Monumental brasses: a window onto the past

The Ecclesiological Society

Brasses - a window onto the past
The Ecclesiological Society is grateful to Nigel Saul, President of the Monumental Brass Society for this essay

ON THE EVE OF THE BATTLE OF AGINCOURT, Shakespeare’s Henry V assures the French envoy
that if his men return to England their memory will live on in brass:

A good many of our bodies shall no doubt
Find native graves; upon the which, I trust,
Shall witness live in brass of this day’s work.

THE KING'S PREDICTION was fulfilled. Thomas, Lord Camoys, commander of the left wing
of his army, was to be commemorated by a brass at Trotton (Sussex),
Sir John Harpedon, one of his captains, by a brass in Westminster Abbey,
Thomas Chaworth and John Reynes, two esquires in the army, by brasses at Launde (Leics.) and Clifton Reynes (Beds.) respectively.

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Priest at Ashford, Kent, the earliest surviving brass The beginning
By the fifteenth century brasses had become a highly popular form of commemoration. They were patronised by all ranks and groups of society. The earliest patrons had been the clergy.
Perhaps the oldest surviving brass is the tiny fragment of the head of a priest at Ashford (Kent) (illustrated opposite). This dates from around 1280.
It is likely that it originally formed part of a larger composition. The head probably stood at the intersection of the arms of a cross. The rest has been lost, however, leaving only the head.   It is not known whom the brass commemorates.

Sir Anthony Grey, 1480, wearing a Yorkist collar
The purpose of brasses
The main reason why brasses were laid in the middle ages was to elicit the intercession of the faithful. In catholic theology it was held that the sufferings of the soul in Purgatory could be eased, and the soul’s passage speeded, by the prayers of the living.   Thus a brass served in some sense as an obit: as a way of ensuring the flow of such prayers. A passer-by, seeing the figure of the commemorated, would be prompted to say a prayer or two on his or her behalf.   Increasingly, the point was reinforced by an appeal for prayers on the inscription, but early on the inscription was of limited value because relatively few could read.   Sight of the praying figure was what mattered most.
If brasses were primarily conceived to elicit prayers, they also served a second purpose – to preserve a person’s memory; to attest his importance when alive. It is this aspect which accounts for the worldly references on brasses – the symbols of power, the trappings of rank, the emblems of office, and so on.   From the mid fourteenth century increasing play was made of heraldry and symbolism. Elaborate coats of arms were shown, and personal and political connections advertised.
By the fifteenth century livery collars, signs of magnate affiliation, were shown around wearers’ necks, and badges on their breasts. Thus on the brass of Sir Anthony Grey, 1480, in St Albans Abbey (illustrated opposite) the Yorkist collar of suns and roses is shown, attesting the deceased’s connections with the ruling Yorkist line: Grey married into the Woodvilles. Many other fifteenth-century brasses show the Lancastrian collar of SS.

John Symonds and his wife, in shrouds Warnings to the onlooker
Yet alongside the preoccupation with honour there is evidence of an undercurrent of concern at the dangers of worldliness.   From the 1440s people began to be commemorated by shroud or cadaver effigies, such as that of John Symonds and his wife at Cley (Norfolk) (illustrated).
The purpose of these brasses was probably to remind the onlooker of death and what followed it – Purgatory and Judgement.
In the seventeenth century, after the rejection of Catholicism and of a belief in Purgatory, direct death imagery became common. On the brass of Joan Strode and her husband, 1645, at Shepton Mallet (Somerset) the figure of death leaps from a tomb to thrust his spear at Joan and, at the same time, to hand her a laurel wreath.
Throughout the period of their use brasses retained a dual character: a witness to status in this world, and an aid to salvation in the next.

William and Joan West, parents of William West, brass engraver

The brass trade
While brasses teach us about the commemorated and their aspirations, they can also teach us something more - about the organisation of the brass-making trade.
One of the most fruitful lines of investigation in the last twenty years has been into ‘style’ – that is, the identification of workshop patterns. Every workshop or firm engaged in brass production had particular trademarks, particular ways of drawing faces or depicting armour. By grouping together effigies of like style, we can identify workshops and in this way reconstruct the organisation of the industry.
From an analysis on these lines it emerges that in the late middle ages the industry was dominated by a couple of big firms in London, known for convenience as ‘B’ and ‘D’. ‘B’ is associated on documentary evidence with a man called William West. By happy coincidence a brass showing West survives. This is the brass to William and Joan West, his parents, at Sudborough (Northants.), 1415, on which he is shown, second from the left, among the children (illustrated). This was presumably a brass that he engraved himself.

