Meeting - December 1996

One in a series of Sarum Research Group meetings: part of the Sarum study group on gothic cathedrals and related topics.

John Wilkes: The building of King's College Chapel

He hopes to provide a web-based paper "before too long" - watch this space!

Elaine Kriegh: Tomb monuments

Medieval Monuments: Slabs, Effigies, Tombs and Brasses

Most medieval memorials fall into four categories: incised slabs, tomb chests, effigies, and memorial brasses. There is some overlap; for example, the effigy and tomb chest were often combined, as were the brass and tomb chest in some cases. Some things to consider when looking at memorials in a church or cathedral are the following:

• Many of the floor memorials have been moved from their original sites.
• Many of the memorials - even very recent ones - have been subject to damage from neglect, vandalism, or wear (foot traffic).
• A "mythology" - about effigies in particular - has arisen, which cannot be verified.

Incised Slabs:

• Have been used since the eighth century to the present day.
• Were usually made from local material
• Are most difficult to date (wear and tear)

Effigies

• Date from the 12th century [at around this time, the papacy was trying to get together with the Eastern church, which was known to favor memorials; it coincided with the church's willingness to allow burials in the church proper, rayther than in the chapter house]
• Earliest ones are simple and two dimensional
• 13th,14th, and 15th century ones became highly decorated,three dimensional
• Styles included:
  - "active repose" for knights [these did not have any special significance other than of being ready for the resurrection) - many of them came from the West country]
  - husband and wife or wives
  - ecclesiastics/clerics with appropriate regalia
  - "double deckers" (stylized above, rotting below)
  
• Features to look for include:
  - pose of body
  - fashion/clothing styles
  - armor/heraldic devices
  - animals [often: lion for men, dogs for women - probably just family pets, rather than any deep symbolism]
  - symbols of authority
• Royalty and higher nobility usually opted for effigies ($$$$)

Tomb Chests:

• may or may not contain a corpse; sometimes were for show
• earliest are plain or have little decoration.
• later ones are very elaborate: niches, "weepers" [which began in early 14th century - initially simply stylized, later individuals], heraldry

Memorial Brasses:

• Size is very important: full (life) size, half size, or"dinky"
• Preferred by the less nobility, gentry, wealthy merchants, lesser clerics ($$)
• Very stylized, often included the same features as effigies
• Early brass workers were known as "marblers"

What were the major influences on medieval memorials?

• Development of chivalry and strong class of knights
• Development of heraldry
• Concurrent developments in architecture, sculpture, other arts
• The growing influence of the concept of Purgatory (probably St.Thomas Aquinas and the Papacy promoted this)

Recommended memorials:

1. Clonmacnois, Ireland - incised slabs
2. Salisbury Cathedral - effigies of William Longspee [1236], his son, ecclesiastics from Old Sarum, Sir John Cheney
3. Worcester Cathedral - King John [1230]
4. Temple Church, London - William Marshall and other crusader knights
5. Gloucester Cathedral - Robert Curthose (Duke of Normandy) [Son of William the Conqueror]
6. St. Mary's, Warwick - Beauchamp Chantry (Richard Beauchamp)
7. Tewkesbury Abbey - "The Kneeling Knight," Wakeman Cenotaph, others
8. Northleach and Chipping Campden churches - memorial brasses Elaine Kriegh
   12/10/96