Sir Thomas – The Final Word

Having devoted so much blog time to the good Sir Thomas, I was thinking, “enough is enough”, he does after all appear to be no more than a colourful local legend. But! - Although I would probably never know whom, the effigies represented, I was still intrigued as to their date. During my research I came across an excellent book by Rachel Ann Dressler, called, “Of Armor and Men in Medieval England”, in which she studies three specific early 14c English knight effigies.

Rachel is Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Albany, NY.

I decided to ask if she would give an opinion on the figures, and e-mailed her a link to the blog and some pictures, which she was kind enough to review and her reply is below.

Dear Jim,

Having looked at the photo, I would venture that the effigies date certainly after mid-13c but before 1315. Since the figures are abraded it is a little difficult to tell, but my inclination is early fourteenth century. I hope this helps.

Best,

Rachel

So, it appears that the figures are close in time to the battle, and certainly concurrent with the period of sporadic internecine warfare from Alexander’s death until the Scottish victory at Bannockburn. Of coarse this did not end the violence, but it was more focused in the border regions after 1314.

We now have the tantalizing possibility that the effigy really does represents one of the fallen of Barra, but, could just as easily represent a minor noble who died in his bed. One of the points to emerge from Dressler’s book is that the martial splendor of the effigy did not always accurately reflect the life of the man it commemorated. They were often in fact no more than “sculptural spin”.

The last paragraph on the dust cover explains:

“Ultimately, Dressler’s analysis of English knight effigies demonstrates that the masculine warrior during the late Middle Ages was frequently a constructed ideal rather than a lived experience.”

With that said I think it is time to finally lay Sir Thomas to rest.

RIP - Sir Thomas and Lady de Longueville