Chapter VII: The Early Tudors. 1485-1547

During this period more brasses were laid down than in the whole of the preceding time. Over 1100 belong to the reigns of Henrys VII and VIII. From Edward I to Richard III, 1000 were laid down.

But the work shows lamentable signs of steady deterioration; metal and engraving are usually poor, the former thin and the latter shallow and with too much detail. There is a greater variety of design, but many are in bad taste, such as figures shown in shrouds or as skeletons. At this date brasses are often placed on the wall, and sometimes are quadrangular. The latter must be carefully distinguished from foreign ones (see later).

Canopies are few and heavy, but continue to follow the traditional lines.

In the military brasses a sudden change becomes noticeable. The Yorkist armour is changed to the Tudor between 1490 and 1500. Its characteristics are that the placates are omitted, the pauldrons are single and have passe-gards to protect the neck, shorter tuilles are attached to the taces, a skirt of mail has been re-introduced and reaches well down over the thighs. The graceful, pointed sollerets--which must have been rather uncomfortable--were replaced by sabbatons with large rounded or square toes.

The sword is usually hung across the back of the legs. The hair is long and straight. Most of these and other characteristics will be seen in the illustration of John Shelley and wife, Clapham, Sussex, 1526. The Tabard of Arms covers the body armour.

The Yorkist armour was certainly more beautiful, but one is apt to get rather an unfair impression from the brasses. There still survives a considerable amount of actual armour of this period, and from it we can see that it was often truly magnificent. At times it was engraved and embossed, and there are several variations not shown in the brasses, such as the skirt of plate. Those interested in the subject should study the fine collections at the Tower of London and elsewhere. It is most fortunate that our national collection of armour was begun just when the brasses by deterioration began to furnish less trustworthy evidence. Of the armour previous to the Yorkist period, practically none survives, hence the importance of the good engraving of the earlier brasses. (See Appendix.)

Serjeants-at-arms usually carry maces.

One of the most characteristic features of the period is the armorial tabard. Often, too, the wife has an armorial mantle: as in the brass of John Shelley and his wife, 1526, Clapham, Sussex, here shown. The arms are repeated on Shelley’s sleeves and his wife bears her own arms impaling those of her husband on her mantle. The Holy Trinity is shown above the figures.

The tabard replaced the heraldic jupon of the Plantagenets during the Lancastrian period. The earliest is to John Wantele, 1424, Amberley, Sussex, but the arms are not repeated on the sleeves. There are but few examples, however, till the Yorkist period, and they only became plentiful under the Tudors. They died out in the opening years of Elizabeth, the last being to Sir John Tregonwell, Milton Abbey, Dorset, 1565.

Examples of Tabards of Arms during the Yorkist period are: Sir John Say and wife, Broxbourne, Herts., 1473, and Philip Mede and two wives, St Mary, Redcliff.

Lady Tiptoft at Enfield, Middlesex, c. 1470 (here illustrated), is a very splendid brass, and shows the armorial bearings well. (See Appendix.)

The colour of the coats-of-arms was probably shown by means of lead for _argent_, coloured earths for _colour_, and the plain brass for _or_. At Ardingley, Sussex, are three brasses in all of which the coloured earth is still in place. Unless this has been replaced later, it is a striking example, for in most cases all trace of the coloured earths has vanished. At Broxbourne, real enamel was used (as also at Stoke d’Abernon, 1279), and in consequence most of the colour is still in place.

It is held by some that all engraved lines on all brasses were filled in with black wax or some similar substance, just as in our modern inscriptions. That this was so in some cases seems certain, and at the Victoria and Albert Museum in the foreign brass to Henry Oskens (canon) from Nippes, near Cologne, 1535, much of the wax is still there. It is, of course, impossible to make a good rubbing of such a brass.

It does not seem likely that most of the brasses were so treated, but it would take too long to go into all the evidence which leads one to hold this view, nor is it desirable to use it now.

The ladies’ dress also changes at the same time as their husbands’. The butterfly head-dress gives way to the kennel head-dress. This has a stiff point in front and is carried back like the roof of a kennel (hence the name) and has long side lappets, usually of embroidery. In some of the earlier examples these are pinned up (Ardingley), but, as a rule, they fall straight down (Clapham).

The dress is close-fitting and has a square collar and fur cuffs. Round the waist is a girdle with a chain pendant in front, to which is attached an ornament of varying shape. Occasionally mantles are worn, as at Cobham, Kent, but seldom, except when they bear a coat-of-arms.

Quite often babies will be found wrapped in chrysoms with swaddling bands round them. This robe was placed on the child by the priest as soon as it was baptised (which was when it was only a few days old). It was worn till the mother came to be churched, when it was returned to the priest. These brasses therefore show that the child died during the time that elapsed between baptism and the churching. Chrysom children are found alone or with parents. This type of brass survived till the middle of the seventeenth century.

Occasionally brasses are found commemorating women who died in childbirth. The infant is then usually shown in a chrysom robe, and in later brasses the mother is often shown lying on a four-post bedstead. Anne Asteley, Blickling, Norfolk, 1512, probably belongs to this group. During the reign of Elizabeth, several examples of bedstead brasses are found. The first is at Heston, Middlesex, 1581, another is at Halling, Kent, 1587, and there are several others.

The civilians at this period are numerous, but not particularly interesting. The hair is long and straight, the gown reaches to the feet and is usually lined and edged with fur. The sleeves are wide, and a girdle surrounds the waist, from which hangs a short rosary and a purse. Broad-toed shoes are worn. The brass at Ardingley shows this dress, the canopy is an unusual feature.