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.