In the 14th century (c. 1300–1400), church monuments were primarily effigial tombs, brasses, and cross slabs, rooted in Gothic art and feudal piety. They emphasized chivalry, prayer, and heraldry, with growing realism in dress and armour.

In this period church monuments were Gothic, hierarchical, and devotional, stone knights and brass merchants knelt in eternal prayer, blending faith, status, and the hope of salvation.

In England the century saw a shift from High Gothic chivalry to International Gothic elegance, driven by Yorkist/Lancastrian patronage, alabaster workshops, and memento mori anxiety after the Black Death.

The late 14th to early 15th century (c. 1375–1425) is a dramatic pivot in French funerary art: High Gothic elegance yields to Flamboyant exuberance and Burgundian realism, amid war, plague, and courtly patronage. The transi (Cadaver) tomb and pleurants (Weepers ⓘ) emerge as defining innovations.