Wingfield, Suffolk
Church of St Andrew, Monument to John second duke of Suffolk (d.1492) and Lady Alice Chaucer (d. 1475), Alabaster
The tomb stands on a purpose built chest. Decorated with quatrefoils, filled with now blank heraldic, shields and under a wide arch with further decoration, which allows for the squint with a view of the high altar from the de la Pole chantry (now the vestry). The framing columns must have extended higher as the heraldic beasts (a dog(?) and a tame lion that looks more like a begging lap-dog) which frame another Saracen’s head are no longer connected with the tomb. There is damage, besides the obvious vandalism: both of Lady Alice’s arms are broken and the angel once supporting her cushion has lost its head and arms.
The details are finely carved: their coronets, the duke’s finely combed hair, his stern features, tassel holding his cloak and belt, Lady Alice’s veil (linen) and the fine detail of her neckpiece.
John de la Pole, the only son of William first duke of Suffolk (1396–1450), suffered as a result of his father’s downfall. Duke William had been a successful courtier and Henry VI's favourite, a relationship treated with increasing suspicion resulting in the popular outcry of 1450 leading to his impeachment by the Commons. Although not convicted, Duke William was exiled and murdered when the boat on which he was sailing to the Netherlands was intercepted. His son was stripped of his father’s valuable appointments, reducing his income below that expected of a duke. His marriage in 1458 to Elizabeth, the daughter of Richard, duke of York, never brought the material advancement that he could reasonably have expected. When their son Lincoln was attainted for treason and suffered forfeiture in 1487, Suffolk was allowed to save the family lands held by his son, but only during his life-time. On his death the attenuated inheritance meant that his next son, Edmund de la Pole, gave up the title of duke in return for forfeited lands.
Michael Hicks, ‘Pole, John de la, second duke of Suffolk (1442–1492)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/22450, accessed 30 April 2014]
Wingfield, Suffolk
Church of St Andrew, Monument to John second duke of Suffolk (d.1492) and Lady Alice Chaucer (d. 1475), Alabaster
The tomb stands on a purpose built chest. Decorated with quatrefoils, filled with now blank heraldic, shields and under a wide arch with further decoration, which allows for the squint with a view of the high altar from the de la Pole chantry (now the vestry). The framing columns must have extended higher as the heraldic beasts (a dog(?) and a tame lion that looks more like a begging lap-dog) which frame another Saracen’s head are no longer connected with the tomb. There is damage, besides the obvious vandalism: both of Lady Alice’s arms are broken and the angel once supporting her cushion has lost its head and arms.
The details are finely carved: their coronets, the duke’s finely combed hair, his stern features, tassel holding his cloak and belt, Lady Alice’s veil (linen) and the fine detail of her neckpiece.
John de la Pole, the only son of William first duke of Suffolk (1396–1450), suffered as a result of his father’s downfall. Duke William had been a successful courtier and Henry VI's favourite, a relationship treated with increasing suspicion resulting in the popular outcry of 1450 leading to his impeachment by the Commons. Although not convicted, Duke William was exiled and murdered when the boat on which he was sailing to the Netherlands was intercepted. His son was stripped of his father’s valuable appointments, reducing his income below that expected of a duke. His marriage in 1458 to Elizabeth, the daughter of Richard, duke of York, never brought the material advancement that he could reasonably have expected. When their son Lincoln was attainted for treason and suffered forfeiture in 1487, Suffolk was allowed to save the family lands held by his son, but only during his life-time. On his death the attenuated inheritance meant that his next son, Edmund de la Pole, gave up the title of duke in return for forfeited lands.
Michael Hicks, ‘Pole, John de la, second duke of Suffolk (1442–1492)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/22450, accessed 30 April 2014]