Late 15th Century English Funerary Brasses

A good many of our bodies shall no doubt
Find native graves; upon the which, I trust,
Shall witness live in brass of this day's work.
-- Shakespeare, Henry V

Unlike the rich portraiture of France and Flanders of the late 15th century, England has very little in the way of court portraits. There are several factors contributing to the vast wasteland, including the Wars of the Roses impacting noble and royal families and the vast destruction of artwork during the English Civil War and the Commonwealth. (Thank you, Cromwell.)

We do have some surviving representations of courtly gowns from a more resilient form than painting: funerary brasses. We are still dealing with a much, much smaller body of evidence than we have from the Continent, but they are still decent evidence of the fashions of the English upper class and noble lady.

	Lady Yelverton, wife of Sir William Yelverton, justice of the king's bench, 1472, Rougham, Norfolk
	Margaret Peyton, 1484, Isleham, Cambridgeshire
	Elizabeth Seyntmaur, 1475, Beckington, Somerset
	Two unmarried daughters with loose hair and caps, standing behind their married sisters on the brass to Thomas Hampton, 1483, Stoke Charity, Hampshire
	Lady Playters, wife of Sir Thomas Playters, 1479, Sotterley, Suffolk
	Wife of Edmund Clere, 1488, Stokesby, Norfolk
	Daughters of Sir Thomas Urswyck, 1479, Essex.
	Isabel Cheyne, 1485, Norfolk.