A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



vertical position and vibrated inconveniently. 

 This was found to be an evil both on foot 

 and on horseback. The new system of 

 fastening the entire end of the buckle- 

 strap to the scabbard, and the other or long 

 strap a few inches down the scabbard had 

 many advantages. It brought the grip of 

 the sword more within the compass of the 

 right hand, and the weight of the weapon, by 

 leverage, tended to tighten and steady the 

 belt, while on horseback the hilt was pitched 

 outwards and the flat of the sword thrown 

 more into a line parallel with the side of the 

 body of the horse and its rider. But there 

 was yet a difficulty, the tendency of the 

 sword, thus hung from two points not opposite 

 each other, was to take a diagonal bearing, 

 and throw its front edge out of plane. This 

 was at once obviated by slitting the upper 

 portion of the buckle end of the belt into 

 thongs of varying widths, lacing and tying 

 these into the mouth of the scabbard, and 

 carrying the remaining part of the belt in a 

 slanting direction, and free, across the scabbard, 

 until it met on the scabbard the loop of the 

 long portion of the belt. Arrived at this 

 point, the slanting strap was split into two 

 narrowing thongs ; these were laced altern- 

 ately into the sinister or back edge, never 

 into the dexter, of the loop of the long 

 portion of the belt ; the ends were run out 

 behind, brought forward to the front of the 

 scabbard, and tied in a ' sennit ' knot. 

 Thus the sword was steadied and righted, 

 and this connection of the belt-ends on the 

 scabbard had the further advantage of hinder- 

 ing it from flying wildly about, and entangling 

 in the belt when the sword was drawn from 

 it and the wearer on horseback and in action. 

 That the system answered its purpose there 

 can be no doubt for it remained in constant 

 use, of course with diflTerent or modified 

 details, until the middle of the first quarter of 

 the fourteenth century, and it probably had 

 special qualities connected with service in the 

 field, which to us at the present day are not 

 so apparent. No doubt also an advantage of 

 this picturesque and complicated belt was that 

 the loop of the long strap was thus prevented 

 from slipping down the narrowing scabbard 

 by its attachment to the end of the buckle- 

 strap. The pommel of Sir John Lyons' 

 sword is cut into facets in a very unusual way, 

 and the bare hands are posed in prayer after 

 the fashion that was now almost universally 

 established. The mail mufflers and the 

 fingered mail gloves — the ancient prolonga- 

 tions of the sleeves of the hauberk — are now 

 almost clean gone. 



The freestone effigy of Margaret de Lyons 



lies on the left side of her husband, and re- 

 presents her in a gown and mantle with its 

 usual fastening cord, a coverchief, and a 

 wimple pinned up under it over pads on each 

 side of the face. The hands are in prayer 

 and the head rests upon two pillows supported 

 by mutilated angels. The straight under line 

 of the eyes in both figures is a marked con- 

 ventionality of sculptors of the time. Neither 

 effigy is a portrait. 



Sir Philip LE Lou. Living 131 5. Ashton. 



The wooden effigy lies upon a modern 

 tomb in the north-east corner of the south 

 aisle, and represents a man in the usual hood, 

 hauberk and chausses of mail, and surcote ; the 

 head rests upon two cushions and the hands 

 are in prayer. The vanished shield has been 

 suspended by a broad gigue and was doubtless 

 originally charged with the arms. The 

 sword and right foot have disappeared, and 

 the whole figure is in a melancholy state of 

 decay.' 



' From the same art centres which produced the 

 stone effigies came the oaken or wooden figures, of 

 which there are so many in the county. These 

 memorials — with the exception of the odd elon- 

 gated figure at Braybrooke, probably a production 

 of the local carpenter — have high interest and 

 value, not only from their artistic quality, but 

 from their comparative rarity in the country 

 generally. Their manufacture was as follows : — 



The sculptor of a full-sized wooden effigy, say 

 in the early years of the fourteenth century, had 

 many difficulties to contend with. In the first 

 place, he must find a block of well-seasoned oak, 

 sound at the heart, and at least two feet across. 

 This width would be essential whether he repre- 

 sented a knight 'in the posture of prayer,' drawing 

 or sheathing his sword, or a lady 'fair and gent,' 

 holding the mantle-strings, gathering up the long 

 skirts of the gown, or with ' hands in resignation 

 pressed.' It was necessary that the wood be care- 

 fully chosen, because the tabic of the monument 

 and important parts of the figure had to be 

 fashioned out of the block, and also because — in 

 order to prevent splitting — the body, as far as it 

 was absorbed into the table or bed upon which it 

 would lie, must be hollowed out from the back. 

 There must be no decay or failure breaking 

 through to the front. The sculptor having done 

 his work, and fastened with wooden pins such 

 parts as lay outside the compass of his block, the 

 decorator took the effigy in hand. Having sized 

 the figure as far as was necessary, he glued pieces 

 of linen across the open cracks and knots to bridge 

 over the inequalities. He then gave the statue a 

 thin coat of gesso — that is to say, a mixture of 

 parchment size and whitening — with a view to 

 subsequent painting. He applied a thicker coat- 

 ing of gesso to those portions of the effigy which 

 he intended to decorate in relief, such as mall, or 

 large surfaces which were to be afterwards gilded 



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