Academic dress on monumental brasses in Cambridge by Alex Kerr

Monumental brasses for graduates appeared in college chapels and other churches in Oxford and Cambridge from the late 14th century. Nearly fifty with academic dress survive in Oxford, as against only ten in Cambridge, where many were destroyed by the Puritans.* The Cambridge Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, Downing St., has two more, not originally from Cambridge. From the 15th century onwards, brasses in churches away from the university towns also showed graduates in academic dress: forty or so still exist. These numbers are approximate because it is uncertain whether the dress on some monuments is an academic gown or non-academic everyday clerical or, later, lay attire. Of course, more graduate priests were depicted in eucharistic or processional vestments than in academic dress.

Fortunately, the few brasses in Cambridge illustrate the full range of graduate academic dress worn in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Medieval academics were clerks, at least in minor orders, and wore suitably sober closed clerical garb, reaching the ankles. They were obliged to be tonsured, although in the universities this rule was relaxed by the beginning of the 16th century.

Tunics, gowns and outer habits. Graduates and undergraduates in the Middle Ages wore a tunic (supertunica) which was closed down the front and had close-fitting sleeves. Over the tunic and under the hood most figures in academic dress on medieval brasses wear one of these outer habits: 1. a floor-length sleeveless cloak (cappa clausa),

also closed down the front, except for a single vertical slit to release the hands [3, 7, 8, 10]†—Doctors of Divinity and of Canon Law

2. a cappa with two slits at the front, and later, at the sides [11]; in Cambridge sometimes with pendants or redundant sleeves behind the arms, a cappa manicata—Doctors of Civil Law and of Medicine, Masters of Arts, and Bachelors of Divinity and of Canon Law, and later, in Oxford, Doctors of Divinity

3. a less cumbersome version of the cappa with two slits, a cappa nigra, reaching to mid-calf and with the slits at the sides [6, 9]; also in a cappa manicata version in Cambridge [4]—Masters of Arts and, later, others

4. a tabard, a lighter garment of a different construction, calf-length with short bell or

* One of the ten was stolen in 2008. † Figures in square brackets refer to the numbered images overleaf.

pointed sleeves—Bachelors of Civil Law and of Arts, and higher degrees as less formal wear [2].

By the mid-16th century the outer habit was often left off. The sleeves of the tunic had become considerably wider and the front was opened up as the garment evolved into a gown, undress and festal [1 (a 19th-century example)]. Alternative undress gowns with closed sleeves with an opening at the elbow to release the forearm were borrowed from ordinary lay fashion in the middle of the 16th century [5, 12]. Regulations governing the style of gown for each degree and each class of undergraduate became progressively tighter in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Hoods. The medieval graduate’s hood had a cape or tippet that covered the shoulders and usually came down to the elbows. The cowl was in most cases worn close to the neck [2, 4, 6, 9]. However, for Doctors of Divinity and of Canon Law, especially in the cappa clausa with one slit, the cowl was turned right down over the shoulders with the cape underneath [7, 8, 10, 11]. The kneeling figure in profile of Richard Billingford [3] (now missing from St Benet’s Church) gives the clearest image of this, with the liripipe hanging behind. In the 16th century the part round the neck opened up into a V [4, 6]. Later the front of the cape also took on a V shape, no longer covering the upper arms, but lying across the shoulders.

Caps. In the medieval period only doctors wore a cap, a round pileus, sometimes domed, even with a brim [3, 11]. It might have a little stalk or point on top, especially for Doctors of Divinity and of Canon Law [7]. By the late 15th century the cap often had a squarish top to it [8, 10]. By the late 16th century all graduates had a cap prescribed, square or round, or, in certain circumstances, a skullcap [12].

Fur. Medieval gowns, habits and hoods were commonly lined or trimmed with fur, which would be more gorgeous and expensive the higher the degree of the wearer. The engravers of monumental brasses show the fur in various ways: chiselled flecks or ripples [4, 8, 10, 11]; scored parallel lines [2, 3]; cutting away the surface [7]—the last two techniques used to receive white metal or enamel inlay (now generally lost).

--- Originally distributed to members of the Burgon Society and guests visiting Cambridge on 20 February 2010 and later included in Burgon Notes, 12 (Spring 2010).

For information about the Burgon Society visit www.burgon.org.uk

Alex Kerr February 2010

CHRIST’S COLLEGE

[6] John Sickling (d.1506), MA brass c.1540

in chancel narrow-sleeved

cassock, bell-sleeved gown, cappa nigra,

hood, no cap

ST BENET’S CHURCH

[3] Richard Billingford (d.1432), DD

Stolen in 2008 but the church is commissioning a replica tunic, cappa clausa with one slit, fur-lined hood

with liripipe behind, pileus with brim

KING’S COLLEGE

[7] William Towne (d.1495), DD

in chancel, N side tunic, cappa clausa

with one slit, fur-lined hood (surface cut

away), pileus

[8] John Argentein (d.1507), DD, MD in chancel, S side

tunic with girdle, cappa clausa with one slit, hood, squarish cap

(surface cut to receive colour)

LITTLE ST MARY’S CHURCH

[10] A DD (late 15th c.) in chancel

tunic with cincture, cappa clausa with one

slit, fur-lined hood, squarish cap

QUEENS’ COLLEGE

[9] A BD (c.1535) in ante-chapel

gown, cappa nigra, hood, no cap

TRINITY HALL

[4] A bachelor (c.1530)

in ante-chapel gown, short cappa manicata, fur-lined

hood, no cap

[5] Thos Prestone (d.1598), LLD in ante-chapel

doublet, plain closed-sleeved gown with

inverted-T armholes (top of head missiing)

CAMBRIDGE MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY &

ANTHROPOLOGY

[11] ? A DD (Oxon) (c.1500)

original location unknown tunic, cappa clausa with two side slits, fur-lined

hood, round pileus

[12] ? William Wilson (d.1615), DD (Oxon) originally in St George’s

Chapel, Windsor brocaded doublet,

closed-sleeved gown with open sleeve end, scarf, round skullcap

with earflaps

GONVILLE & CAIUS COLLEGE

[1] Martin Davy (d.1839), DD

in chapel clerical cassock, festal gown, no

hood or cap

ST JOHN’S COLLEGE

[2] Eudo de la Zouch (d.1414), LLD

on wall behind organ tunic, tabard, hood

(head missing) (A figure in a tabard

seems oddly informal for a doctor’s memorial)

Academic dress on monumental brasses in Cambridge