Fragile Lords: Gender, Gentility and Coats of Arms in English Domestic Stained Glass, c.1450-1560

This is an analysis of domestic armorial stained glass commissioned by a group of families who might be classed within the late medieval English “gentry”. The project utilises five existing case studies of armorial glass, three in-situ and two in museum collections, to examine the ways individuals within these families fashioned aspects of their gender and social status. As the first, extended study to cover late medieval domestic glazing, the thesis begins in 1450 with the earliest comprehensively surviving example of domestic glass. It finishes around 1560 when restrictions on the use of coats of arms became unprecedentedly stringent. The case studies are chosen either for their preservation in-situ or their survival in museum collections. Where possible, the analysis reconstructs these latter examples to augment an appreciation of their original spatial meanings. The analysis adopts an interdisciplinary approach to assess the meanings and perceptions of domestic glazing, probing the meanings of language as well as the surviving glass itself. To explore the case studies, the thesis explores contemporary descriptions of domestic glazing and accounts books. However, due to the general lack of useful primary evidence relating to houses, the analysis supplements this with evidence from ecclesiastical glazing - such as wills, preliminary sketches and glazing contracts. As a relatively untapped source of evidence, domestic armorial glass provides further insights into scholarly debates on expressions of male gentry identity and masculinity, the role and autonomy of women in artistic commissions, the pliable status of coats of arms as a visual system during this period and the function of windows and their suitability for expressing certain social ties.