HERALDIC BRASSES

Monumental bra es do not merely afford a guide to the capricious changes of fashion in armour, in ecclesiastical vestments (which have altered but little), and in legal, civilian, and feminine costume, but they provide us also with a vast number of admirable specimens of heraldic art. The vandal and the fanatic have robbed us of many of these beautiful memorials, but of those which survive to our own day the earliest on the continent of Europe marks the last resting-place of Abbot Ysowilpe, 1231, at Verden, in Hanover. In England there was once a bra , which unfortunately disappeared long ago, to an Earl of Bedford, in St. Paul's Church, Bedford, of the year 1208, leaving 1277 as the date of the earliest one. Latten (Fr. laiton ), the material of which bra es were made, was at an early date manufactured in large quantities at Cologne, whence plates of this metal came to be known as cullen (Köln) plates; these were largely exported to other countries, and the Flemish workmen soon attained the greatest proficiency in their engraving. Flemish bra es are usually large and rectangular, having the space between the figure and the marginal inscription filled either by diaper work or by small figures in niches. Bra es vary considerably in size: the matrix of Bishop Beaumont's bra in Durham Cathedral measures about 16 feet by 8 feet, and the memorial to Griel van Ruwescuere, in the chapel of the Lady Superior of the Béguinage at Bruges, is only about 1 foot square. Brazen effigies are more numerous in England in the eastern and southern counties, than in parts more remote from the continent of Europe. Armorial bearings are displayed in a great variety of ways on monumental bra es, some of which are exhibited in the rubbings selected for illustration. In most cases separate shields are placed above and below the figures. They occur also in the spandrils of canopies and 50 in the shafts and finials of the same, as well as in the centre and at the angles of border-fillets. They naturally predominate in the memorials of warriors, where we find them emblazoned not only on shield and pennon but on the scabbard and ailettes, and on the jupon, tabard, and cuira also, while crests frequently occur on the tilting-helm. In one case (the bra of Sir Peter Legh, 1527, at Winwick, co. Lancaster) they figure upon the priestly chasuble. Walter Pescod, the merchant of Boston, Lincoln shire, 1398, wears a gown adorned with peascods—a play upon his name; and many a merchant's bra bears his coat of arms and merchant's mark beside, pointing a moral to not a few at the present day. The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries witne ed the greatest profusion in heraldic decoration in bra es, when the tabard and the heraldic mantle were evolved. A good example of the former remains in the parish church of Ormskirk, Lancashire, in the bra commemorating a member of the Scar is brick family, c. 1500 (Fig. 21). Ladies were accustomed at this time to wear their husband's arms upon the mantle or outer garment and their own upon the kirtle, but the fashion which obtained at a subsequent period was to emblazon the husband's arms on the dexter and their own on the sinister side of the mantle (Fig. 22). | Fig. 21. —Bra in the Scar is brick Chapel of Ormskirk Church, co. Lancs., to a member of the Scar is brick family of that name. Arms: Gules, three mullets in bend between two bendlets engrailed argent. (From a rubbing by Walter J. Kaye.) | Fig. 22. —Bra of Margaret (daughter of Henry Percy, Earl of North umber land), second wife of Henry, 1st Earl of Cumber land, in Skipton Parish Church. Arms: On the dexter side those of the Earl of Cumber land, on the sinister side those of Percy. | The majority of such monuments, as we behold them now, are destitute of any indications of metals or tinctures, largely owing to the action of the varying degrees of temperature in causing contraction and expansion. Here and there, however, we may still detect traces of their pristine glory. But these matters received due attention from the engraver. To represent or , he left the surface of the bra untouched, except for gilding or perhaps polishing; this universal method has solved many heraldic problems. Lead or some other white metal was inlaid to indicate argent , and the various tinctures were supplied by the excision of a portion of the plate, thereby forming a depre ion, which was filled up by pouring in some resinous substance of the requisite colour. The various kinds of fur used in armory may be readily distinguished, with the sole exception of vair ( argent and azure ), which presents the appearance of a row of small upright shields alternating with a similar row reversed. | Fig. 23. —Bra of Sir John D'Aubernoun at Stoke D'Abernon. Arms: Azure, a chevron or. (From a rubbing by Walter J. Kaye.) | Fig. 24. —Bra of Sir Roger de Trumping ton at Trumping ton. Arms: Azure, crusilly and two trumpets palewise or. (From a rubbing by Walter J. Kaye.) | The earliest bra extant in England is that to Sir John D'Aubernoun, the elder (Fig. 23), at Stoke D'Abernon, in Surrey, which carries us back to the year 1277. The simple marginal inscription in Norman-French, surrounding the figure, and each Lombardic capital of which is set in its own matrix, reads: "Sire: John: Dauber noun: Chivaler: Gist: Icy: Deu: De: Sa: Alme: Eyt: Mercy:" [3] In the space 51 between the inscription and the upper portion of the figure were two small shields, of which the dexter one alone remains, charged with the arms of the knight: "Azure, a chevron, or." Sir John D'Aubernoun is represented in a complete panoply of chain mail—his head being protected by a coif de mailles , which is joined to the hauberk or mail 52 shirt, which extends to the hands, having apparently no divisions for the fingers, and being tightened by straps at the wrists. The legs, which are not cro ed, are covered by long chau es , or stockings of mail, 53 protected at the knees by poleyns or genouillères of cuir bouilli richly ornamented