When it comes to medieval history, a time from which written records are thin on the ground, a coat of arms can be like striking gold. A noblewoman would often add her new husband’s family coat of arms to her own which is known as ‘impaling'. The best examples of this are the coats of arms of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Mary I of England after their marriages to Francis II of France and Phillip II of Spain respectively – even though looking at them can feel like looking into a kaleidoscope.
Of course, marriage as we would recognise it today was legally restricted to being between a man and a woman in the medieval period. This is what makes a pair of shields found on a tomb in the Arap mosque in Istanbul so interesting. Sir William Neville and Sir John Clanvowe are buried in the mosque in a joint tomb. Whilst to many that is strange enough, what adds to the mystery is how their shields are not only leaning towards each other but are exactly the same. The shields are both impaled like a betrothed couple would appear and, even more curiously, the helmets are positioned in a way that implies the two are kissing. The pair, who were known to a part of the ‘Lollard knights’ who resided at the court of Richard II in the late fourteenth century, travelled to Tunis wanting to take part in a crusade put together by the Duke of Bourbon. Unfortunately, Clanvowe died in the fighting. According to a chronicler, Neville became so inconsolable that he refused to eat and as a result died himself only two days later.
Such inconsolable grief alongside the impaled shields could suggest that they considered themselves to be married as we would recognise today. This could be more likely than people realise, but there is room for doubt. The idea of soldiers finding physical comfort with each other is often suggested throughout the history of warfare, but given the amount of emotion which is attributed to Neville means that the story of the two knights reads as something closer to an actual relationship. This is interesting considering how such relationships were viewed not only in medieval society but by the sect of Christianity that the two knights were members of.
