Biography of Cecily Bardolf Baroness Marshal and Morley -1386

Engravings of Sepulchral Brasses Volume 1. Sir Bryan and Lady Stapleton, at Ingham, 1438.

Blomefield’s Norf, ix. 321. Gough’s Sepulch. Monum. i. 119.

Sir Bryan, son of the late-mentioned Sir Miles and Ela Stapleton, was, according to Blomefield, born in 1378. In the registers of the Order of the Garter, given by Anstis, in his second volume, I find a Sir Bryan Stapleton, one of the knights of that order, from the seventh to the fourteenth of Richard II but what relation he bore to the knight of the same name, at Ingham, I do not know. The latter married Cecilia, daughter of Lord William Bardolf, whom he survived two years. In their effigies, which, till within twenty years, lay on the north side of the chancel, there is nothing remarkable, excepting that the knight is the first who has steel flaps to his cuirass instead of mail tasses,¹ and his lady has the beginning of the mitre head-dress. The care too which has perpetuated the memory of the knight has perpetuated that of his dog also, whose name, Yai, is recorded on the monument. Above the canopy was Stapleton impaling Ufford; Lord Bardolf, Azure, three cinquefoils pierced or, impaling Barry of six, a bend over all, Lord Ponyngs, perhaps; and Stapleton impaling Bardolf.

The the inscription the date of his death, 1438, is lost.

Note 1. The tasses were never of mail, but sometimes what was termed a petticoat of mail was at a later period attached to the lowest tace. These are indeed the tuiles in their incipient state, and as there are four hinges, it seems probable that the artist forgot to put the dividing line between them.—S.R.M.

Note 2. Drawn by John Sell Cotman (age 33) in 1816.

Bryan Stapleton: Bryan Stapleton and Cecily Bardolf Baroness Marshal and Morley were married. Around 1379 he was born to Miles Stapleton at Ingham, Norfolk. On 7th August 1438 Bryan Stapleton died.