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1316 or 1366?


Citing 'Gardell, Sölve. 1937. Gravmonument från Sveriges medeltid. Elander', Effigies and Brasses dates the effigie of Nils Jonsson in the St Mary's Church, Sigtuna, Uppland, Sweden to 1316. According to Swedish Wikipedia, the effigy is related to Nils Jonsson of Rickeby and from 1319. Most likely it is the same effigy facing Anna Kjellströms 2005 (2014) PhD paper, with the text "Cover illustration: Gravestone from St Mary’s, Sigtuna, in memory of Nils Jonsson, his wife Kristina and daughter Kristern in A.D. 1310" It is based on a drawing from 'Gihl G. 1925. Sigtuna och Norrsunda: tvenne antikvariskt-topografiska manuskript af Martinus Aschaneus. Diss. Uppsala'.

My nonexisting latin makes it a bit diffucult to read the text on the monument. While the two females seem very conservatively dressed, the shields and chains on this coat of plates seem oddly out of date with the date given to ca 1310-1319. Furthermore, his Wife Kristina apparently died in 1349 and the effegy could have been executed in that relation. Moreover, another Nils Jonsson of Rickeby, an Östgöta lawman, is suggested to be dead in 1366 in this source. In my head at least these dates fit better with the presence of chains on the coat of plates in the effigy.

What say you?

1311 Inventory of John fitz Marmaduke, Lord of Horden
j gaimbeson rubeum cum tribus cathenis argenteis l s.
1 red gambeson with three silver chains, 50s.

1313 Acquittance of goods seized from the captive, Piers Gavaston, Earl of Cornwall
Item, En un autre Coffre, une Peire de Plates, enclouez & garniz d'Argent, od quatre Cheynes d'Argent, coverz dun Drap de velvet vermail, besaunte d'Or.
Item, in another chest, one pair of plates, nailed and garnished with silver, with four silver chains, covered in cloth of vermillion velvet, bezanty gold.

c.1315 Tournament Rules of Perceval de Warenne, et al.
Item, deux chaînes à attachier à la poitrine de la cuirie, une pour l'espee, et l'autre pour le baston en deux visieres pour le heaume attacher.
Item, two chains which attach to the breast of the cuirie, one for the sword, and the other for the club and two visors to attach to the helm.

The artwork generally seems to be a decade or two behind the written accounts.

BUT....Are we even sure that those are supposed to be chains, rather than some sort of vertical decoration or pattern on the fabric?

Yes, my nom de plume there is Ernst. This search should bring you the current list.
http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB3/search...mit=Search

I'm slowly converting the relevant (14th century) results with suggested edits as .pdf files on the FB group XIV European Armour in the files section as well. https://www.facebook.com/groups/576077609195451/files/

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Have a possible explantation for the first part

??? IACET NICOLAVS IONS

"Iacet" is actually third person singular present of Iaceo (a verb meaning to lie down).

IACET could then be translated to "He lies (dead)", which does make sense on a gravestone.

Have a very hard time to guess the first letters ? I and then a "broad" letter?

So I'll throw out HIC IACET NICOLAVS IONS = "Here lies Nils Jonsson".

Furthermore modern Rickeby is from old "Rinkeby" (= Warrior-village). It seems that in the sacred landscape around a King or Jarl the soldiers (at least in Sweden) were settled in a special village. You have many Rinkeby around Sweden.
Still don't know why it seems to be spelled RIRREB(y/-us) with 3 identical letters in the inscription, but it seems the meaning is Rikkeby?

The ??? between Kristina and the 5 sons could look like CV... (CU..?) and then a total hole, where we can't see any signs of letters.
So I will guess latin CUM = "with"

So we have the full meaning now:

[HIC] IACET NICOLAVS IONS(on) DE RIKKEB(us) ET UXOR EIUS CRISTI(n)A [CUM] [Q]VINQ(ue) FILIIS [E]T QVINQ(ue) FILIAB(us) EOR(um) QUOR(um) A(n)I(m)E SI[T] IN PACE AMEN

[.] Lost letters, hard to read or purely guessed.
(.) Omitted letters in the text OR ligature endings indicated.

So here is my (almost?) finished translation:
"Here lies Nils Jonsson of Rickeby and his wife Kristina with 5 sons and 5 daughters, those whose souls be/is at peace, Amen".

CONCLUSION: So it is really up to the clothing to know which of the two Nils Jonsson's it is, but he is clearly dead so either 1316 (first Nils) or 1366 (second Nils); but not 1349.

CLUE: The wife on the left have a different coat-of-arms, than Nils and his daughter? on the right (the Rickeby silver star). So to figure out which family has it, one could perhaps figure out which Nils Jonsson (if we know about the wives from other sources than this gravestone?).

