Excerpt from A Manual for the Study of the Sepulchral Slabs and Crosses of the Middle Ages In such a work as this, accuracy in the engraved examples is of primary importance, and care has been taken to secure this as far as possible: the author is answerable for the accuracy of those marked with his initials, which have been carefully reduced from the stones themselves, or from rubbings; others are from drawings and reduced rubbings by friends upon whose correctness the author could depend; some others have been taken from engravings in Gough's Sepulchral Monuments, Lysons' Magna Brittannia, the Archaeologia, Archaeological Journal, &c., and in most of these cases the authority has been mentioned in the notes to the examples. This branch of archaeology has been hitherto much neglected, though it is a very interesting one, and the examples are much more numerous than is generally imagined; the number which has already come under the author's notice amounts nearly to one thousand: much doubtless yet remains to be done in it, and the author begs to state his intention of prosecuting this study, and earnestly solicits the assistance of antiquarian students; rubbings, accurate drawings, notices of grave-stones, or any information on the subject, will be highly acceptable and very thankfully received. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."

Medieval tombs often depict husband and wife lying side-by-side: demonstrating, as in the words of Philip Larkin's poem An Arundel Tomb, their "stone fidelity". This is the first book to address the phenomenon of the "double tomb", drawing the rich history of tomb sculpture into dialogue with discourses of power, marriage, gender and emotion, and placing them in the context of ecclesastical material culture of the time more broadly. It offers new interpretations of some of the most famous medieval monuments, such as those found in Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral, as well as drawing attention to a host of lesser-known memorials from throughout Europe. In turn, these monuments provide a vantage point from which to reconsider the culture of medieval marriage, from wedding rings and dresses, to the sacramental symbolism of matrimony, and embodied ritual practices. Whilst it is tempting to read these sculptures as straightforward expressions of romantic feeling, the author argues that a closer look reveals the artifice behind the emotion: the artistic, religious, political and legal agenda underlying the rhetoric of married love.