Brass Rubbing: John Truslowe

From Horowitz. 2002. Simple inscriptions were often left as markers for the place of interment throughout the late-medieval and early-modern periods. The memorial to John Truslowe was placed on the wall of the church near his tomb on 18 April 1593 by his adopted heir and executor, Richard Truslowe. (The brass plate with the poem measures 5 by 13 inches.) The poem, typical of many of the Elizabethan attempts at literary achievement in the age of Shakespeare, Marlowe and Jonson, is an interesting message for all future brass rubbers and visitors to churches. It is here printed in modern spelling: Come near my friends, behold and see, Such as I am such shall you be; As is my state within this tomb, So must yours be before the doom; For all men must by God's decree, Once taste of death as you see me; Wherefore in time remember death Before you lose your vital breath. John Truslowe was one of millions of English men and women who lived, worked, dreamed and died without achieving the historic fame reserved for the very few. Only a handful of things are known about him. TheTruslowes were probably a family originating in Yorkshire, a northern county. According to his executor's brass plaque, John was born about 1526. In 1553, he and his parents (Thomas and Jane) obtained a lease of lands in Avebury, an ancient village occupying the site of the famous Avebury stone circles and avenue of standing stones. On 20 May 1575, John and two other men received a lease for life of a manor in Wiltshire previously occupied by William Cecil, Lord Burghley, Queen Elizabeth I's important minister and advisor. John Truslowe died in April 1593.

Horowitz, Mark R. The Monumental Brasses of England: The Horrowitz Collection. Morton Grove, IL: Portcullis Productions, 1980 (1979). p. 34-35. Horowitz, Mark R. The Monumental Brasses of England. The Horowitz Collection. New Edition, 2002. p.44-45.