Picture Library - Genealogy

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Genealogy

Although brasses and incised slabs originated as monuments to a single person, from the second half of the 14th century other family members are often mentioned or depicted. First just the spouse and then children were included; in the case of Sir Ralph Pudsay, who married 3 times and had 25 children, all of whom are named on his incised slabs, this gives a great deal of genealogical information. Occasionally, more than two generations are shown: at Thames Ditton, Robert Smythe and his daughter, Elizabeth Notte, are each depicted with their spouses and children, the elder couple deliberately being shown in a fashion outmoded when the brass was made in 1587. At Newton Flotman, the Blondevyle family 'grandfather, father and son' are depicted. Sometimes brasses commemorated a group of siblings, as at Great Marlow, or members of more distant generations, as at Stoke Fleming where John Corp is shown with his grand-daughter. But the ultimate genealogical brass is at Otley, Yorkshire; it gives the family trees of the Lyndley and Palmes families.

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