pendent, and set over a banner of the Holy Trinity, one of Our Ladye, and another of St. George" (Testamenta Vetusta, p. 700, quoted in 5 Ser. Notes and Queries, x. 277). T. Hearne (Reliquiae Hernianae, ii. 59) writes: "The custom of hanging up the armour of kings and nobles in churches came from Canute placing his crown upon the head of his crucifix in Winchester, after he found that he could not make the waters obey him."
Dean Stanley (Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey, 4th ed. 1876, p. 141), notes that on the tomb of King Henry V. "Aloft were hung his large emblazoned shield, his saddle, and his helmet, after the example of the like personal accoutrements of the Black Prince at Canterbury." When Sir Francis Vera was interred in the Abbey in 1609, "his widow erected a tomb, which she must have copied from the scene of his exploits in direct imitation of the tomb of Engelbert Count of Nassau, in the Church at Breda, where, as here, four kneeling knights support the arms of the dead man who lies underneath" (ibid., p. 205). Again, speaking of the wax-work effigies in the Abbey the Dean writes: "The most interesting portion of them was the 'living effigy,' which was there placed after having been carried on a chariot before the body. This was a practice which has its precedent, if not its origin, in the funerals of the great men of the Roman Commonwealth. The one distinguishing mark of a Roman noble was the right of having figures, with waxen masks representing his ancestors, carried at his obsequies and placed in his hall" (ibid. p. 344). The Dean does not appear to refer to the question now at issue of the carrying of armour at the funeral, or of the placing of simulacra over the monument.[1]
Probably some readers of Folk-lore may be able to supply information on this interesting question. Editor.]
- ↑ I am able to quote an example of the former custom. At the magnificent funeral at Florence of the famous Sir John Hawkwood, an adventurer who attained great wealth and renown as a condottiere in the Italian wars of the fourteenth century, and died in 1394: "Ensigns, flags and helmets with crests were carried on large war chargers, draped with housings and breast-plates" (9 Ser. Notes and Queries, x. 230).
