MONUMENTAL BRASSES, HERALDRY, ICONOGRAPHY

In the early part of the 13 th century slabs with engraved figures began with increasing success be let into the pavement of churches. They were often embellished with brass inlay or completely covered with engraved brass sheets. The church floors in the Low Countries were covered by numerous monumental brasses. Tournai was the leading production centre with export all over the West. Other centres followed soon as Ghent, Bruges, Antwerp and Mechlin. Most of those

Many monumental brasses have heart symbolism, but surprisingly they have been studied only in passing.  Not all variants can be interpreted with certainty although many are likely to be indicative of Christian faith. Different types of such imagery relating to various devotional contents are examined. Additionally examples memorialising heart burials are shown. An appendix lists all known extant and lost examples in England.

Most publications on macabre brasses in Britain have concentrated on medieval examples but the type continued to be produced after the Reformation. Information provided by Martin Stuchfield from his database has revealed 33 brasses featuring either emaciated dead bodies or skeletons dating between 1558 and 1717. They are listed in the Appendix. First published in Monumental Brass Society Registered Charity No. 214336  https://www.mbs-brasses.co.uk/

This paper analyses the Art Markets between the former Netherlands and Spain during the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century. With regards to the transport and marketing of the art works, documents held in Spanish archives show that a complex network of agents and infrastructure existed. Not all ports were equally equipped, and it is feasible to think that expensive triptychs and tapestries were shipped to seaports endowed with docks, ramps and suitable warehouses. Inexpensive, mass-produced works such as small statues were taken to any kind of port, as their transport would not require such detailed and careful planning. The role of the merchants is of paramount importance in art trade; evidence shows that whereas most merchants would include any kind of art works in their ships, a select group would focus only on expensive requests. Not only did this elite work just for wealthy patrons, but they also lent money to the Crown and became a very influential social group in the political daily life of their time. This is fairly proved by the use of their merchant marks, initially used as an identifying sign that later became included in their own artistic commissions, proudly displayed, just as the nobility did with their heraldic shields.

The friaries of the English province attracted burials in their churches and cemeteries. Chroniclers provide examples of those interred in the order's churches. In some instances antiquarians provided lists of the people laid to rest in the order's churches. While the register of the London Greyfriars offers an incomplete catalogue of burials, it furnishes some information on the friars whose burial places were marked by inscriptions and monuments. The different chapels provided a burial place to friars who had held various offices in the order, such as suffragan bishop, minister provincial, guardian , lector, and royal confessor. Peter of Bologna, bishop of Corbavia and suffragan bishop in the diocese of London, was interred in the choir of the church along with members of the wider royal family and nobles. William Appleton was laid to rest in the Lady chapel along with military figures. Several friars were buried in the northern chapel, including John Bunggey. Roger Conway, a doctor of theology and former minister provincial, was buried in the choir. Several friars were buried in the cloister. James Walle, a former guardian of the London Greyfriars, the bishop of Kildare, and suffragan bishop in the diocese of London, was buried before the altars.

The 'Transactions of the Monumental Brass Society' for 2020 will be a memorial issue for a much loved, much missed and highly respected antiquarian, scholar and friend. A long-serving parish priest of the Oratory, Oxford and a vice-president of the Monumental Brass Society, Fr Jerome’s final years were a remarkable Indian summer of scholarship and productivity. This issue will contain reviews of his surveys of Oxfordshire and Sussex brasses (both published in 2019), and also two important articles by him. One examines the Tournai trade and his final work, a study of the brass of John Waltham, bishop of Salisbury
(d. 1395), in the Confessor’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey.