Page:VCH Northamptonshire 1.djvu/505

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES tume which rapidly passed away at the death of Henry VIII. She is represented in a pedi- mental head-dress, with plain lappets pinned up at the sides, and her hair braided with ribbon. She wears a partlet embroidered at the neck, and two gold chains, from which a four-leaved flower is suspended. A tight- fitting gown, cut square at the neck, falls in plain folds to the feet ; round the waist is a loosely-knotted girdle from which a gypci^re or purse hangs by a cord with a running knot, and is drawn together by a tasselled string. The gown has divided sleeves attached to it, connected at intervals by points, and showing the pleated under-sleeves of the partlet, with ruffles at the wrist. The lady's head rests upon double pillows — they were called cushions after the period of the Reformation — supported by angels, and at her feet are two lapdogs with belled collars. The tomb is divided into compartments with semi-circular arched canopies containing shields at the ends and figures at the sides. On the north side of the tomb are five female figures in pedimental head-dresses, and wear- ing pomanders ; on the south side are two figures of ecclesiastics in tippets and hoods, and three men in long-sleeved gowns, open in front. Arms are painted on three shields at the two ends. Round the verge is the fol- lowing inscription : Here lieth • Sir ■ Weliam ■ Par • knight • LAT ■ lorde • Par ■ of • Horton • and LORDE • CHAMBERLENE-TO-THE -QVINES • HIGHNES • DISESID ■ THE X • OF SEPTEM- BER • Ano i 1546 Here • lie ■ th • Marie • DOWGHTER • AND COHEIR OF JOHN • SALISBERI • ESQVIER ■ LATE • WIF ■ TO Ser • Weliam Par • lord Par • of • Horton • desesed ■ the • x • of ivli • A • 1555. Sir Thomas Tresham. Died 1559. Rushton. This alabaster effigy is remarkable as the only one of its kind in England. Tresham is shown wearing the long black mantle with a cross flory on the breast, the dress of a knight Hospitaller ; the sword is worn over the mantle and portions of the armour are visible at the neck, wrists and ankles. When Capt. Symonds visited Rushton June 5, 1645, the day before the battle of Naseby the alabaster tomb and effigy were in the church of St. Peter. This was pulled down in 1785 when the monuments were removed to All Saints church. Sir Thomas Andrew, died 1 564, and Dames KATHERiNEand Marv his wives. Charwelton. Sir Thomas Andrew is represented in a tabard, blazoned as usual upon the front, back and sleeves, with his arms. The upright guards of the pauldrons, and the straps and buckles fastening the cuirass to the back-piece appear above this garment. The coudieres show the vanishing channels of earlier times, and the nuts fastening them to the straps which kept them in place. Below the tabard is the mail skirt, and the genouilleres and articulations have the characteristic plainness of their date. The head rests upon the tilting helm with its mail skirt, mantling and crest — a Moor's head. A collar of SS is worn with a pendent Tudor rose. The effigies of the two ladies show them dressed alike in high-collared gowns, kirtles with divided sleeves, and mantles looped across the breast, the heads reposing on embroidered cushions. The figure of Sir Thomas Andrew lies between those of his two wives upon an altar- tomb with the sides divided into three com- partments containing shields. At the east end of the tomb is the coat of Andrew with crest between a man and seven sons, and a woman and three daughters, all kneeling. Round the verge of the tomb is the follow- ing inscription : Sub isto tum'la jacet tiomina IStattrina 3[nlJtctocs prima uxor 2EI)omc 3lnTjrcfac0 militia una filiar' et (jetEtium lEljfaartJi CCabe armtge' que quittem Batcrtna obiit liEcimo actafaa bit SuguTti an'o miirima quingentcaimo quinquagfaimo quinto, of totoae aolU ®oti Jjafae mctcg. 3 m £ n . It is thus shown that the monument was set up by Sir Thomas Andrew after the death of his first wife. He married secondly Mary, daughter of John Heneage. It is evident that the figures are not the accurate portraits that might have been expected. William Chauncy, died 1585, and Joan his wife. Edgecott. A considerable decline in interest, both antiquarian and artistic, is evinced by the rude and well-preserved alabaster effigies and tomb of the elder Chauncys. The effigy of the man shows him in armour of much the same character that has been noticed in earlier figures in the county. But the upright pass- guards of the pauldrons are gone, and in the place of the tuiles suspended from the tassets — seen for the last time on the effigy of Knightley of Fawsley — we have tuiles of articulated plates, a style which endured as long as armour was worn, working freely with sliding rivets, 17