Walter Curzon and his wife - a re-used brass.
The re-use of brasses
In the post-Reformation period brasses continued to be made – and made in great number.One of the most prolific workshops was that of the Huguenot immigrant, Gerard Johnson, at Southwark.
Many post-Reformation brasses were conceived in a wholly traditional style, with full-length figures, and were laid on floors and tombs. However, the use of small mural brasses showing kneeling figures became more common.
A major source of brass plate after the Reformation was despoiled brasses from the monasteries. Discarded brasses were bought up by the engravers, who would adapt them for re-use. Usually the brasses were turned over and engraved on the reverse. Sometimes, however, existing figures were simply modernised a little and a new inscription supplied.
A brass which exhibits both approaches is that of Walter Curzon and his wife at Waterperry (Oxon.) (illustrated). Originally the brass was laid to the memory of one Simon Kamp and his wife at Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate, London (c. 1442). When the house was dissolved, the brass was bought by Curzon’s executors, who arranged for its re-use. The inscription and the upper half of the lady’s figure were turned over and re-engraved, while the other parts were preserved but modernised with additional shading and detail.

Victorian brass: Bishop John Milner (d. 1826) by Pugin, at Oscott College Birmingham.
From: David Meara, A. W. N. Pugin and the Revival of Memorial Brasses (1991) Nineteenth century revival
The tradition of brass engraving lived on into the late seventeenth century but finally died out in the eighteenth, when the use of ledger stones became common. In the second quarter of the nineteenth century, however, there was a major revival in brass engraving as a by-product of the Anglo-Catholic revival. Fine examples of Victorian brasses can be seen at Truro Cathedral (Archbishop Benson), St Nicholas, Guildford (Rev. W.S. Sanders), and All Saints, Boyne Hill, Maidenhead (Rev. Gresley and Canon Drummond).
Brasses have long attracted attention because ‘rubbings’ can be made of them. However, it would be wrong to see them merely as an attractive form of decoration. They are a valuable historical resource. Through the study of brasses – and through the study of church monuments more generally – we can open windows into the minds of those who commissioned them and the craftsmen and engravers who made them.
If you are interested in brasses, why not join the Monumental Brass Society :
- note that, if you are under eighteen or in full time education, you pay half the normal subscription, £9 per annum.
Further reading: Monumental Brasses as Art and History, ed. J. Bertram (Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 1996).