by elaborate designs. A surcoat, probably of linen, depends from the shoulders to a little below the knees, and is cut away to a point above 54 the knee. This garment is tightly confined (as the creases in the surcoat show) at the waist by a girdle, and over it is pa ed a guige whereto the long sword is attached. "Pryck" spurs are fixed to the instep, and the feet rest upon a lion, whose mouth grasps the lower portion of a lance. The lance bears a pennon charged with a chevron, as also is the small heater-shaped shield borne on the knight's left arm. The whole composition measures about eight feet by three. Heraldry figures more prominently in our second illustration, the bra to Sir Roger de Trumping ton, 1289 (Fig. 24). This fine effigy lies under the canopy of an altar-tomb, so called, in the Church of St. Michael and All Angels, Trumping ton, Cambridge shire. It portrays the knight in armour closely resembling that already described, with these exceptions: the head rests upon a huge heaume , or tilting-helm, attached by a chain to the girdle, and the neck is here protected from side-thrusts by ailettes or oblong plates fastened behind the shoulders, and bearing the arms of Sir Roger. A dog here replaces the lion at the feet, the lance and pennon are absent, and the shield is rounded to the body. On this bra the arms not only occur upon the shield, but also upon the ailettes, and are four times repeated on the scabbard. They afford a good example of "canting" arms: "Azure, crusilly and two trumpets palewise or, with a label of five points in chief, for difference." It is interesting also to notice that the engraver had not 55 completed his task, for the short horizontal lines acro the dexter side of the shield indicate his intention of cutting away the surface of the field. | Fig. 25. —Bra of Sir Robert de Septvans in Chartham Church. | Fig. 26. —Bra of Sir William de Aldeburgh at Aldborough, Yorks. Arms: Azure, a fe e argent between three cro cro lets or. (From a rubbing by Walter J. Kaye.) | Sir Robert de Setvans (formerly Septvans), whose beautiful bra may be seen at Chartham, Kent, is habited in a surcoat whereon, together with the shield and ailettes, are seven winnowing fans—another instance of canting arms (Fig. 25). This one belongs to a somewhat later date, 1307. IMG:855465476085164071_fig027.png:Fig. 27. Fig. 27. —Bra of Elizabeth Knevet. Our next example is a mural effigy to Sir William de Aldeburgh, c. 1360, from the north aisle of Aldborough Church, near Borough bridge, Yorkshire (Fig. 26). He is attired like the "veray parfite gentil knight" of Chaucer, in a bascinet or steel cap, to which is laced the camail or tippet of chain mail, and a hauberk almost concealed by a jupon , whereon are emblazoned his arms: "Azure, a fe indented argent, between three cro lets botony, or." The first cro let is charged with an annulet, probably as a mark of cadency. The engraver has omitted the indenture upon the fe , which, however, appears upon the shield. The knight's arms are protected by epaulières , bra arts , coutes , and vambraces ; his hands, holding a heart, by gauntlets of steel. An elaborate baldric pa es round his waist, from which are suspended, on the left, a cro -hilted sword, in a slightly ornamented scabbard; on the right, a misericorde , or dagger of mercy. The thighs are covered by cui es—steel plates, here deftly concealed probably by satin or velvet secured by metal studs—the knees by genouillères , the lower leg by jambes , which reveal chau es of mail at the interstices. Sollerets, or long, pointed shoes, whereto are attached rowel spurs, complete his outfit. The figure stands upon a bracket bearing the name "Will's de Aldeburgh." The parish church of Easting ton, Gloucestershire, contains a bra to Elizabeth Knevet, which is illustrated and described by Mr. Cecil T. Davis at p. 117 of his excellent work on the "Monumental Bra es of Gloucestershire." [4] The block (Fig. 27), which presents a good example of the heraldic mantle, has been very kindly placed at my disposal by Mr. Davis. To confine our description to the heraldic portion of the bra , we find the following arms upon the mantle:— "Quarterly, 1. argent, a bend sable, within a bordure engrailed azure (Knevet); 2. argent, a bend azure, and chief, gules (Cromwell); 3. chequy or and gules, a chief ermine (Tat shall); 4. chequy or and gules, a bend ermine (De Cailly or Clifton); 5. paly of six within a bordure bezanté.... 6. bendy of six, a canton...." [5] A coat of arms occurs also at each corner of the slab: "Nos. 1 and 4 are on ordinary shields, and 2 and 3 on lozenges. Nos. 1 and 56 3 are charged with the same bearings as are on her mantle. No. 2, on a lozenge, quarterly, 1. Knevet; 2. Cromwell; 3. Tat shall; 4. Cailli; 5. De Wood stock; 6. paly of six within a bordure; 7. bendy of six, a canton; 8. or, a chevron gules (Stafford); 9. azure, a bend cottised between six lioncels rampant, or (de Bohun). No. 4 similar to No. 1, with the omi ion of 2 and 3." In later times thinner plates of metal were employed, a fact which largely contributed to preclude much of the boldne in execution hitherto displayed. A prodigality in shading, either by means of parallel lines or by cro -hatching, also tended to mar the beauty of later work of this kind. Neverthele there are some good bra es of the Stuart period. These sometimes consist of a single quadrangular plate, with the upper portion occupied by armorial bearings and emblematical figures, the centre by an inscription, and the lower portion by a representation of the deceased, as at Forcett, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Frequently, however, as at Rother ham and Rawmarsh, in the West Riding of the same county, the inscription is surmounted by a view of the whole family, the father kneeling on a cushion at a fald-stool, with his sons in a similar attitude behind him, and the mother likewise engaged with her daughters on the opposite side, while the armorial insignia find a place on separate shields above. 57