MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES real crusader, the only representative in the county of the romantic expeditions to Pales- tine. Not to signalize a holy voyage, but in compliance with a conventionality of English sculptors then just coming into fashion, and which endured for rather more than a hundred years — he is shown in his freestone effigy with his legs crossed. De Vere is represented in a complete suit of mail — a true hring-gar — con- sisting of a hood continuous with the hauberk, and confined round the forehead by a band, and having a flapped opening fastened up with a thong over the left ear, to enable the head to be passed through the constricted neck of the hauberk into its hood, after the usual early manner. The hauberk is long, reach- ing to the knees, the mail chausses being steadied by straps below them. Over all is a long surcote confined round the waist by a cingulum in connection with which at the back is the transverse sword-belt checked at intervals for the buckle tongue, as with some examples in the Temple church, in the effigy of De L'Isle at Stowe-nine-Churches, and in that of De Goldingham at Rushton. The attach- ment of the sword-belt to the cingulum pre- vented the former from slipping over the hips. De Vere wears a shield suspended on the left arm after the English fashion ; the feet resting on an animal are armed with prick spurs, and the head is supported by a single pillow. A noticeable feature is the long surcote in whose voluminous folds men dismounted on the field were frequently apt to get their legs entangled, and thus fell an easy prey to the enemy. The effigy lies upon a plain tomb under a low richly-moulded coeval arch. Sir Robert de Vere was the second son of Sir Henry, constable of Gisors, a nephew of Aubrey, first Earl of Oxford. Matthew Paris says that his posthumous fame was very great, that his exploits became the themes for min- strels and were quoted as signal examples of martial bravery. Abbot John de Caleto. Died 1262. Peterborough Cathedral. The fourth abbatical effigy in respect of age is that which is now disposed the first to the west in the south aisle of the choir, under a low Norman arch which it does not fit. It is carved in bold relief upon a coffin-shaped slab of polished Purbeck marble. The abbot is represented bare-headed, with the tonsure, and with the face closely shaven. He is vested in the alb, with a richly ornamented parure or app.irel at the feet, a stole, a tunic or dalmatic, and a heater-shaped chasuble. This latter vestment is embroidered with foliage on the front, and has an orphrey straight down it, with a small square rationale. The amice, like a hood, partially covers the head which rests upon sculptured foliage, and is supported on either side by the mutilated remains of angels who grasp the abbot by the ears 1 The right hand and upper part of the pastoral staff are gone ; the left holds the clasped book of the Gospels. The feet press upon a very vigorous winged dragon who receives the ferule of the pastoral staff in its mouth ; the tail terminates in foliage. Abbot de Caleto conducted the Benedictine house at Peterborough from 1249 ^° 1262. Sir David de Esseby. Died before 1268. Castle Ashby. In chronological sequence now follows the cross-legged effigy of the distinguished warrior Sir David de Esseby. He is represented in a full suit of mail, beautifully sculptured, link by link,"^ and differing only from that worn by De Vere in having the hood distinct from the hauberk, a convenient improvement that had lately been introduced. The shape of the head implies a cerveliere or skull-cap of iron or padded material under the hood. The surcoat, which retains slight traces of red colour, is somewhat scanty and short in the skirts, as it was frequently worn at this period. The figure, which no doubt dates from soon after the battle of Evesham in 1265, has much interest as giving an accurate picture of the military dress of that fateful era. It is in wonderful preservation, polished through- out, and is sculptured on a slab of Purbeck, narrowing rapidly to the feet, and taking the form of a stone coffin of the time, and of which it probably once formed the lid. 1 During the last years of the thirteenth century, as the demand for military effigies rapidly in- creased, it became apparent that life-size statues with the mail laboriously carved link by link in Purbeck, Sussex or Forest marble, firestone, and various so-called ' freestones,' must give way to the easier process of working out the details of the armour and other decorative parts on a gesso sur- face, by the use either of tools or stamps, and finishing with gilding or colour. With the ex- pansion of this particular art there was less likeli- hood of portraits being produced, because such advanced technical work can only have been carried on — as with the Purbeck effigies — in good artistic ateliers with full appliances, and necessarily without much reference to individual portraiture, armorial bearings or small personal details being added to conventional statues according to special directions. The minute information necessar)- for the appreciation of points such as these can only be laboriously acquired by measuring and drawing to scale and comparing monumental effigies in divers parts of the country. 395