According to these two genealogical webpages.
1) The first Nils Jonsson married Kristina Kristiernsdotter (Vasa)
Source: https://www.geni.com/people/Kristina-Kristiernsdotter-Vasa/6000000003827765384
2) The second Nils Jonsson married Kristina Ulfsdotter (Sparre av Tofta)
Source: https://www.geni.com/people/Kristina-Ulfsdotter-Sparre-av-Tofta/6000000006127322690

Neither Kristina's fathers coat-of-arms seems to be a clear fit in my opinion, but Vasa is "closer" than Sparre av Tofta?!
So there is no text on the gravestone saying that Nils Jonsson was a "lagman" (the second Nils Jonsson) and though lack of evidence is not evidence of lack, with the coat-of-arms I would for factors other than clothing say that my odds for the first Nils Jonsson is 66-33% compared to the second.

PS:
I have to say that this is another example - like on swords - that its not really readable for people unless they almost know what it should say. It is esoteric for those who are in the know.
So its more what is says, than its readability to others that is important!!

Thank you for your hard labour guys! I followed the bibliography trail myself.

As stated, Effigies and Brasses cites Gardell, Sölve. 1937. Gravmonument från Sveriges medeltid, Elander, when dating the effigy to 1316. Gardell mentions a 1316 will and in turn refers to C.M. Kjellberg 1923 in Personhistorisk Tidsskrift, årgang 24, s. 167ff, in the article «Wasaättens härstamming från Öland och vasavapnets uppkomst». In other words, we are dealing with the house that were to rule Sweden through "stormaktstiden". Kjellberg turns out to have a discussion of our effegy. He states that the stone most likely is made by French artists. To him the text reads identical to your findings.

Quote:

Hic jacet Nicolaus Jons[son] de Rikkaby et vxor ejvs Cristina cvm qvinq[ue] filiis et qvinq[ue] filiab[us] eour[um], qvor[um] a[n]i[m]e si[n]t in pace, amen.

Kjellberg, however, does not interpret the text to state that all ten kids are dead. Only the girl to Nils Jonsson's right was suggested to be a daughter who died unmarried. Furthermore, he informs us that Katrina remarried in 1328 and again in 1338. She was outlived by at least one son from her first marriage. Kristina's coat-of-arms is the same as Kristiern of Öland's, who is theorized to be her father. For the effigy Kjellberg refers to Upplands fornminnesförenings tidskrift, book I, hefte 5, p. 50 from 1876, which I'm not been able to obtain. [not on Runeberg or Google Books]

I agree with Rasmussen that the second Nils Jonsson beeing the right one is less likely for all the love the Swedish genealogists has bestowed upon this effigy. The presence of later marriages, in my view reduces the likelyhood of the effigy beeing made later in Kristina's life, and wills profiting the church made in 1316 support this as the date the effigy was ordered from the French.

We seem to be left with Shearer's comment that the "chains" are ornament only, and as Lewis comments the right one is not even visibly attached to the sword hilt. Furthermore, the "tiles" on his "chain" look like the brooches on the females, just as his "mail" is picked up in their sleeves. There is no doubt in my view that he is wearing a coate of plates and I have not seen any ornament remotely looking like this if not a set of chains. But I must admit it looks inconclusive.

The closest effigy with brooch-like decor which is often presumed to be a pair of plates is that of Ermengol X, Count of Urgell now in the Cloisters in New York. Dated to c. 1316 (Sometimes attributed to be his father Alvar):
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Sepulchral_Monument_of_Alvar_II_d'%C3%80ger.jpg

Remnants of the original paint remain:

Quote:

The robes and mantles of Alvaro and Cecelia are both painted with broad flat areas of vermilion and coppercontaining green, while the torso of Ermengol X shows traces of a carefully painted design of lozenges and foliate motifs, executed in the dark red lead mixture, vermilion and bright red lead, around carved relief florets and shields. Along the length of his mantle a more irregular foliate design is painted in red lead mixed with a small amount of vermilion.

Beth M. Edelstein, Silvia A. Centeno & Mark T. Wypyski (2006)
ILLUMINATING A COMPLEX HISTORY: THE MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES OF THE TOMBS
OF URGELL AT THE CLOISTERS, Studies in Conservation, 51:sup2, 204-210, DOI: 10.1179/
sic.2006.51.Supplement-2.204
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/sic.2006.51.Supplement-2.204


Perhaps fancy rivet heads or copper-alloy plaques like those used on Wisby Armour #7 with decorative fabric is intended rather than chains?
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/a6/1c/6b/a61c6b4c9ea8e751de0bba45d6eede55.jpg
http://www.hoashantverk.se/hantverk/hoas_rust...front.html