Crusades have cross-legged effigies. Moreover,
there are no such monuments in any foreign country which swelled the
army of Crusaders. Hence we must abandon the pleasing superstition, and
reconcile ourselves to the fact that no particular signification can be
assigned to these cross-legged effigies, and that only fashion prompted
the mediaeval sculptors to adopt this attitude for their figures. This
mode prevailed until about the year 1320.

At the close of the fifteenth century the art of making monumental
effigies degenerated together with the skill of the architects of that
period. We see the husband and wife kneeling facing each other, with a
faldstool before each figure. A company of small figures below the
effigies represent the children, the boys on one side, the girls on the
other.

Early wooden effigies were also in use. There is one much battered by
the careless hands of former generations of villagers in the rural
church of my parish of Barkham. The artists often used much colour,
gilding, and enamel in making these effigies; and often rich canopies
were erected over them, containing fine tabernacle-work and figures of
saints in niches.

Another form of effigy was commonly in use, in addition to the figures
just described. These are called incised effigies, which were cut
in outline upon flat slabs of stone, the lines being filled in with
enamelled metals. Thorton Abbey, Lincolnshire, and Brading, in the Isle
of Wight, have examples of this work. But the great expense of these
enamels, and also their frailty when exposed in the pavements of
churches, led to the use of brass; and hence arose the introduction of
memorial brasses for which our country is famous.

We owe the application of brass to memorial tablets to the artists of
Flanders, and the date of their introduction is about the middle of the
thirteenth century. The execution of almost all of our English brasses
is due to native artists. Foreign brasses are usually of great size,
and consist of a quadrangular sheet of metal, on which is engraved
the figure, usually under a canopy, the background being ornamented
with rich diaper, foliage, or scrollwork, and the incisions filled
with colouring. Several brasses in England conform to this style of
workmanship, and are evidently the production of foreign artists. The
English brasses, on the contrary, consist of separate pieces, with an
irregular outline, corresponding with that of the figure. They have