Chapter II: Edward III and Richard II. 1328-99

We now find brasses commemorating members of almost every class, but the first to claim our attention will be the military ones.

A small group of three transitional but mutilated brasses must be taken first:

Of these that of Sir Hugh Hastings (1347) at Elsing, in Norfolk, is the most interesting. His legs are now missing, but from an old rubbing in the British Museum we know they were enclosed in chain mail. The cyclas, worn shorter than hitherto, only reaches to the middle of the thighs. Upon it is the maunche or sleeve of the Hastings family, richly diapered, and differenced with a label of three points. This also appears on his small heater-shaped shield. A belt hangs over his hips with the sword on the left side, fastened in front. A hawberk of mail was worn beneath the cyclas and the haqueton shows at the wrists. A bascinet protects his head and a gorget of plate encircles his neck. Additional plates are attached to the arms, and roundels are placed at the elbows and below the shoulders. Cuisses of pourpoint appear for the first time upon the thighs. These were of leather (_cuir-bouilli_) studded with small steel plates.

The canopy (now much mutilated) is very fine. Originally there were four canopied niches on either side with “weepers,” or mourners, in the military costume of the day. Three were missing, though of these one, Lord Grey de Ruthyn, was preserved at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and has lately, we believe, been restored to its place. Those left are: Top dexter side, Edward III crowned, with the arms of England and France on his cyclas. Below him, Thos. de Beauchamp, holding a lance. Top sinister side, the Earl of Lancaster--Henry Plantagenet, the next is lost, then Lord Stafford, and then Almeric, Lord St Armand, who wears a ridged steel hat with a broad rim over his bascinet, which is almost unique.

Within a circle in the arch of the canopy is St George, and beneath him the soul is being borne upwards by two angels.

There are several other interesting details which it would take too long to describe. The brass at Wimbish, in Essex (1347), consists of a much mutilated cross, which contains within its head Sir John de Wantone and his lady. He greatly resembles Sir Hugh, save that his legs are partly clad in plate, as in the de Creke brass.

Sir John Giffard (1348) at Bowers Gifford in Essex, has a suit of banded chain with very few pieces of plate, and at first sight might be considered a reversion to the type of Sir John Daubernon I, but a closer inspection will show that his linen cloak is much more like the jupon, which was destined very soon to take the place of the cyclas. The head is lost. The Giffard coat-of-arms (six _fleurs-de-lys_) is displayed on his shield.

The Hundred Years’ War caused a development of armour which lasted practically unaltered for fifty years.

The type is clearly depicted in the illustration of Sir Nicholas Burnell, 1382, Acton Burnell, Shropshire. The hawberk of mail has shrunk to a vest and shows only at the armpits and lower edge. A cuirass of steel covers this and has over it a leather jupon, which is often ornamented with its owner’s coat-of-arms. The Burnell brass here illustrated shows the armour of this type. The sharply-pointed bascinet is connected with the body armour by a camail of chain, hence this style of armour is often called the _camail style_. The arms and legs are entirely enclosed in plate in the later examples, but in the earlier cuirasses of pourpoint are used for the thighs, as in the brass of Sir John de Cobham, 1365. A bawdric, or broad belt, worn straight round the hips, held on the right a misericorde (dagger) and on the left a sword.

The dress of ladies of this period consists usually of a close-fitting kirtle, buttoned tightly from neck to waist and from elbow to wrist, and sometimes right down the front. Over this is worn a mantle, open in front, and kept in position by a cord across the breast, see illustration.

Sometimes a third dress appears (with or without the mantle) over the kirtle. It has two forms, one very like the kirtle, but with close-fitting sleeves cut short at the elbow, with long lappets; the other form is the sideless _cote-hardi_. This is slit up at the sides and edged with fur at the openings. It has no sleeves or sides as far as the hips.

The first form is seen at Gt. Berkhampstead, Herts., 1356, Bray, Berks., 1378, and elsewhere. The second is found at Lingfield, Surrey, c. 1370, and Cobham, Kent, 1375.

A long overcoat sometimes takes the place of the mantle, as at Chinnor, Oxford, c. 1385. The hair is usually enclosed in a net and plaited. Mittens are often worn. Widows wear a veil with a barbe and wimple and are often hard to distinguish from Vowesses, i.e. ladies who at the death of their husbands take the vows in a nunnery.

Alianore de Bohun, Duchess of Gloucester (1399), being a vowess, is illustrated in the chapter dealing with the religious orders. With its triple canopy it is one of the most splendid brasses still existing.

The Cobham brasses especially should be noticed. This church has the most magnificent series extant anywhere. They number 19 and most of them have fine canopies. A visit to this little village is therefore well repaid.

We must now turn to the civilians. These are often of considerable interest.

By far the finest is the mutilated brass of Walter Pescod. He lies beneath a fine canopy and super-canopy, and further reference will be made to this in the chapter on architectural detail. He wears a close-fitting tunic buttoned down the front, and a mantle with a hood. In the small demi-figures the mantle is usually omitted.

Frankelins wore a tunic, hood, and mantle buttoned over the right shoulder. From the girdle hung an anlace, or short sword. This dress can be seen at King’s Somborne, Felbrigg and Wimington. Beards are usually, though not always, worn. Richard Torrington’s feet rest on a lion, as if he were a knight, but this is unusual. (See list.)