MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES away. The head rests upon a single pillow and the feet upon a dog. The coffin-shaped slab is still retained though no longer in use at this time for a pavement burial. The effigy probably represents the wife of Peter de Bernak, who is commemorated by an effigy in an arch hard by, and now reduced to an almost shapeless block of stone. It is ap- parent that this dishonoured fragment formerly exhibited the usual dress of a soldier of the end of the thirteenth century, with the links carved on the Barnack stone as with the Purbeck effigies. The head of the effigy is broken oflFand lies near the mutilated trunk. Sir Robert de Keynes. Died 1305. Dodford. This Purbeck marble effigy is sculptured upon a slab narrowing to the feet, after the early manner common to the effigies in this material, and the last example in the county. The figure lies upon a wide and low altar-tomb formed of five plain slabs of Purbeck, the whole monument being polished, and forming a unique and striking memorial. A young man is represented wearing a closely-fitting mail coif apparently fastened up by a flapped opening on the left side of the face. Over this is a ridged headpiece or cerveliere, pro- longed over the ears and strapped on to the coif. The body is clothed in a quilted gambeson, and over this is worn a hauberk of mail, with sleeves, and gloves divided into fingers. The elbows are protected by small discs or coutes, and over all is a surcote laced on the right side, short and scanty in the skirts, indicating the cyclas and the coming change, and confined round the waist by a cingulum. The thighs seem to be covered by cuisses or breeches of leather, the knees are protected by ridged and shaped poleyns, and the legs and feet by mail chausses, and armed with prick spurs. The sword is suspended by a broad belt, and on the left arm is a shield charged with the arms of De Keynes — and kite-shaped, a reversion to the Norman form as depicted in the Stitch Work at Bayeux. The head rests upon two pillows and the feet upon a dog. The whole of the mail here represented is of the kind known as ' banded,' of which only four other sculptured examples are known to exist on effigies in England, namely, at Kirk- stead Chapel, Newton Solney, Tollard Royal and Tewkesbury. Brasses, painted glass, illu- minated MSS., seals and other graphic authorities of the period abound with illustra- tions of this kind of defence, but the material and construction of ' banded mail ' has not been satisfactorily explained. It is impossible, on seeing the Keynes effigy only, to come to any conclusion other than that some pro- tection differing very much from the usual chain mail was intended to be represented by the sculptor. The monument of Sir Robert de Keynes is undoubtedly the most remarkable in the county. About forty years ago the effigy, which had been broken into three parts, was with characteristic appreciation and veneration most carefully put together by the distin- guished antiquary the late Sir Henry Dryden, to whose untiring zeal in the elucidation and illustration of the antiquities of the county Northamptonshire is so greatly indebted. Mabila de Murdak, about 1 3 1 o. Gayton. This diminutive freestone effigy of a child, measuring only two feet two inches, wearing a veil and gown, was discovered in 1830, built face inwards into the exterior of the east wall of the chapel. At the end below the head are two mutilated shields — a fess between six fleurs-de-lis, and a fess, in chief three roundles. On one side of the plinth is this inscription : HIC lACET IN TUMBA MABILA FILIA THOME DE. . . . There was no such person at this period as Thomas de Gayton, but there was a Thomas de Murdak of Edgecott, who married Juliane, daughter and co-heir of Philip and Escholace de Gayton. Juliane de Murdak murdered her husband at the instigation of Sir John Vaux, in 13 16, and was convicted of the crime and burnt at the stake. This unto- ward incident may account for the name of Murdak having been defaced on the effigy. Sir John de Lyons, died 131 2, and Margaret his wife. Warkworth. The freestone effigy lies upon a low tomb within an arch in the north wall of the north aisle, and is carved with much freedom and art, the loose fit of the mail hood and the arms of the hauberk, as well as the full folds of the long surcoat, being capitally expressed. There is no change in the general character of the military costume, but there is a manifest advance in its representation. The head rests upon two pillows supported by angels, and the feet, armed with prick spurs, upon a lion. The shield is sculptured with the Lyons coat. The sword-belt is a perfected example of a system of suspending this lethal weapon from two points on the scabbard which had its origin at the beginning of the last quarter of the thirteenth century. By the old plan the belt was attached to the top of the scabbard only, the result being that the sword constantly hung in a more or less 3Q9
