The pictured roundels of the Chertsey tiles referenced many aspects of the Crusades. Certainly, the combat tiles of Richard the Lionheart and Saladin allude to the Third Crusade. The Tristan and Isolde tile depicting a sense of medieval romance, and also comments on the concept of heroism. The Celtic legend involves the tale of enduring a journey to ultimately reach joy, conquest, or healing.

The story, which evolves around forbidden love, begins with Tristan. As knight of Cornwall, Tristan on one of his various journeys finds Isolde when in need of healing and tells all about her to his uncle who is King Mark of Cornwall. With the task of escorting Isolde back to King Mark, the two drink a love potion provided by Isolde’s mother. The two fall in love, an illicit love, as Isolde is married off to King Mark. Yet, the love propels the two to find each other while in this marriage. 

King Mark learns of the affair through time and sets forth to punish the two. However, Tristan escapes, rescues Isolde, and flees into the forest while the king’s supporters search for the two. The king attempts to resolve the conflict since he still does love Tristan being his adopted son and Isolde as his wife. Tristan returns Isolde to King Mark once cornered, and agrees to leave the kingdom for Brittany. 



Tristan, at the end of the legend, ends up being mortally wounded in battle. Isolde, being the only one who was able to heal him in the past, is called upon to aid him. Tristan subconsciously notes that Isolde might not want to see him due to her commitment in marriage. Tristan, with the fear of being deceived, tells his advisor to sail back with white flags if it indeed is the ship that is carrying Isolde. In the following days, Tristan’s state only worsened. 

One day though a ship is seen by Tristan in the near-view, and he asks his wife what the colors of the sails were. Filled with jealousy, his wife, who recognized the love affair between Tristan and Isolde, lies to Tristan telling him the sails were not white.  Overcome with grief, Tristan believes that Isolde refused to come to his rescue, and he dies moments before Isolde arrives. When Isolde learns of his death, she too dies from grief. 


Joy that is detailed by Tristan’s journey to bring Isolde back to his uncle King Mark of Cornwall to marry. Conquest in part by Tristan in defeating the Irish knight of Morholt or later with his affairs in Brittany. Healing echoed by the journey that Isolde attempts to aid Tristan back to full health. Having this tile within the Chertsey Abbey is testimonial to the journey that Crusaders have partaken to restore the Holy Land, to heal the world of its ‘misfortunes’, and ultimately of the conquest as a search for salvation or feudal obligation.