In the 13th century (c. 1200–1300), church monuments were effigial tombs, cross slabs, and early brasses, emerging as Gothic art replaced Romanesque. They focused on piety, feudal status, and intercession, with stiff, symbolic figures.
Located on either side of the Portail des Libraires at Rouen Cathedral, these quatrefoil ⓘ sculptures of Adma nd Eve and their expulsion from Eden were created between 1278-1300.
This effigy on a low tomb chest is thought to be Alexander of Holderness (d1226) abbot of Peterborough.
Two 13th century effigies of Benedictine monks. Peterborough Cathedral.
This finely carved effigy represents a 13th-century bishop, shown lying in state with hands raised in prayer. The figure is sculpted from dark Purbeck marble ⓘ, a material much used in English cathedrals of the period. The bishop is depicted wearing liturgical vestments, including the mitre and chasuble, and rests beneath an elaborately canopied tomb.
Tomb of Hugh de Northwold (d1245). Bishop of Ely from 1229-1254.
This mid 13th century tomb of Bishop Walter de Cantelupe (d1266) is made of Purbeck marble ⓘ. The relief of the effigy is more rounded than that of the nearby tomb of his predecessor the bishop of Worcester William de Blois (d1236) which is still in the Romanesque style and shows the development to the more rounded forms of the early Gothic.
This much mutilated, Purbeck marble ⓘ, effigy is of Bishop Walter de la Wyle ⓘ at Salisbury Cathedral.
Bishop of Worcester 1218-1236. The effigy on the tomb is in the Romanesque style and lacks the detailed modelling that would become the hallmark of Gothic sculpture.
William de Kilkenny (d1256) monument. Bishop of Ely Cambridgeshire.
