Stones of the Temple; Or, Lessons from the Fabric and Furniture of the ChurchField, Walter
Religion
Stones of the Temple; Or, Lessons from the Fabric and Furniture of the Church
Field, Walter
Christian art and symbolism; Church architecture; Symbolism in architecture
"We must next come to the monumental brasses of _knights_ and warriors;
and that curious brass to Sir Peter Legh, which is taken from Winwick
Church, will do well for a connecting link between the clergy and the
warriors. He is, you see, in armour, but over the upper part of it is a
chasuble, on the front of which is his shield of arms. And this tells
his history. He was formerly a soldier, but at the decease of his wife
he relinquished his former occupation, and became a priest of the
Church. You see before you soldiers in all kinds of armour, and you can
easily trace the gradual change from the _chain mail_ to the _plated
armour_, till you find the former almost entirely abandoned, and the
latter adopted, in the early part of the fifteenth century. Now I should
soon tire you if I were to describe all the curious sorts of armour
these soldiers wear, so I must just take one of them, and that will go
far to wards explaining others. There hangs Sir Roger de
Trumpington[47], of Trumpington, Cambridgeshire; his date is 1289. You
see he is cross-legged, and so you would put him down for a Knight
Templar, and a warrior in the Holy Land. And so he was; but nevertheless
you must remember all cross-legged figures are not necessarily Knights
Templar. He rests his head upon a _bascinet_ (A), or helmet. His head
and neck are protected by chain mail (B), to which is attached his
_hauberk_ (D), or shirt of mail. On his shoulders are placed _ailettes_
(C), or little wings, and these are ornamented with the same arms as
those borne on his shield. They were worn both for defence and ornament,
as soldiers' epaulettes are now. The defence for the knees (G) was made
of leather, and sometimes much ornamented. At a later time it was made
of plated metal. The legs and feet are covered with chain mail, called
the _chausse_ (F), and he wears _goads_, or 'pryck spurs,' on his heels
(H). Over the hauberk he has a _surcoat_ (E) probably of wool or linen.
Here you see it is quite plain; but it is frequently decorated with
heraldic devices; and such devices on the surcoat or armour are often
the only clue left to the name and history of the wearer.
"On the brasses of _civilians_ we find nothing like the present
ungraceful and unsightly mode of dress; indeed we can scarcely imagine
any thing more ridiculous than the representation of the modern
fashionable dress on a monumental brass. But on these memorials, you
see, the robes are, with rare exceptions, flowing and graceful. In the
sixteenth century there was but slight difference between the male and
female attire of persons in private life. Of course the dresses of
professional men have always been characteristic. Civilians were, with
hardly an exception, always represented on brasses _bare-headed_.
Happily for the good people in those times they did not know the hideous
and inconvenient _hat_ which continues to torture those who live in
towns, but from which we in the country have presumed to free ourselves.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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