MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES 



horizontal baudric, the new sword-belt, which 

 was introduced in or about 1335, and lasted 

 in purity until the end of the century, being 

 from that time gradually superseded until 

 about 1420, when it had quite vanished. It 

 should be noticed that with the baudric the 

 misericorde was generally first introduced, 

 and it disappears and reappears during the 

 fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It must be 

 that when the cingulum and other subsidiary 

 belts of the surcote and cyclas periods, which 

 supported the transverse sword-belts passed 

 away, the baudric was sewn to the jupon to 

 prevent it from slipping over the hips. It is 

 apparent that the gussets of the arms, at the 

 elbows and shoulders, are the visible parts of 

 the hauberk, the jupon furnishing no more 

 protection than did the surcote ; indeed St. 

 Remy says that the French at Agincourt even 

 wore hauberks under their plate armour — 

 ' Premierement estoient arm6s de cottes 

 d'acier, longues, passants les genoux, et moult 

 pesantes ; et par-dessous harnois de jambe ; 

 et par-dessus blancs harnois ; et de plus, 

 bachinets de camail.' The thighs are pro- 

 tected by cuissarts, and the knees by genou- 

 illeres ridged and studded, and with single 

 inverted lower articulations. The head 

 reposes upon two pillows, tasselled, for the 

 first time, and supported by angels. The 

 lower portion of this fine effigy is greatly 

 mutilated, the heel and part of the left (in 

 two senses) foot, shod with a rowel spur, 

 rests against a lion. The hands and wrists are 

 gone. Round the verge of the slab, which is 



portraiture which now, under such a wholesale 

 alabaster system, could have been produced ; and 

 when we see the ' marble ' countenances them- 

 selves the conclusion is verified at once. For 

 countless alabaster effigies throughout the country 

 follow the same bascinet-and-camail model. From 

 the last quarter of the fourteenth century a furor 

 to be thus represented in effigy seems to have set 

 in both with regard to alabaster and brass. There 

 was not, nor could there be, portraiture, but there 

 was perfect accuracy in arming details, for the 

 sculptors were well acquainted with the glittering 

 suits of steel, and with the heraldry on the jupons 

 and the tabards. 



We find these alabaster representations from 

 Derbyshire throughout the west of England, in the 

 mid-lands, in East Anglia and in the northern and 

 southern counties, from Cumberland to the Isle of 

 Wight. And though there arose a reaction in 

 favour of brass memorials as against alabaster, sup- 

 ported by importations from the Low Countries 

 from about 141 8, the fashion again reverted to 

 the use of the delicate and easily-worked stone, 

 and its employment never died out again until 

 after the middle of the seventeenth century, and 

 then, apparently, only because the quarries ceased 



embattled and ornamented with ball-flowers, 

 is the following inscription, divided at inter- 

 vals and alternately by scutcheons and roses : 

 •ii:moDnCr-:®:3oi): o:an:®:tie:fjcr: o: 

 teC®f)ull:o:le®tt:o:5C5:®:l)2:o:cu:o: 

 t)i:©:Ca:D:a:®:me: D:tit:®:mt. o:rci: 

 ©:oain®eon:; the letters being much 

 broken and defaced towards the end. 



Sir John SwiNFORD. Died 1371. Spratton. 



This effigy lies upon a low embattled altar- 

 tomb of alabaster, under an arch between the 

 chancel and the north chancel aisle, and en- 

 closed on the south side by coeval iron rail- 

 ings, with the main standards formed into 

 pricket candlesticks, herse-fashion. It is a 

 massive and striking figure, cut out of a block 

 of spotless alabaster, 7 feet long, 2 feet 4 

 inches wide, and i foot 9 inches deep, and 

 although there is no departure from the general 

 mode of representing the deceased at this 

 time, there is an unusual amount of repose 

 and dignity about the figure which is very 

 impressive. All the details are carefully ren- 

 dered, and the whole has been elaborately 

 painted and gilded. On the head is shown 

 the bascinet, with the camail fastened by laces 

 running through staples or vervelles in the 

 usual way. Over the camail is worn a collar 

 of SS, the letters strung on two ribbons, and 

 set in a metal or cuir-bouilli band of which 

 the ends are fastened together by a single 

 cord, the slack end expended in a knot 

 similar to the slip in what is called a hang- 

 man's knot. The shoulders are protected by 



to yield sufficiently good material. The best 

 alabaster had, in fact, already begun to succumb 

 to the heavy demands made upon it before the 

 end of the fifteenth century, and it rapidly de- 

 teriorated in quality from that time. 



The use of alabaster brought about retrogression 

 in monumental art. It rapidly did away with 

 the employment of gesso on effigies, and put an 

 end to the delicate painted decorations on such 

 monuments of which Stothard, with infinite zeal 

 and pains, and only just in time, rescued the 

 evidences from obliteration and oblivion. 



Under these conditions it will be at once antici- 

 pated that the number of alabaster effigies in North- 

 amptonshire is very considerable. As a matter of 

 fact, they form the large proportion of 50 of the 

 1 1 8 effigies in the county, ranging between the 

 years 1371-1629. The earliest example is that of 

 Sir John de Hertcshull, who died at least thirty 

 years after alabaster had come into use. As has 

 been already noticed, the alabaster employed for 

 effigies up to about the end of the fifteenth centur)' 

 was of a pure white kind. It was free from the 

 red streaks and imperfections of the inferior stone 

 which was subsequently used, and finally abandoned 

 on account of its impurity. 



407 



