The Mauley Window in York Minster

One of the tricky bits about identifying all of the coats of arms in the stained glass windows in York Minster is the dearth of good sources regarding those windows. The sources that I have to hand are the booklet A Guide to the Heraldry in York Minster by Y.E. Weir, published in 1986, and A Description of the Representations and Arms on the Glass in the Windows of York Minster by John Browne, published in 1859 and reprinted in 1917. The first is a very good general guide, but it leaves out a lot of the windows entirely, and sometimes misidentifies those arms it does include. The latter, of course, was written more than 160 years ago, and much has changed in the Minster during that time: windows have been replaced, shields have been moved around, and new coats of arms have been added. What you have here in the identifications of these coats of arms is a combination of reliance on Browne with frequent reference to Weir, along with additional researches in Papworth’s Ordinary of British Armorials and the four-volume Dictionary of British Arms. Of course, these last two sources also do not help with identifying the newer coats of arms which have been added in more recent years.

With that caveat, we come now the to stained glass window in York Minster known as the Mauley Window. This window is thought to have been donated by Archdeacon Stephen Mauley, perhaps in remembrance of his brothers Peter and Edmund.

The three rows of shields, beginning with the topmost row, and going from left to right, are:

France ancient (Azure semy-de-lys or); England (Gules three lions passant guardant in pale or); and, in what is likely an error for Spain (Quarterly: 1 and 4, Gules a tower triple-towered or (Castile); 2 and 3, Argent a lion rampant gules (sometimes purpure) crowned or (Leon)), Quarterly: 1 and 4, Gules a tower triple-towered or (Castile); 2 and 3, Azure a dolphin argent.

Weir believes that this quarter is Dauphiné, in error for Leon, but Dauphiné is Or a dolphin azure finned gules, so I don't know why he believes that. In any event, the shield is most certainly not Spain, although it certainly may be meant to represent Spain.

In the middle row of shields, we see:

Trehouse, Vair a maunch gules; Anthony de Bek, bishop of Durham, Gules a cross moline ermine; and Piers de Mauley, Or a bend sable.

Finally, in the lowest row of shields, which I am going to separate into individual paragraphs because of the issue of identifying the center shield, we find:

Malbis, Argent a chevron between three roe’s heads erased gules;

Wake (per Browne) or Coleville (per Weir), Or a fess and in chief three roundels gules. Burke’s General Armory does cite “Colvile (Yorkshire). Or a fess gules in chief three torteaux”. The Dictionary of British Arms, Vol. III, cf. “Or a fess and in chief three roundels gules” notes these arms for some Beterle/Butterleys, a bunch of Colevilles, and three Wakes (one of whom is “Lord Wake”). Either Colville or Wake is possible, but given the placement of these arms elsewhere in the Minster immediately next to Wake (Or two bars and in chief three roundels gules), I suspect that Wake may be a little more likely than Coleville; and

William le Vavasour (d. 1311), Lord of Hazelwood, Or a dance sable.

Finally, and this is something I failed to notice at the time, and so failed to take a separate photograph of them, just above the bottom row of shields are three panels, each with two kneeling figures holding up two coats of arms. You can see much of these figures in the photograph of the bottom row of shields, and of course you can click on the image of the full window above to see the full-sized photograph which you can then zoom in on this row of figures.

Weir identifies the kneeling figures, two in each panel, from left to right, as:

Robert Mauley, a younger brother;

Peter Mauley of Mulgrave Castle, the eldest brother, died 1310;

Archdeacon Stephen Mauley, died 1317;

Peter de Trehouse, or Maloleau (Mauley), the great grandfather of the brothers, who married the heuiress to Mulgrave Castle from whom the gold and black Mauley arms were inherited;

Edmund Mauley, killed at Bannockburn, 1314; and

John Mauley, a younger brother.

All of the shields with the exception of Peter de Trehouse, who is holding the Trehouse arms of Vair a maunch gules, are differenced and undifferenced versions of the Mauley arms, Or a bend sable.