Brass Rubbing: William Thynne and Anne

From Horowitz. 2002. This brass was appropriated from two earlier brasses. On the reverse sides of the two figures are the engravings of a lady that date to c. 1530 and an early-16th-centry ecclesiast. The brass is therefore a palimpsest, or reused brass. William is dressed in full armor; he is clean-shaven, bare-headed and has long hair resting on a helmet. He wears a chain over his shoulders and neck. His has a skirt of mail and sports the awkward-looking sabbatons. His wife, Anne Bond, wears a Paris headdress or French Hood. She has a close-fitting gown with an open lace collar. Her sleeves are puffed and decorated at the shoulders; there are frills at the wrists. From her girdle hangs a small ornament inscribed IHS (Jesus). This brass once had children and shields, all of which were lost when the brass was restored and relaid in the church in 1861. The symbol of St. Mark (lion) in the lower right corner is missing. The other three evangelistic symbols can still be seen; upper right, St. Matthew (angel); lower left, St. Luke (bull); upper left St. John (eagle). William Thynne was one of the Masters of the Household of Henry VIII and therefore eligible to wear the chain of Court officers. He was a friend of the humanist Erasmus and became a great patron of letters. Thynne was the first to edit the complete works of Chaucer (except the "Plowman's Tale"). His second wife, Anne Bond, was the daughter and coheir of William Bond, whose own monument resides at St. Helen Bishopsgate. The couple had three daughters and a son, Francis, one of the original members of the Society of Antiquarians. William died on 10 August 1546. Correction: Anne Bonde was not related to the William Bond (1524-1576) whose monument is in St. Helen Bishopsgate. Her father was William Bond (before 1490-1523), Clerk of Green Cloth. Those two men are not related.

Green, Nina. “THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES PROB 11/54/317.” The National Archives, 2014. p.5-6. http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/Probate/PROB_11-54-317.pdf Horowitz, Mark R. The Monumental Brasses of England: The Horrowitz Collection. Morton Grove, IL: Portcullis Productions, 1980 (1979). p. 33-34. Horowitz, Mark R. The Monumental Brasses of England. The Horowitz Collection. New Edition, 2002. p.43-44.