ICONOCLASM AND PROFIT: SALES OF DESPOILED MONUMENTAL BRASSES AND TOMBS IN LONDON, 1547–53

Abstract

This analysis of the despoilation of monumental brasses and tombs in London during Edward vi’s reign is based on evidence provided by contemporary inventories of church goods and churchwardens’ accounts, supported by fieldwork and discoveries of recycled brasses during conservation. It reveals how the Reformation impacted the fortunes of the London marblers producing brasses, describes how plundered memorials were sold and provides evidence on their fate. Estimates, based on volumes of metal sold, create a potential range of 700–812 brasses lost from possibly forty-three London churches over 1548–53. After c 1550, marblers engraved 2mm thick hammered plate (cast from despoiled latten church goods, such as candlesticks and crucifixes) to sustain production when supplies of looted brasses diminished. The trade in plundered brasses ended after the accession of Edward’s Catholic half-sister, Mary, in August 1553.