Gothic Tombs of Kinship in France, the Low Countries, and England

Gothic Tombs of Kinship is a study of one monumental tomb type in Northern Europe, traced from the thirteenth through the fifteenth centuries. This is the first extensive treatment that recognizes the kinship tomb for what it is, rather than compounding it with its celebrated counterpart, the ceremonial tomb, where the final rites or funeral procession of the deceased are represented. The unique characteristic of a tomb of kinship is that it includes a figurative representation of a family tree.

This book establishes the kinship tomb as an important Northern European iconographical type, equal in interest to the ceremonial tomb as a manifestation of the mentality of the late Middle Ages. It traces the development of the type from its inception in France and diffusion in the Low Countries and England until its vulgarization in prefabricated tombstones and alabaster tombs in the fifteenth century. The study demonstrates that after being imported into England in the late thirteenth century, the kinship tomb became a vehicle for Edward III's assertion of his claim to the French throne and, inspired by the king and court, the preferred type of the fourteenth-century English baron. Limited to the princes and knights and their ladies in the thirteenth century, the tomb was adopted by the minor gentry and the middle class by the late fourteenth century, with a corresponding change from an extended family program to one confined to the nuclear family.

Gothic Tombs of Kinship identifies a representative number of kinship tombs from the period and the territories that marked their apogee, deciphers their programs, and places them in their cultural context.

“Gothic Tombs of Kinship is fundamental for scholars interested in the construction of dynastic power in fourteenth and fifteenth century England.”—Gustavo P. Seechi, Albion

“Though much has been written over the years on the subject of tombs, this is an excellent resource that brings together many of the separate strands only covered in shorter articles on specific tombs, in which Morganstern has woven a well-researched argument.”—John James, Parergon

Anne McGee Morganstern is Associate Professor of the History of Art at Ohio State University.

Art History & Architecture

History

           European

           Medieval

Medieval and Early Modern Studies

           Medieval History