Abstract :
Since the sixteenth century, both scholarly and popular readings of tomb monuments have assigned
a series of interpretations to medieval effigies with crossed legs. These have included the beliefs that
the effigies dated from before the Norman Conquest; that they commemorated crusaders, or those
who had taken crusading vows; and that they commemorated Knights Templar. The ‘crusader’
theory has proved particularly tenacious, and, although largely discredited by scholars, continues to
flourish in folk wisdom. This paper charts the emergence and dissemination of these several ideas
and the debates they engendered. It argues that the early modern identification of the cross-legged
attitude as a noteworthy feature was, despite its mistaken associations, a landmark in the story of
the formulation of techniques for the typological diagnosis of antiquities.
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