Church Monuments Society

The finest incised and inlaid slabs in English churches are almost exclusively those produced by the Flemish tombiers in the fourteenth century. There are relatively large numbers of incised and composite slabs, as well as brasses. The elaborate fourteenth century Tournai quadrangular brasses imported to England, such as those at King’s Lynn, Norfolk, to Adam de Walsokne (d. 1349) and Robert Braunche (d. 1364), have received much interest in the literature and have been widely illustrated. In contrast other types of Flemish imports of the same era have received relatively little attention. There are a variety of types carved from black Tournai and Namur marbles, including slabs with inlays of brass or composition and incised slabs. They are principally found on the eastern coastal fringes of England, particularly near the ports which served the Hanseatic trade routes. These ports included Boston in Lincolnshire.

Just two miles outside Boston is the village of Wyberton, where an especially interesting Flemish incised slab is to be found set into the floor of the north aisle of the church of St Leodegar (Fig. 1). Although most authorities describe the stone as being Tournai, it is more likely to be of Namur, quarried in the Namur-Huy-Liège region of the Meuse Valley. This stone is lighter in colour than Tournai and has glittery streaks of mica and fuzzy-looking areas of bioturbation (the displacement and mixing of sediment particles by animals or plants, typically worms). This incised slab has a marginal inscription in Norman French which seeks prayers for those commemorated. It begins near the centre of the lower edge, running anti-clockwise. Set out in in Lombardic capitals, it reads: ‘+CHI GIST ADAM DE / FRANTON KI [TRES]PASS[A] … MCCCXXV  LE XXVIII YME DE DE / SEMBRE PRIEZ POUR SALME +  PRIEZ POVR SALME + CHI GIST SIBILE /  LE FEMME … TREPASSA EN LAN DE GRACE MCCC … /… (Here lies Adam de Franton who passed …28 December 1325 pray for his soul. Here lies Sibelle his wife … who passed in the year of Grace 13…)’. The slab thus commemorates Adam de Franton (d. 28 December 1325) and his widow Sibelle, whose date of death was not filled in. This indicates that it was commissioned during her lifetime and possibly that she was the patron. This slab is notable as an early example giving the complete date of death rather than just the year.

Adam’s figure is bareheaded and his civil dress bears comparison with the figures on the King’s Lynn brasses mentioned above, although the facial features differ. He rests his feet on a dog, which is turned to the right. Sibelle wears a veil and wimple with a mantle with a surcoat. The tight-fitting sleeves appear at the wrists through the wider and shorter ones of the surcoat. There is no animal at her feet. The pair are shown under a double crocketed canopy of simple form between whose pinnacles are four shields on which are incised what appears to be merchant’s marks (Fig 2). There are two different designs shown above each of the figures (Fig. 3). Both have a cross at the bottom of the shield, while one also has one at the top. It cannot be explained whether or why he might have used both designs. Yet this slab is noteworthy as being by far the earliest example of the display of merchant’s marks on a monument.

Virtually nothing is known about Adam although he was likely to have been a rich merchant who traded out of Boston. One possibility as to his ancestry is that he came from the nearby village of Frampton, although if that were so it is curious that he was not commemorated there. Hit might be speculated that he held lands in Wyberton itself. Perhaps he inherited what was known as ‘Wells Slade’, which was half a mile to the east of the church and was probably held by the Wells family which is known to have had a manor in Wyberton in the fourteenth century. The estate was held in socage, and its lord was subject to all the customs of sokemen. Thus, on the death of Adam de Wells in 1310, the land was not taken into wardship, but was divided equally between his three sons. Conceivably Adam de Franton was a son, perhaps the eldest, of Adam de Wells, but decided to change his name to Franton.

The authority on incised slabs, Frank Greenhill, rightly regarded the Wyberton example as one of the best preserved Flemish incised slabs imported to England still surviving.

Sally Badham

Gallery

• Fig 1 Incised slab at Wyberton, Lincolnshire, to Adam de Franton, d 1325. Rubbing: Frank Greenhill.
• Fig 2 Incised slab at Wyberton, Lincolnshire, to Adam de Franton, d 1325. Detail of upper half. Photo: Tim Sutton.
• Fig 3 Incised slab at Wyberton, Lincolnshire, to Adam de Franton, d 1325. Detail of merchant’s marks. Photo: Tim Sutton.