Academic dress on monumental brasses in Cambridge
by Alex Kerr
Monumental brasses for graduates appeared in
college chapels and other churches in Oxford and
Cambridge from the late 14th century. Nearly fifty
with academic dress survive in Oxford, as against
only ten in Cambridge, where many were destroyed
by the Puritans.* The Cambridge Museum of
Archaeology & Anthropology, Downing St., has two
more, not originally from Cambridge. From the 15th
century onwards, brasses in churches away from the
university towns also showed graduates in academic
dress: forty or so still exist. These numbers are
approximate because it is uncertain whether the
dress on some monuments is an academic gown or
non-academic everyday clerical or, later, lay attire.
Of course, more graduate priests were depicted in
eucharistic or processional vestments than in
academic dress.
Fortunately, the few brasses in Cambridge
illustrate the full range of graduate academic dress
worn in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Medieval academics were clerks, at least in
minor orders, and wore suitably sober closed clerical
garb, reaching the ankles. They were obliged to be
tonsured, although in the universities this rule was
relaxed by the beginning of the 16th century.
Tunics, gowns and outer habits. Graduates and
undergraduates in the Middle Ages wore a tunic
(supertunica) which was closed down the front and
had close-fitting sleeves. Over the tunic and under
the hood most figures in academic dress on medieval
brasses wear one of these outer habits:
1. a floor-length sleeveless cloak (cappa clausa),
also closed down the front, except for a single
vertical slit to release the hands [3, 7, 8, 10]†—
Doctors of Divinity and of Canon Law
2. a cappa with two slits at the front, and later, at
the sides [11]; in Cambridge sometimes with
pendants or redundant sleeves behind the arms, a
cappa manicata—Doctors of Civil Law and of
Medicine, Masters of Arts, and Bachelors of
Divinity and of Canon Law, and later, in
Oxford, Doctors of Divinity
3. a less cumbersome version of the cappa with
two slits, a cappa nigra, reaching to mid-calf
and with the slits at the sides [6, 9]; also in a
cappa manicata version in Cambridge [4]—
Masters of Arts and, later, others
4. a tabard, a lighter garment of a different
construction, calf-length with short bell or
*
One of the ten was stolen in 2008.
†
Figures in square brackets refer to the numbered images
overleaf.
pointed sleeves—Bachelors of Civil Law and of
Arts, and higher degrees as less formal wear [2].
By the mid-16th century the outer habit was often
left off. The sleeves of the tunic had become
considerably wider and the front was opened up as
the garment evolved into a gown, undress and festal
[1 (a 19th-century example)]. Alternative undress
gowns with closed sleeves with an opening at the
elbow to release the forearm were borrowed from
ordinary lay fashion in the middle of the 16th
century [5, 12]. Regulations governing the style of
gown for each degree and each class of
undergraduate became progressively tighter in the
16th and 17th centuries.
Hoods. The medieval graduate’s hood had a cape
or tippet that covered the shoulders and usually
came down to the elbows. The cowl was in most
cases worn close to the neck [2, 4, 6, 9]. However,
for Doctors of Divinity and of Canon Law,
especially in the cappa clausa with one slit, the cowl
was turned right down over the shoulders with the
cape underneath [7, 8, 10, 11]. The kneeling figure
in profile of Richard Billingford [3] (now missing
from St Benet’s Church) gives the clearest image of
this, with the liripipe hanging behind. In the 16th
century the part round the neck opened up into a V
[4, 6]. Later the front of the cape also took on a V
shape, no longer covering the upper arms, but lying
across the shoulders.
Caps. In the medieval period only doctors wore a
cap, a round pileus, sometimes domed, even with a
brim [3, 11]. It might have a little stalk or point on
top, especially for Doctors of Divinity and of Canon
Law [7]. By the late 15th century the cap often had a
squarish top to it [8, 10]. By the late 16th century all
graduates had a cap prescribed, square or round, or,
in certain circumstances, a skullcap [12].
Fur. Medieval gowns, habits and hoods were
commonly lined or trimmed with fur, which would
be more gorgeous and expensive the higher the
degree of the wearer. The engravers of monumental
brasses show the fur in various ways: chiselled
flecks or ripples [4, 8, 10, 11]; scored parallel lines
[2, 3]; cutting away the surface [7]—the last two
techniques used to receive white metal or enamel
inlay (now generally lost).
---
Originally distributed to members of the Burgon Society
and guests visiting Cambridge on 20 February 2010 and
later included in Burgon Notes, 12 (Spring 2010).
For information about the Burgon Society visit
www.burgon.org.uk
 GONVILLE & ST JOHN’S ST BENET’S CHURCH
CAIUS COLLEGE COLLEGE [3] Richard Billingford
[1] Martin Davy [2] Eudo de la Zouch (d.1432), DD
(d.1839), DD (d.1414), LLD Stolen in 2008 but the church
is commissioning a replica
in chapel on wall behind organ
clerical cassock, tunic, tabard, hood tunic, cappa clausa with
festal gown, no (head missing) one slit, fur-lined hood
hood or cap (A figure in a tabard with liripipe behind, pileus
seems oddly informal for with brim
a doctor’s memorial)

TRINITY HALL CHRIST’S COLLEGE

[4] A bachelor [6] John Sickling
(c.1530) (d.1506), MA
in ante-chapel brass c.1540
gown, short cappa in chancel
manicata, fur-lined narrow-sleeved
hood, no cap cassock, bell-sleeved
gown, cappa nigra,
[5] Thos Prestone
hood, no cap
(d.1598), LLD
in ante-chapel
doublet, plain closed-
sleeved gown with
inverted-T armholes
(top of head missiing) CAMBRIDGE MUSEUM
OF ARCHAEOLOGY &
ANTHROPOLOGY
[11] ? A DD (Oxon)
(c.1500)
original location unknown
tunic, cappa clausa with
QUEENS’ COLLEGE LITTLE ST MARY’S two side slits, fur-lined
CHURCH hood, round pileus
[9] A BD (c.1535)
KING’S COLLEGE in ante-chapel [10] A DD (late 15th c.) [12] ? William Wilson
gown, cappa nigra, in chancel (d.1615), DD (Oxon)
[7] William Towne hood, no cap tunic with cincture, originally in St George’s
(d.1495), DD cappa clausa with one Chapel, Windsor
in chancel, N side slit, fur-lined hood, brocaded doublet,
tunic, cappa clausa squarish cap closed-sleeved gown
with one slit, fur-lined with open sleeve end,
hood (surface cut scarf, round skullcap
away), pileus with earflaps
[8] John Argentein
(d.1507), DD, MD
in chancel, S side
tunic with girdle, cappa
clausa with one slit,
hood, squarish cap
(surface cut to receive
colour)
Alex Kerr
February 2010 Academic dress on monumental brasses
in Cambridge