Rebecca Omer, Nee De Critz
Feb. 5th, 2022 09:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloI love an epitaph
And if it's in verse that's even better.
This ledger stone lies in the church of St Michael and All Angels, Offham, Kent. I read the text quickly, thought it interesting, took a picture and went home to search the web and find out as much as I could about the people it memorializes.
So...
Rebecca Omer was the youngest daughter (by his third wife) of the court painter John de Critz. She was born in London in around 1630 and so was in her early thirties when she died. Her husband, the Kentish gentleman Laurence Omer- who was seven years younger than her- had died in 1662. Frances de Critz, her elder sister, died in 1660. The daughter who is buried with her was called Mary. The son she left to the care of "friends and Providence" was called Charles.
The de Critzs were an artistic dynasty. John de Critz the elder, Rebecca's father, had fifteen children- at least five of whom became painters. John was born in 1651-2 and, came to England as a boy to escape religious persecution in the Spanish Netherlands. His father, Troilus de Critz, was a goldsmith. His reputation was established by the 1680s, he attracted the patronage of Elizabeth I's "spymaster", Francis Walsingham and was praised in verse by Francis Meres. He painted portraits of numerous Elizabethan worthies, including Philip Sidney, Henry Cecil and the Earl of Southhampton- and in 1603 was appointed Sergeant Painter to James I- with duties that ranged from painting and reproducing royal portraits to freshening up the paintwork on the royal barge. He died in 1642, aged 90 or thereabouts- and is buried in St Martin in the Fields.
Rebecca Omer must have had an interesting childhood- living on the fringes of the Jacobean court- in an atmosphere of turpentine and linseed oil...
I can't find what she died of. The writer of her epitaph suggests it was grief at the loss of her husband.
Here, anyway, is what he/she has to say in full. I've kept the spelling but inserted some punctation. The verse is awkward but colourful. I think "cold coverled" is rather good.
HERE LYES BURYED MTS REBECCA OMER, DAUGHTER OF IOHN DE CRITZ OF LOND ESQR, WHO WAS WIFE & WIDOW OF LAURENCE OMER OF STAPLE IN KENT, GENT, BY WHOM SHE HAD TWO CHILDREN- WHEREOF ONE LYES BURIED HERE WTH HER, THE OTHER SURVIUETH. SHE DYED DECEMBR THE 16 ANNO DOM 1663.
HIER LYES ALSOE WTH HER FRANCES DECRITZ SISTER TO THE SAID REBECCA OMER
HERE'S WIFE & MOTHER NOW AT REST
WITH HUSBAND ONCE & CHILDREN BLEST.
HE SLEPT AND SHE DID SIGH & WEEP
SOE SORE FOR HIM SHE FELL A SLEEP.
DAUGHTER & SISTER TOO'S IN BED
HERE UNDER THIS COLD COVERLED,
BUT SON SHE'S LEFT SINCE SHE'S GON HENCE
THE CARE OF FREINDS & PROVIDENS.
READER I COULD TELL A STORY
OF HER GREIF & OF HER GLORY
BUT ALLS HUSHT, TILL HIS POWERFULL CHARME
WHOSE TRUMP SHALL SOUND YE WORLDS ALARME
WHEN GOE THY WAYES & HENCE PREPARE
TO MEET (WTH HER) THE LORD I'TH'AYRE"
THESAL YE 4TH 16 & 17 VERS
And if it's in verse that's even better.
This ledger stone lies in the church of St Michael and All Angels, Offham, Kent. I read the text quickly, thought it interesting, took a picture and went home to search the web and find out as much as I could about the people it memorializes.
So...
Rebecca Omer was the youngest daughter (by his third wife) of the court painter John de Critz. She was born in London in around 1630 and so was in her early thirties when she died. Her husband, the Kentish gentleman Laurence Omer- who was seven years younger than her- had died in 1662. Frances de Critz, her elder sister, died in 1660. The daughter who is buried with her was called Mary. The son she left to the care of "friends and Providence" was called Charles.
The de Critzs were an artistic dynasty. John de Critz the elder, Rebecca's father, had fifteen children- at least five of whom became painters. John was born in 1651-2 and, came to England as a boy to escape religious persecution in the Spanish Netherlands. His father, Troilus de Critz, was a goldsmith. His reputation was established by the 1680s, he attracted the patronage of Elizabeth I's "spymaster", Francis Walsingham and was praised in verse by Francis Meres. He painted portraits of numerous Elizabethan worthies, including Philip Sidney, Henry Cecil and the Earl of Southhampton- and in 1603 was appointed Sergeant Painter to James I- with duties that ranged from painting and reproducing royal portraits to freshening up the paintwork on the royal barge. He died in 1642, aged 90 or thereabouts- and is buried in St Martin in the Fields.
Rebecca Omer must have had an interesting childhood- living on the fringes of the Jacobean court- in an atmosphere of turpentine and linseed oil...
I can't find what she died of. The writer of her epitaph suggests it was grief at the loss of her husband.
Here, anyway, is what he/she has to say in full. I've kept the spelling but inserted some punctation. The verse is awkward but colourful. I think "cold coverled" is rather good.
HERE LYES BURYED MTS REBECCA OMER, DAUGHTER OF IOHN DE CRITZ OF LOND ESQR, WHO WAS WIFE & WIDOW OF LAURENCE OMER OF STAPLE IN KENT, GENT, BY WHOM SHE HAD TWO CHILDREN- WHEREOF ONE LYES BURIED HERE WTH HER, THE OTHER SURVIUETH. SHE DYED DECEMBR THE 16 ANNO DOM 1663.
HIER LYES ALSOE WTH HER FRANCES DECRITZ SISTER TO THE SAID REBECCA OMER
HERE'S WIFE & MOTHER NOW AT REST
WITH HUSBAND ONCE & CHILDREN BLEST.
HE SLEPT AND SHE DID SIGH & WEEP
SOE SORE FOR HIM SHE FELL A SLEEP.
DAUGHTER & SISTER TOO'S IN BED
HERE UNDER THIS COLD COVERLED,
BUT SON SHE'S LEFT SINCE SHE'S GON HENCE
THE CARE OF FREINDS & PROVIDENS.
READER I COULD TELL A STORY
OF HER GREIF & OF HER GLORY
BUT ALLS HUSHT, TILL HIS POWERFULL CHARME
WHOSE TRUMP SHALL SOUND YE WORLDS ALARME
WHEN GOE THY WAYES & HENCE PREPARE
TO MEET (WTH HER) THE LORD I'TH'AYRE"
THESAL YE 4TH 16 & 17 VERS
no subject
Date: 2022-02-05 11:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-02-05 11:58 am (UTC)