Funeral brasses were popular with
knights and the
nobility of the
Middle Ages. They are large
flat plates of
brass fixed over the
graves of the persons they commemorate and usually an
effigy of the deceased is engraved on each plate.
Brasses are of great use to
historians as they reveal details of
dress and
armour.
There are about 4000 brasses in
England, and several more elsewhere in
Europe.