John Arundell (1474–1545)

Sir John Arundell (1474–1545) Knight Banneret, of Lanherne, St. Mawgan-in-Pyder, Cornwall, was "the most important man in the county", being Receiver-General of the Duchy of Cornwall. His monumental brass in the church at St Columb Major in Cornwall was described by Dunkin (1882) as "perhaps the most elaborate and interesting brass to be found in Cornwall."

He was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Arundell (1454–1485) KB, by his wife Katharine Dynham, third daughter of John Dinham (1406–1458), and coheiress to her brother John, 1st Baron Dynham. The senior branch of the ancient Cornish family of Arundell had been seated at Lanherne since the middle of the 13th century.

In 1506, under King Henry VII, he became Receiver-General of the Duchy of Cornwall, and in 1509 was confirmed by Henry VIII in that office for life. He was knighted by bathing on the eve of All Saints, 31 October 1494 and Knight banneret at the Battle of the Spurs in 1513, during the expedition to Terouenne and Tournay. In 1525 he declined ennoblement on the plea of insufficient wealth. His family had remained strictly Catholic unlike his relatives the Arundells of Trerice.

Arundell married twice:

His splendid and originally richly enamelledmonumental brass survives in the parish church of St Columb Major. It is in a fairly complete state, and shows Sir John bare-headed but otherwise in full armour, between his two wives dressed in gowns, mantles, and pedimental head-dresses. Below them are two smaller male figures, one partly perfect in armour, and underneath again, six female children, of whom two remain. The brasses are firmly fixed to the original slab of grey marble by apparently the original fastenings. They were originally in the Arundell chapel (a chantry built by the Arundells on the south side of the chancel of the parish church), and were early in the 19th century covered with some pews which were then placed in the chapel. On the restoration of the church later that century, the chapel being re-pewed, they were removed to their present position, which is an unfortunate selection, as it subjects them to a large amount of wear from the feet of persons passing over them, they being on the floor of the nave immediately below the chancel steps. The slab is now the southernmost of two and measures 7 feet 4 inches by 3 feet 9 inches ; around it, 3 inches from the edge, is a plain fillet of brass bearing this inscription, partly missing, on a ledger-line:

...
Wikipedia