Jude Jones

William Ernley’s two tombs: a study of authorship and mortuary gender politics.

Supervisors: Dr. Louise Revell & Professor Matthew Johnson

Abstract:

The configuration of a post-medieval tomb used various symbols which delivered distinct messages to its onlookers. These conveyed information which supplemented the facts provided by its epigraphy. Thus, post-medieval mortuary architecture was read both literally and visually. A tomb’s commissioner dictated its form to its constructor, becoming the author of the means whereby the memory of those commemorated was framed. Within my research sample, there are several tombs commissioned by wives on behalf of their husbands and themselves. This presentation examines one of these and discusses the wifely semiotics underlying the phenomenon of the puzzling case of the church at West Wittering, Sussex which contains not one but two tombs to its Henrician patron, William Ernley.

email: jfj104@soton.ac.uk