AUDLEY & DISTRICT FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY NEWSLETTER
AUDLEY, 1385—SIR THOMAS DE AUDLEY.
It was in 1912 that the following description was given by Mr. Masefield:
Matrix on the south side of the altar. The inscription plate at the foot of the figure alone remains
attached to the matrix. The figure (lacking its head, the hilt and lower half of the knight's sword,
and the head, forepaw and tail of the lion upon which the knight's feet rest) and a portion of the
canopy (without its lower ends and finial) is at present attached to a board which is loose in
the church. The matrix also shows that two shields of arms and a border fillet surrounding the
whole are lost. Length of figure about 5 feet.
By April 1924 the Reverend William Sykes was able to write:
Since that date the parts said to be missing relating to the knight and the lion have been supplied, but not those of the canopy. There is now no board to which parts are attached but everything is fixed to the floor on the south side of the Lord's Table. The vicar has not been able to determine by what means this very important addition has been accomplished, but he hopes to-do so in his researches concerning the history of Audley.
The inscription on the brass read as follows:
Inscription in black letters:
Ici gist mons Thorms d audeley chivaler fiz a mons James d audele seigno de helegh de rouge chastell qi monust le xxi, jo de januar Ian de gra rncc lxxxv quiuit. (?) de qi alme dieu p sa pitie eit merci amen.
The following translation is given ‘with much trepidation’ by the vicar:
Here lies Sir Thomas de Audley, Knight, son of Sir James de Audley, lord of Heleigh and Redcastle, who died January 21st the year of grace 1385, on whom the Good God in his pity have mercy. Amen.
Sir Thomas de Audley was the seventh child and fourth son of James Baron Audley, Lord of the castles of Heleigh (Staffs.) Redcastle, (Salop), Newhall (Cheshire), Llandovery (S. Wales), and Newport (Cammoys). He fought at Crecy and before the walls of Calais in 1346-7.
The Reverend William Sykes continued:
Sir Thomas' mother was one Isabella, the second wife of her husband, but of her nothing is known. He himself married one Elizabeth. He had a grant of Tavistock, in Devonshire from his father for life and died without issue some seven months before his father. His wife re-married Sir Hugh Courtenay.
Sir Thomas is shown on the brass, wearing on his shoulders a camail or tippet of mail, on his body a leathern jupon, showing beneath it, at the armpits and thighs, a hauberk or habergeon of mail, and on his arms and legs plate armour, again over mail. The slender waist indicates that he has also a cuirass of steel beneath his jupon. The jupon has an escalloped border at its lower edge. Other brasses of this period make it certain that he wore on his head a sharply pointed steel bascinet. Gussets of mail show at the ankle, above the pointed sollerets. He has a broad belt or bawdric across his hips, supporting a long heavy sword on his left side. The bawdric is ornamented with five-petalled flowers and geometrical devices, and is secured by a Iarge square clasp bearing the time honoured swastika or fylfot symbol. The knight's feet rest on a much-mutilated lion. The figure is in every way typical of the brasses of the time. It rested beneath a canopy of which portions are now lost. This had a cusped round arch, with three oak-leaves contained in each cusp, and three Ieaves also in its pediment.
Glossary:
An aventail or camail is a flexible curtain of chainmail on a helmet, that extends to cover the neck and shoulders. The mail could be removed for cleaning or storage, and attached to the helm through use of a leather cord that was threaded through brass rings at the edge of the helm. Aventails were most commonly seen on bascinets in the 14th century and served as a replacement for a chainmail coif. Some aventails were decorated with edging in brass or bronze links, or dagged edges. By the late 15th century, the Aventail had replaced the chainmail coif completely. Only those who were poor or who were collectors of the sort had a chainmail coif. Technically what was described as a camail here was an aventail.
The bascinet was a Medieval European open-faced military helmet, typically fitted with an aventail and hinged visor. In this case there is no hinged visor.
A hauberk is a shirt of mail armour. The term is usually used to describe a shirt reaching at least to mid-thigh and including sleeves. Haubergeon ("little hauberk") generally refers to a shorter variant with partial sleeves, but the terms are often used interchangeably. Slits to accommodate horseback-riding are often incorporated below the waist. Most are put on over the head. Hauberk can also refer to a similar garment of scale armour.
Jupon: A quilted garment worn over a breastplate or cote of plates or as the sole body defence during the 14th century. Such armours were popular in England since they required little technical skill to manufacture, were light and easy to transport. Popular amongst men-at-arms and archers-they were often worn with the chapel de fer for the defence of the head.
For a full account of the Barons Audley of Heley Castle and Abbey Hulton see Thelma Lancaster’s article in Audley Historian 1 (1995) pp.7-41.
For background information and the positioning of the Audley Brass see Wendy Morgan’s Reading Audley Church in Audley Historian 2 (1996) particularly p. 39