mong the 13th-century examples existing in German churches are the
full-length memorials of Yso von Welpe, bishop of Verden (1231), and of
Bernard, bishop of Paderborn (1340). Many fine Flemish specimens exist
in Belgium, especially at Bruges. Only two or three examples, and these
of late date, are known in Scotland, among which are the memorials of
Alexander Cockburn (1564) at Ormiston; of the regent Murray (1569) in
the collegiate church of St Giles, Edinburgh; and of the Minto family
(1605) in the south aisle of the nave of Glasgow cathedral. England is
the only country which now possesses an extensive series of these
interesting memorials, of which it is calculated that there may be about
4000 still remaining in the various churches. They are most abundant in
the eastern counties, and this fact has been frequently adduced in
support of the opinion that they were of Flemish manufacture. But in the
days when sepulchral brasses were most in fashion the eastern counties
of England were full of commercial activity and wealth, and nowhere do
the engraved memorials of civilians and prosperous merchants more abound
than in the churches of Ipswich, Norwich, Lynn and Lincoln. Flemish
brasses do occur in England, but they were never numerous, and they are
readily distinguished from those of native workmanship. The Flemish
examples have the figures engraved in the centre of a large plate, the
background filled in with diapered or scroll work, and the inscription
placed round the edge of the plate. The English examples have the
figures cut out to the outline and inserted in corresponding cavities in
the slab, the darker colour of the stone serving as a background. This
is not an invariable distinction, however, as "figure-brasses" of
Flemish origin are found both at Bruges and in England. But the
character of the engraving is constant, the Flemish work being more
florid in design, the lines shallower, and the broad lines cut with a
chisel-pointed tool instead of the lozenge-shaped burin. The brass of
Robert Hallum, bishop of Salisbury, the envoy of Henry V. to the council
of Constance, who died and was interred there in 1416, precisely
resembles the brasses of England in the peculiarities which distinguish
them from continental specimens. Scarcely any of the brasses which now
exist in England can be confidently referred to the first half of the
13th century, though several undoubted examples of this period are on
record. The full-