History of the Brasses      From the period of 1277-1700, brasses were made as memorials to be used as pictorial tombstones, most times commissioned while the person was still living, to be laid after death as a permanent pictorial memorial. Monumental brasses weren't restricted to the nobility. In fact most brasses commemorate people totally unknown in history books. The majority of British brasses represent the ordinary, undistinguished middle-class citizen. Famous or familiar names of kings, queens, nobles and politicians were recorded in art, literature, and architecture, while the middle classes are remembered by monumental brasses. Brasses could be and were made in almost any size, so they were within the financial reach of a large cross-section of the community. Thus brasses are a unique visual commentary on the day-to-day life in medieval England. Brasses depict the dress styles of the ladies, the different types of armor worn by the knights, crests and trademarks of the different merchants and traders, robes and cassocks of the priests and scholars, and even the dress of the servants.      The memorial brasses actually consisted of two separate parts and required the skill of two different artisans. The engraver, who made the plate, and the stone cutter, who later laid the finished plate in the stone cover of the coffin. Persons wishing to have a brass memorial plate first worked out a contract with the engraver, who engraved the plate according to the instructions given him. When the time came to lay the plate, it was the job of the stone cutter or stone mason to chisel out an indent the shape of the brass in the stone slab that covered the top of the coffin. Then it was simply a matter of lowering the brass plate into the indent, which had been filled with pitch, and allowing the plate to settle into position. In later years, metal rivets were used (many times rather carelessly and without regard for the artistic efforts of the engraver) to secure the plate in position.      During the period of time that brasses were popular, little land was wasted on cemeteries, since it was needed for agricultural use; therefore burials took place inside the churches, in walls and the floors. Years progressed and space became scarce, the plates were placed further up the walls, pews were built over older ones, and the churches became interlocking jumbles of plates, crypts, and pews. Historically, this was fortunate since the more difficult to reach, the less chance of damage, from both mercenary vandals looking for brass for remelt value and dissenting church factions that destroyed many brasses as the waves of Catholicism and Protestantism surged across England.      The art of English brass engraving spanned a period of approximately 430 years, beginning about 1277 and ending around 1700. Macklin, in his book Monumental Brasses, estimates the number made during these years to approach 100,000. Today something less than 7,500 of these brasses still exist. Fires, wars, vandals and church bigotry all took their toll. On the bright side, this destruction had a positive effect -- it gave birth to facsimiles. In 1972, the Church of England, in conjunction with the Monumental Brass Society, authorized the reproduction of a limited number of famous or important brasses. These reproductions, called facsimiles, are accurate in every detail. One of the stipulations by the Church of England was that the facsimile had to be identical to the original brass, both to the brass itself and the surrounding stonework. Therefore, dents, damage, scratches, and missing or broken pieces have not been replaced or repaired, thus adding greatly to their realism. Other stipulations included receiving permission from the individual churches, with the church deciding how many facsimiles could be made from each casting and also receiving a donation from the sale of each facsimile. The most important stipulation was that the mold for the facsimiles had to be made without touching the original brass or surrounding stonework, so X-ray photography and lasers were used, and the Church of England gave permission to only three men to perform this work.
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