William of Hatfield

A small bronze statuette, or weeper, of William of Hatfield can be seen on the tomb of his father Edward III in Westminster Abbey. The figure can be viewed from the south ambulatory. He wears a doublet and hip belt. No coat of arms for identification remains below the figure but it has been recorded as depicting William since the publication of a guidebook to the Abbey in 1600.

He was born at Hatfield in Yorkshire, probably in early January 1337 and died a few months later. He was buried in York Minster, where his parents had been married. So the figure shows him as a youth rather than an infant.

Further reading

See also the entries on the website for William's siblings Edmund of Langley, Lionel of Antwerp, Mary of Brittany and Joan. And the small tomb of William of Windsor and Blanche of the Tower.