Brass Rubbing: John Bacon and Joan

From Horowitz. 2002. John is clean-shaven and wears a short Lancastrian haircut fashionable the first half of the 15th century. (The Lancastrian kings, Henrys IV, V, and VI, wore them as well, no doubt setting the trend.) His long tunic is lined with fur, and he wears tight hose and boots. His girdle is decorated with quatrefoils. John was a wool merchant and thus stands on a woolsack. Joan wears a horned headdress shaped like a heart, and a large veil covers her forehead. The kirtle is close-fitting with tight sleeves and is overlapped by a high-waisted gown with open collar and large full sleeves. Her girdle is similar to John's. Between them is a heart inscribed with the word "MERCY." (The heart was considered the seat of the soul, hence, mercy on the soul.) The inscription states that John Bacon died on 6 May 1437. His will enjoined his executors to bury him next to his parents at his village of origin in Northamptonshire. If he died in London, he wished to be buried in the present church. He left his property to his daughter, Margery, suggesting that his wife predeceased him.

Horowitz, Mark R. The Monumental Brasses of England: The Horrowitz Collection. Morton Grove, IL: Portcullis Productions, 1980 (1979). p. 26. Horowitz, Mark R. The Monumental Brasses of England. The Horowitz Collection. New Edition, 2002. p.31.