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January 2001
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Click the image for a larger picture, use 'back' to return Priest at Ashford, Kent, the earliest surviving brass	The beginning By the fifteenth century brasses had become a highly popular form of commemoration. They were patronised by all ranks and groups of society. The earliest patrons had been the clergy. Perhaps the oldest surviving brass is the tiny fragment of the head of a priest at Ashford (Kent) (illustrated opposite). This dates from around 1280. It is likely that it originally formed part of a larger composition. The head probably stood at the intersection of the arms of a cross. The rest has been lost, however, leaving only the head. It is not known whom the brass commemorates.
Sir Anthony Grey, 1480, wearing a Yorkist collar	The purpose of brasses The main reason why brasses were laid in the middle ages was to elicit the intercession of the faithful. In catholic theology it was held that the sufferings of the soul in Purgatory could be eased, and the soul’s passage speeded, by the prayers of the living. Thus a brass served in some sense as an obit: as a way of ensuring the flow of such prayers. A passer-by, seeing the figure of the commemorated, would be prompted to say a prayer or two on his or her behalf. Increasingly, the point was reinforced by an appeal for prayers on the inscription, but early on the inscription was of limited value because relatively few could read. Sight of the praying figure was what mattered most. If brasses were primarily conceived to elicit prayers, they also served a second purpose – to preserve a person’s memory; to attest his importance when alive. It is this aspect which accounts for the worldly references on brasses – the symbols of power, the trappings of rank, the emblems of office, and so on. From the mid fourteenth century increasing play was made of heraldry and symbolism. Elaborate coats of arms were shown, and personal and political connections advertised. By the fifteenth century livery collars, signs of magnate affiliation, were shown around wearers’ necks, and badges on their breasts. Thus on the brass of Sir Anthony Grey, 1480, in St Albans Abbey (illustrated opposite) the Yorkist collar of suns and roses is shown, attesting the deceased’s connections with the ruling Yorkist line: Grey married into the Woodvilles. Many other fifteenth-century brasses show the Lancastrian collar of SS.
John Symonds and his wife, in shrouds	Warnings to the onlooker Yet alongside the preoccupation with honour there is evidence of an undercurrent of concern at the dangers of worldliness. From the 1440s people began to be commemorated by shroud or cadaver effigies, such as that of John Symonds and his wife at Cley (Norfolk) (illustrated). The purpose of these brasses was probably to remind the onlooker of death and what followed it – Purgatory and Judgement. In the seventeenth century, after the rejection of Catholicism and of a belief in Purgatory, direct death imagery became common. On the brass of Joan Strode and her husband, 1645, at Shepton Mallet (Somerset) the figure of death leaps from a tomb to thrust his spear at Joan and, at the same time, to hand her a laurel wreath. Throughout the period of their use brasses retained a dual character: a witness to status in this world, and an aid to salvation in the next.
William and Joan West, parents of William West, brass engraver	The brass trade While brasses teach us about the commemorated and their aspirations, they can also teach us something more - about the organisation of the brass-making trade. One of the most fruitful lines of investigation in the last twenty years has been into ‘style’ – that is, the identification of workshop patterns. Every workshop or firm engaged in brass production had particular trademarks, particular ways of drawing faces or depicting armour. By grouping together effigies of like style, we can identify workshops and in this way reconstruct the organisation of the industry. From an analysis on these lines it emerges that in the late middle ages the industry was dominated by a couple of big firms in London, known for convenience as ‘B’ and ‘D’. ‘B’ is associated on documentary evidence with a man called William West. By happy coincidence a brass showing West survives. This is the brass to William and Joan West, his parents, at Sudborough (Northants.), 1415, on which he is shown, second from the left, among the children (illustrated). This was presumably a brass that he engraved himself.
Walter Curzon and his wife - a re-used brass.	The re-use of brasses In the post-Reformation period brasses continued to be made – and made in great number.One of the most prolific workshops was that of the Huguenot immigrant, Gerard Johnson, at Southwark. Many post-Reformation brasses were conceived in a wholly traditional style, with full-length figures, and were laid on floors and tombs. However, the use of small mural brasses showing kneeling figures became more common. A major source of brass plate after the Reformation was despoiled brasses from the monasteries. Discarded brasses were bought up by the engravers, who would adapt them for re-use. Usually the brasses were turned over and engraved on the reverse. Sometimes, however, existing figures were simply modernised a little and a new inscription supplied. A brass which exhibits both approaches is that of Walter Curzon and his wife at Waterperry (Oxon.) (illustrated). Originally the brass was laid to the memory of one Simon Kamp and his wife at Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate, London (c. 1442). When the house was dissolved, the brass was bought by Curzon’s executors, who arranged for its re-use. The inscription and the upper half of the lady’s figure were turned over and re-engraved, while the other parts were preserved but modernised with additional shading and detail.
Victorian brass: Bishop John Milner (d. 1826) by Pugin, at Oscott College Birmingham. From: David Meara, A. W. N. Pugin and the Revival of Memorial Brasses (1991)	Nineteenth century revival The tradition of brass engraving lived on into the late seventeenth century but finally died out in the eighteenth, when the use of ledger stones became common. In the second quarter of the nineteenth century, however, there was a major revival in brass engraving as a by-product of the Anglo-Catholic revival. Fine examples of Victorian brasses can be seen at Truro Cathedral (Archbishop Benson), St Nicholas, Guildford (Rev. W.S. Sanders), and All Saints, Boyne Hill, Maidenhead (Rev. Gresley and Canon Drummond). Brasses have long attracted attention because ‘rubbings’ can be made of them. However, it would be wrong to see them merely as an attractive form of decoration. They are a valuable historical resource. Through the study of brasses – and through the study of church monuments more generally – we can open windows into the minds of those who commissioned them and the craftsmen and engravers who made them. If you are interested in brasses, why not join the Monumental Brass Society : - note that, if you are under eighteen or in full time education, you pay half the normal subscription, £9 per annum. Further reading: Monumental Brasses as Art and History, ed. J. Bertram (Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 1996).