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 409
