Come back next month to see another featured brass!
Click on the heading below to see past brasses of the month:
February 2003 Nicholas Gaynesford, 1498, Carshalton, Surrey
March 2003 George Rede, c. 1492, Fovant, Wiltshire
April 2003 Thomas Stathum, 1470, Morley, Derbyshire
May 2003 Richard Torryngton, c.1380-
June 2003 Adam Ertham, 1382, Arundel, Sussex
July 2003 John Lawe, c.1480, Derby Cathedral, Derbyshire
August 2003 William Frith, 1386, & John Bradwell, Shottesbrook, Berks
September 2003 Sir Richard Fitzlewes, 1528, Ingrave, Essex
October 2003 Joan, Lady Cromwell, 1479, Tattershall, Lincolnshire
November 2003 John Gyger, 1504, Tattershall, Lincolnshire
December 2003 Richard Disney, d. 1578, Norton Disney, Lincolnshire
January 2004 Joan de Cobham, c. 1305-
February 2004 Henry Notingham, c. 1405, Holme-
March 2004 John Wybarne, 1505, Ticehurst, Sussex
April 2004 William Bradschawe, 1537, Wendover, Buckinghamshire
May 2004 Thomas Tompkins, 1629, Llandinabo, Herefordshire
June 2004 William de Wermington, c. 1330, Crowland, Lincolnshire
July 2004 Lucasz de Gorka, 1475, Poznan, Poland
August 2004 Unknown knight, c. 1475, Society of Antiquaries, London
September 2004 Sir Andrew de Herley, 1382, Allensmore, Herefordshire
October 2004 Nicholas Fraunceis, 1526, Combe Florey, Somerset
November 2004 Prior Thomas Nelond, 1432,Cowfold, Sussex
December 2004 Unknown, c. 1500, Cobham, Surrey
January 2005 John Hardman, 1867, St. Mary's Convent, Handsworth
February 2005 Sir John Say, 1473, Broxbourne, Herts
March 2005 Sir Hugh Hastings, 1347, Elsing, Norfolk
April 2005 Sir John Clerk, 1539, Thame, Oxfordshire.
May 2005 Olivier de la Chapelle, 1508, La Chapelle-
June 2005 Katherine Franckleyn, 1552, Sturry, Kent
July 2005 Sir Edward Warner, 1565, Little Plumstead, Norfolk
August 2005 Thomas Tonge, 1472, Beeford, Yorkshire
September 2005 William Wadham, 1411, llminster, Somerset
October 2005 Margaret Chute (d. 1614), Marden, Herefordshire
November 2005 John Strete (d. 1406), Upper Hardres, Kent
December 2005 Edward Grymston, 1478, Thorndon, Suffolk
January 2006 Elizabeth Tempest, 1845, Skipton, Yorkshire
February 2006 Sir Thomas Brudenell, 1586, Deene, Northamptonshire
March 2006 Thomas King, 1523, Rendham, Suffolk
April 2006 Brother Robert Beauner, c. 1450-
May 2006 Lady Anne Danvers, 1539, Dauntsey, Wiltshire
June 2006 Thomas, Lord Berkeley, 1392, Wotton-
July 2006 John Eldred, 1632, Great Saxham,Suffolk
August 2006 Dame Agnes Jordan, 1546, Denham, Buckinghamshire
September 2006 King Eric Menved and Queen Ingeborg, 1319, Ringsted, Denmark
October 2006 Margaret Lambart (d.1608), Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire
November 2006 Archbishop Samuel Harsnett, 1631, Chigwell, Essex
December 2006 John Samwell and wife, c. 1505, Cottisford, Oxfordshire
January 2007 Hugues des Hazards, (1517) bishop of Toul, Blénod-
February 2007 Valentine Edvarod, 1574, St Nicholas at Wade, Kent
March 2007 Edmund Hunt, 1558, Hindolveston, Norfolk
April 2007 Sir Peter Rede, 1568, St Peter, Norwich, Norfolk
May 2007 Sir Adam de Clyfton, Methwold, 1367, Norfolk
June 2007 George Talbot, Fourth Earl of Shrewsbury, 1538, Sheffield, Yorkshire
July 2007 Walter Curson, 1527, and Isabel, his wife, Waterperry, Oxfordshire
August 2007 John Byrkhede, d. 1468, Harrow-
September 2007 Lost brass of a lady, c.1415, Castleacre, Norfolk
October 2007 Christopher Daubeney, 1587, Sharrington, Norfolk
November 2007 Edward Naylor, 1632, Bigby, Lincolnshire
December 2007 William Armorer, 1560, All Hallows-
January 2008 A Lady, probably Agnes de Bradeston, c1370, Winterbourne, Gloucestershire
February 2008 John Strensall, 1408, Boston, Lincolshire
March 2008 Ann Fitch, 1593, Little Canfield, Essex
April 2008 Jeha(n) Buccilier and his wife, Police, 1494, Toul,
France
May 2008 William de Grey [1495] and his wives Mary and Grace,
Merton, Norfolk
June 2008 John Stonor, 1512, Wraysbury, Buckinghamshire
July
2008 Thomas Cod, 1465, St Margaret at Antioch, Rochester, Kent
August
2008 John Bartelot, d. 1428/9, and wife Joan de Stopham, Stopham, Sussex
September 2008 Edmund Clere, d. 1488, and wife Elizabeth, Stokesby, Norfolk
October 2008 Reginald Spycer, 1442, and wives, Cirencester, Gloucestershire
November 2008 Ann Tyrell, 1638, Stowmarket, Suffolk
