Is Tudor ideology reinforced or undermined by its representation in the artefacts of the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin in Fawsley, Northamptonshire? by Pen Keyte

The problem which this article seeks to address is the contrasting way in which the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin in Fawsley Village, Northamptonshire, displays and utilises Tudor iconography, and to establish how and why this came about. Tudor iconography is displayed through diverse media in the church, through its alabaster monuments and carved panelling. The meanings of some of the artefacts, for example the 1534 Knightley funerary monument, are more easily read than others, such as the enigmatic carved panels. Finally the article will examine two examples from the carved panels consisting of a fiddling cat, a cow, dog and moon, and attempt to link them to the ancient rhyme about the cat and the fiddle, which, it has been said, is, amongst other things, a reference to Katharine of Aragon, or ‘Catherine la fidèle’.