece of heel-ball, uniting even fragrance with its economy and portableness, is open to none of these defects; and besides being some saving of expense, its use is perhaps also an economy of time in the day's work. It has certainly these attendant re- commendations, that when a rubbing is once made, it is permanent, and all efforts will be vain that endeavour to efface it from the paper ; whilst to this it may be still further added, that it is capable of transferring an impression upon zinc or stone, and thus by the merest mechanical process of multiplying faithful copies \ I conceive that I should evince a want of interest in the prospects of this Society, and in the happiness of those who have done me the honour to pay attention to the foregoing observations, as well as a concealment of my own feelings, if I concluded without a few remarks to which the subject has naturally given birth. From my own experience I can assure you, that health and cheerfulness, and vigour of mind as well as body, are best obtained by exercise and occupation. In proportion as the faculties are used, they gain strength ; as the mind is cultivated it becomes enlarged, and the views it takes grow more expanded. Healthful and rational pursuits * Specimens of this may be seen in the plate facing the title-page, and also of the brass of an Ecclesiastic of large size, which I have placed in the rooms of the Camden Society, at Cambridge, and the Architectural Society, Oxford. The paper best adapted for the pur- pose is what is called double crown. I have found, from its length, that the thinnest lining paper used by paper-hangers is very ser- Ticeable. IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 57 will always exalt mankind, and render them above seeking for light and degrading ways to consume their hours of leisure. A pursuit or mental recreation of any kind, pro- vided it be innocent, will always powerfully contribute to increase human happiness. It will tend to hghten the labor of your daily tasks, and you will turn from one to the other with increased pleasure and satisfaction. Whether your inclinations lead you to contemplate the works of God in the fair face of creation, where are visible the living marks of his skill and wisdom, his bounty and love, or, descending below the surface, to trace, in the long succession of organic remains, the changes and forms the earth has undergone ; — if you choose a harmless pursuit after knowledge — and I cannot imagine a rational creature being happy without one — it will cause you to forget the little annoyances that daily happen to disturb the temper, it will supply the place of society, and render you proof against the temptations arising from idle associates. If you have a harmless pursuit, whatever its nature may be, every ordinary walk you take will be attended by profit and enjoyment. A pursuit will teach you gradually, that knowledge, however small in amount, or however varied in its character, is valuable. You will learn that it is not only power, but wealth, and that it possesses an influence equal to that of riches, or birth, or station. And if in this variegated path for observation through which you wander, the village-church should arrest the foot, you will find within the quiet of its holy ground higher subjects to exercise the attention ; emblems of your own mortality ; chords to awaken the tenderest feelings of our common nature, of sorrowful regret for those whose lives are spent ; peaceful sympathies to spiritualize and purify; sacred themes to discourse about by the wayside, and to beget wholesome reflection over the domestic hearth. Such, in fact, as will elevate the thoughts still higher, to those celestial temples with their saintly inhabiters, that are above, and that will convince you that an earthly tomb, 5 58 FUNERAL MONUMENTS IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. the best and brightest that man can raise, is subject to ruin and decay; but a monument of gratitude and devotion, erected in' the heart to God, will endure for ever^. • Since this discom'se was delivered I have become acquainted with an extremely interesting work, entitled "A General Volume of Epitaphs," by a Clergyman, London, J. W. Parker, 1840. This little book is intended by its author to be the means of improving the literature as well as the divinity of our churchyards. It is written in so admirable a spirit, and the selection is so truly de- votional throughout, that I feel assured the reader will thank me for pointing it out to his notice. Will be published immediately, in One thick Volume, octavo, with numerous illustrations from drawings by the Author. Salopia Antiqua, or an Enquiry from Personal Survey into the ' Druidical,' Military, and other Early Remains in Shropshire and the North Welsh Borders ; with Ob- servations upon the Names of Places, and a Glossary of Words used in the County of Salop. By the Rev. Charles Henry Hartshorne, M.A., F.S.A. JOHN W. PARKER, WEST STRAND. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. P'orm L9-32m-8,'57(,O8680s4)444 i WIIIIIHIIIII I ^'^^^^^ FACILITY AA 000 281 647 8 1 jlltliljjl H