December 2008 Margaret Bacon, 1626/7, Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire
January 2009 Unknown civilian, c 1520, Godmanchester, Huntingdonshire
February 2009 John Alnwyk, 1460, Surlingham, Norfolk
March 2009 Lady Sydney Wynne, Llanrwst, Denbighshire
April 2009 Gotthard and Margaretha von Höveln, 1571, Marienkirche, Lübeck
May 2009 Dorothie Brewster, 1613, Willingale Doe, Essex
June 2009 Sir John de Wyngefeld, 1389, Letheringham, Suffolk
July 2009 Gabriel Pluyette, 1634, Roissy-
August 2009 Incised slabs to lepers, Dijon, France
September 2009 Lost Brass: Ralph de Hengham, St Paul’s Cathedral, London
October 2009 Reginald de Assche, Ash-
November 2009 John Repps, 1561, & wives Margaret & Thomasene, West Walton, Norfolk
December 2009 Francis Saunders, 1585, & wives Elizabeth, Eleanor and Frances, Welford, Northamptonshire
January 2010 Inscription on font to Sir Ralph Pudsay, his third wife
Edwina & his son William, Bolton-
February 2010 John Kyngeston, 1514, and wife Susan, Childrey, Berkshire
Brass of the Month
March 2010: Anne Bedingfield, 1641, Darsham, Suffolk
Copyright: Jon Bayliss
The outline of Anne Bedingfield's life can be found in Eva Griffiths' biography of her in the Dictionary of National Biography and a précis of the DNB entry by John Blatchly was published in the MBS Bulletin, illustrated by Suckling's lithograph of her brass. It recounted how her father had died in 1576 and left her the leasehold of property in Clerkenwell that was part of the bequest of freehold land by Thomas Seckford that supported his almshouses at Woodbridge. When her mother dismissed a clerk from the family brewing business, he took her to court. Her defence was that the clerk had 'most shamefully, wickedly and horribly' tried to marry her daughter Anne. In 1579 Anne married Eustace Bedingfield, a member of a well established East Anglian family. Eustace died in 1599, leaving Anne with several children. In 1605 she sublet part of her Clerkenwell land to the builders of the Red Bull theatre, which became the home of an acting company, the Queen's Servants. Other than the making of her will in 1636, the DNB entry records nothing more before her death in 1641. However, she was involved in a law suit taken out by the governors of the Seckford Charity after claims to their property at Clerkenwell had been made. She was named as one of the defendants, alongside Anthony and Mary Cage and Edmund Brewster. The plaintiffs included the Lord Chief Justice of Common Pleas, Sir Robert Heath. The origins of the suit apparently dated back before Eustace Bedingfield's death, as one paper names her as his widow and administratrix and him as a defendant. The case seems to have come to a head in 1633, with depositions being taken at Woodbridge.
Brass engraving in the Carolean period was dominated by Edward Marshall, who signed the brass of Sir Edward Filmer at East Sutton in Kent and was paid for brasses at Pluckley in the same county, as the account book of Sir Edward Dering, transcribed by Laetitia Yeandle (2), reveals. However, Marshall may well have subcontracted the engraving of his designs to other engravers and there are other stylistic groups of the same period, which include the brasses of Francis Grigs, who signed a couple of brasses, and also those related to Anne Bedingfield, which are by an unknown London engraver who favoured long thin hands on his brasses. Other examples are at Stifford, Essex, to Elizabeth Lathum, died 1630, and Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, to Francis Welles, died 1636, and his wife Margaret. As T M Felgate observed, Anne's figure is most unusual, both because it shows her in a heavy outdoor coat and because her hands are not shown in any of the poses normally expected on a brass. (3) It is a brass that is distinctive rather than attractive.
Notes
(1) Eva Griffith, ‘Bedingfeild , Anne (1560–1641)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/74436, accessed 7 March 2010];
John Blatchly, 'Anne Bedingfield of Darsham', MBS Bulletin, 101 (January 2006), 14
(2) Laetitia Yeandle, Sir Edward Dering, lst bart., of Surrenden Dering and his 'Booke
of Expences' – 1617-
(3) T M Felgate, Ladies on Suffolk Brasses, (1989), 35