PLATE 59.
(Fig. 1): Brass of Lawrence Seymour, 1337, Higham Ferrers Church, Northamptonshire, showing the Eucharist Vestments, Amice, Chasuble, Maniple, Alb, Stole, and Apparels. (Fig. 2): Brass of Robert Langton, D.C.L., 1518, at Queen’s College, Oxford, in rich ornamented Cope, wearing also a doctor’s cap. These are often spoken of as the Processional garments. (Fig. 3): Brass of Abbot de la Mare, at St. Alban’s Abbey, died 1396; brass made in his lifetime, between 1360 and 1375. The whole brass, of Flemish manufacture, is one of the finest in England. The Abbot is “vested in Eucharist vestments, with jewelled mitre and pastoral staff,” the latter with the Agnus Dei in the head.
In cold weather the cassock was frequently lined with sheepskin or fur, was provided with a hood, and was girded with a thick knotted cord or cingulum. The vestments or ceremonial garments, worn when officiating at the services of the Church, were much more elaborate. A long, close-fitting white garment, like a coat with narrow sleeves, reaching to the feet, was worn by all, even to the doorkeeper. It was called the alb, and was confined at the waist by a girdle.
Priests and dignitaries of the Church had six pieces of embroidered needlework or cloth of gold called apparels fastened to the alb, at the bottom of the skirt before and behind (2), on the wrist of each sleeve (2), and on the breast (1) and back (1).
Around the neck was worn the amice: It was a kind of large linen handkerchief, with embroidered work along one of its sides. It was turned down like a collar, showing the embroidery (which appears in brasses like a collar), and leaving the throat of the wearer exposed.
A stole or narrow embroidered band was hung around the neck, reaching nearly to the feet, the ends being fringed.
In brasses only the ends appear, the upper portions being covered by the other vestments.
A short piece of embroidered work called the maniple, with ends fringed like the stole, was worn over the left arm, being fastened to the sleeve. At the time of the Conquest the maniple was a napkin with which the priest wiped his face and brow during Mass.