MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES 



twenty-nine families who displayed these 

 charges on their shields. 



VVentiliana de Keynes. Died 1376. 

 Dodford. 



Immediately in front of the monument of 

 Hawise de Keynes is the freestone effigy and 

 altar-tomb of her great-granddaughter VVenti- 

 liana, the namesake of her great-aunt, and the 

 last of this ancient house. She was lady of 

 the manor of Dodford, and died unmarried in 

 1376. Like her maternal predecessor, Wenti- 

 liana is habited in a veil, kirtle and super- 

 tunic, her head is supported by angels, and in 

 her uplifted hands she holds a heart, the only 

 instance in Northamptonshire. ' Let us lift 

 up our heart with our hands unto God in 

 the heavens' (Lamentations iii. 41). The 

 front of the tomb is divided by piers charged 

 with blank shields hanging from talbots' heads, 

 into six trefoil-headed, cusped and crocketed 

 niches, which contain small figures of knights 

 with swords and veiled ladies — ' weepers,' in 

 attitudes of great distress. 



John Pyel, died about 1380, and Joan his 

 wife. Irthlingborough. 



The alabaster effigies represent a man wear- 

 ing a merchant's gown and a gypcidre, and a 

 woman in a gown, kirtle and mantle. The 

 figures are in a shockingly mutilated state, and 

 lie upon an altar-tomb panelled with quatre- 

 foils containing blank shields, in the south 

 aisle of the church. 



Sir John de Wittelbury, about 1410. 

 Marholm. 



The effigy is vigorously carved in clunch, 

 and lies upon a beautiful clunch altar-tomb 

 under the south-eastern arch of the nave 

 arcade. The sides and ends of the tomb are 

 divided into twelve multifoliated panels con- 

 taining blank shields, the plinth is panelled 

 with quatrefoils, and the cornice ornamented 

 with grotesque animals and richly sculptured 

 round the verge. De Wittelbury wears a 

 bascinet with the enriched ' prente ' for 

 covering the attachment of the camail. This 

 latter is replaced by a bavi^re, and over it is 

 worn the deep plate gorget. The headpiece 

 is encircled by a jewelled orle, of a pattern 

 that was common at this period, for prevent- 

 ing the pressure of and steadying the tilting 

 helm. A collar of SS signifies the wearer' 

 attachment to the person of the king. The 

 articulations at the shoulders have increased in 

 number from those last noticed at Orlingbury. 

 Pallettes are introduced at the ' vif de 

 I'harnois,' fan coudieres, richly edged and 

 with double articulations at the elbows, and 



the plate gauntlets have foliated edgings on 

 the cuffs and gadlings on the knuckles ; the 

 joints of the brassarts, avant bras, cuissarts 

 and jambes are richly seamed. The knight 

 wears a tight-fitting jupon, and an elaborate 

 baudric, below which the mail hauberk appears, 

 with additional sets of free-hanging rings very 

 characteristic of the time, and which were 

 usially gilt. Modern oriental mail has these 

 loose rings in brass. The feet are encased in 

 sollerets and armed with spurs, of which the 

 leathers are crimped in a manner only seen in 

 connection with effigies of this time. The 

 quillons of the sword appear to be late seven- 

 teenth century repairs. The head rests upon 

 a tilting helm, with the crest, and the feet 

 upon a lion. The whole figure is capitally 

 executed and represents a most interesting 

 suit. 



All that is known of John de Wittelbury is 

 that he was attached in some way to the per- 

 son of the king, and that he was lord of the 

 manor of Marholm in the time of Richard IL 

 and Henry IV. 



Ralph Greene, died 141 9, and Katherine 

 his wife. Lowick. 



The indenture of agreement made in 141 9 

 between Katherine, widow of Ralph Greene, 

 and two others, his executors, and Thomas 

 Prentys and Robert Sutton, ' kervers ' of 

 Chellaston, Derbyshire — published in Hal- 

 stead's Genealogies^ merely states that the 

 tomb of Ralph Greene and his wife at Lowick 

 shall sustain ' deux images d'alabastre, I'un 

 countrefait a un Esquier en Armes en toutz 

 pointz, avec un helm de soubs son chief, et un 

 ours a ses pies, et I'autre image sera countre- 

 fait <i une dame gisant en sa surcote overte, 

 avec deux Anges tenant un pilow de soubz 

 sa teste, et deux petitz chiens a ses pies, I'un 

 des ditz images tenant I'autre par la main.' 

 There is not a word in the agreement to the 

 effect that the two figures shall be presented 

 ' come ils estaient en lour vivant.' Accord- 

 ingly the effigy of Greene, hand in hand with 

 that of his wife, shows him as an armed man 

 quelconque, but accurately depicting the armour 

 of the first quarter of the fifteenth century, 

 the jupon bearing the Greene arms ; and 

 similarly the effigy of the lady is no more than 

 a type of the costume of the day. 



Greene is habited in armour of the same 

 character as that of De Wittelbury, but more 

 advanced, and while adhering generally to 

 truthful representation, the effigy has just such 

 difference of detail and treatment as is to be 

 expected from the interpretation of well-known 

 forms of defensive armour by the chisel of a 

 different artist working in a more facile 



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