Chapter XII: Special Types

Besides the ordinary figure brasses, there are a certain number of special types. Those representing Scriptural subjects are perhaps the most interesting. They are less numerous than might be expected and usually form part of a canopy, or, at any rate, part of a composition which includes large figures.

The Holy Trinity is the most common emblem and is depicted as a venerable man seated, holding Christ crucified. The Holy Ghost in the form of a dove is sometimes perched on one arm of the Cross, or hovers over the head, but it is often omitted.

The Holy Trinity is found at Cobham, 1407; Peperharrow, 1487; Shirburn, 1493, and Witney, Oxon., 1500; Childrey, Berks., 1507; Floore, Northants., 1510; Wooburn, Bucks., 1520; Clapham, Sussex, 1526; Beaumaris, Anglesea, c. 1530; Cheam, Surrey, 1542.

The Virgin is found at Cobham, 1395; Bottesford, Leics., 1404; Morley, Derbys., 1470; Etwall, Derbys., 1512; St George’s Chapel, Windsor, 1522; and elsewhere.

Numerous other saints are depicted as well as those in canopy niches and on the orphreys of copes.

The Annunciation is found in several places. That at Fovant, Wilts., 1492, is contained in a rectangular plate commemorating Geo. Rede, rector. He wears cassock and scarf, kneels on a chequered pavement and prays to the Virgin, who, dressed in mantle, sideless _cote-hardi_ and kirtle, with a wreath of roses on her head, kneels at a _prie-dieu_ in the centre of the plate. A pot of lilies stands behind her and an angel kneels on the further side, wearing an alb and mantle. The Dove flies towards the Virgin from a cloud in the corner. The whole composition is reminiscent of foreign work, but is almost certainly English. An Annunciation is to be seen at March, Cambs. (1517), above the figures of Antony Hansart and his wife. A third is in the canopy of William Porter, S.T.P., 1524, Hereford Cathedral.

The Adoration of the Shepherds is found at Cobham, Surrey, c. 1500.

The Resurrection is more widely distributed, and in two forms according as (_a_) there are or (_b_) are not soldiers round the tomb.

Of class (_a_), those at Swansea, c. 1500; Cranley, Surrey, 1503; All Hallows, Barking, c. 1510; and Narburgh, Norfolk, 1545, are characteristic.

Of class (_b_), examples may be seen at Stoke Charity, Hants., 1482; Stoke Lyne, Oxon., 1535 and Burwell, Cambs., 1542. Of this latter class, the Burwell brass is the best. The Saviour’s form is unclothed and the lower half hidden within the tomb; His hands are raised and He holds no cross.

Class (_a_) is the more interesting. The Cranley and Swansea representations are the best. In the former, which is to Robt. Hardyng and his wife, 1503, Christ steps from the sarcophagus unclothed save for a loin cloth. Four out of the five wounds are thus plainly shown. He holds a cross (in His left hand) bearing a pennon, with a cross in its centre. A nimbus is around His head. The four soldiers are clad in armour with morions on their heads and halberts in their hands.

The Swansea representation measures 12 × 11 inches and is to Sir Hugh Johnys and his wife, c. 1500. He was a knight of the Holy Sepulchre, and fought against the Turks under John, at that time Emperor of Constantinople. One of the soldiers round the tomb evidently represents a Saracen. He is shown sleeping with a scimitar at his left, a spiked mace at his right side.

One other curious pictorial example must not be omitted. It represents the Mass of St Gregory. The Pope kneels before an altar, while the figure of our Lord rises from behind the chalice, changed from the consecrated wafer. It is in the brass of Roger Legh and wife (lost), Macclesfield, Cheshire, 1506, and is unique. The original story is in the _Golden Legend_.

_Heart Brasses._

The next curious type is that known as Heart Brasses. A heart is often shown held in the hands of the deceased, as at Buslingthorpe, Lincs., c. 1290. At other times it is found quite separate from the figure and often with two or three inscribed scrolls coming from it. Thos. Knyghtley, Fawsley, Northants., 1516, is typical of this class.

But the name applies more especially to those monuments in which the heart appears alone. Often these doubtless marked the spot where the heart alone was buried. We have many authentic records of men who ordered their hearts to be buried apart from their bodies. Some of these were knights who perished abroad and ordered their bodies to be buried where they died, but their hearts to be brought back to England. From the inscription upon one of the four scrolls of the Wiggenhall brass, _Cuius cor hic humatur_, we may reasonably infer that the heart only lies beneath the stone. There are several stone monuments showing only hearts, which records prove cover only that organ. Thus, Sir Thos. Neville’s body was buried at Billing, 1535, and his heart at Mereworth, Kent. At the latter place his stone monument consists of a heart held by two hands.

Heart brasses proper fall into two main divisions: (_a_) plain, sometimes inscribed or with scrolls, (_b_) held by hands, usually coming out of a cloud.

Class (_a_) includes Thos. Smyth, priest, St John’s, Margate, Kent, 1433; an unknown person, Kirby Bedon, Norfolk, c. 1450; and Sir Robt. Kervile, Wiggenhall St Mary, Norfolk, c. 1450.

Good representatives of class (_b_) are the brasses of John Merstun, priest, Lillingstone Lovell, Oxon., 1446; Wm. Stapilton, Helbroughton, Norfolk, c. 1450; Dionysius Willys, Loddon, Norfolk, 1462; and Thos. Denton, Caversfield, Bucks., 1533. (See Appendix.)

_Shrouds._

These and the following group are neither beautiful nor pleasing monuments. They are signs of the morbid feeling that seems to have begun to spread over England about the middle of the fifteenth century and which did not pass away until the nineteenth.

Many stone monuments exist showing reclining figures in the costume of the period on a raised tomb, while beneath, visible through openings in the sides, are the same persons shown as skeletons or shrouded figures. This contrast is seldom exhibited in _brasses_, but the kneeling figure of Lionel Dymoke, Horncastle, Lincs. (1519), in armour, is engraved upon a small plate on the wall, while on the pavement below he is represented by a shrouded figure.

In some cases the brass was laid down on the death of one of those commemorated. The latter is then shown in a shroud, while those who survived are shown in the dress of the period.

Women can be recognised by their long, flowing hair, and priests by their tonsure. The purpose of this type of brass was probably to remind us that “such as we are, such shall ye be.” (See Appendix.)

Under the Tudors, this type of brass increased in favour, and its persistence is remarkable. The last brass of 1660 was probably inspired by the earlier one of 1505.

At Childrey, c. 1520, husband and wife rise from their tombs, but at Oddington devouring worms crawl out of the body, which is almost a skeleton.

This leads us to

_Skeletons._

They are not so common as shroud brasses, but belong to the same class. Indeed, some of the former are really shrouded skeletons.

_Other designs._

A few other designs may be found scattered up and down the country. Perhaps the most interesting is to Roger Morris, Margate, Kent, 1615. He was an official in the Navy and his brass consists of a square plate showing a three-masted square rigged man-o’-war. It has a lion figure-head, high poop and many guns showing through the port holes.