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The inscription on John Leventhorp’s tomb identifies him as an usher of the chamber, one of four men who was privileged to have direct access to the inner apartments of the royal court of King Henry VII. “Here lies John Leventhorp, Esquire, one of the four Keepers of the Chamber to King Henry VII, who died August 6th, 1510. To whose soul God be gracious. Amen.” The tomb inscription’s closing prayer was defaced during the Post-Reformation period.
He is dressed in full armor with a rigid breastplate with a projecting ridge and lance rest and pieces for protection at the neck, arms, elbows, thighs, and feet. He carries both a dagger and a long sword. His head rests on a decorative helmet that he would have worn in tournaments rather than in battle. The crest, in the form of a human head, may portray a wild man, a popular figure in late medieval art and literature representing the animal side of human nature. Leventhorp rests his feet on a dog sitting at alert attention. The dog was often used on brasses to convey qualities of loyalty and courage. Leventhorp’s full armor and decorative pieces serve to emphasize his high social status and the masculine power he exercised through arms.
Despite Leventhorp’s attendance at the royal court, scholars do not know much more about his life or his family connections. However, the nineteenth century history, Annals of St. Helen’s Bishopsgate, London, connects Leventhorp to a family in Hertfordshire who served in Parliament and held Shingey Hall. Two shields on his tomb, now lost, would have contributed more definite information about Leventhorp’s family.
The tomb is located in the nun’s choir along with brasses of two priests, Nicholas Wotton (1482) and John Breux (ca. 1500) and a lady in a heraldic mantle (ca. 1535, Feminae record). Married couples were buried in the parish section of the church as were Thomas and Margaret Williams (1495).