richard

Picture Library - RICHARD II AND HIS COURT

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Richard II and his court

A remarkable number of Richard II’s ministers and courtiers are commemorated by brasses. This is probably because Henry Yevele, the king’s master mason, was closely connected with the most active brass engraving workshop of the day (London style ‘B’). It is no surprise that the grandest of the Ricardians’ brasses are to be found in Westminster Abbey. Those of Archbishop Waldeby and the Eleanor de Bohun, Duchess of Gloucester stand out. Even more remarkable was the brass to Thomas of Woodstock, drawn by Sandford before it was lost; it shows him surrounded by members of his family, with his father, Edward III, at the top. Important brasses to Richard II’s chamber knights include those at Strensham, Mapledurham and Baginton. For the richness of its Ricardian imagery, however, the most remarkable brass is that of Sir Simon Felbrygge, Richard II’s standard bearer, and his wife, a lady-in-waiting to Richard II’s first wife, Anne of Bohemia, at Felbrigg ; the king’s badge of the white hart can be seen peeping out from under the canopy.

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