Page:Surrey Archaeological Collections Volume 1.djvu/332

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MONUMENTAL BRASSES.

would have looked thus emblazoned,[1] as in the instance of Lady Tiptoft, whose brass at Enfield shows her in a mantle having three great lions passant on one half of it, and on the other another lion rampant, at least as large as his three neighbours. The merchant and his lady wore the same flowing tunic; the knightly belt, both in form and adjustment, was closely imitated in the more delicate cinctures which encircled the ladies' waists. In addition to the long array of brasses of ladies and of merchants of various callings, there are also brasses of judges, from which we learn that in the 15th century the civilian's sword (anelace) was worn with the judicial coif and ermine; and there are brasses of Serjeants learned in the law with coif and bands, of notaries with inkhorn and penner, and of crown-keepers and yeomen of the guard to the sovereign; of yeomen, and others.

The armour represented in brasses commences with the mail suit worn in the time of the first Edward, and furnishes examples of almost every change and modification in the panoply worn by the chivalry of England. Six brasses exemplify this style of armour; of these, the brasses at Trumpington and Chartham are unfinished, those at Croft and Buslingthorpe are half-figures; the Acton brass to Sir H. de Bures is singularly fine, and its preservation is actually wonderful. Of the sixth, the earliest of the group, I shall have presently to speak more particularly; this is the brass of Sir John D'Aubernoun.

From the unmixed mail we are carried on to the first decided addition of defences of plate or perhaps of prepared leather (cuirbouilli). During the next succeeding

  1. These dresses were doubtless for state occasions only. The legal term "feme coverte" is derived from this usage.