Thurgh-girt with many a grevous blody wounde,
Two yonge knyghtes liggynge by and by,
Bothe in oon armes, wroght ful richely,
Of whiche two Arcita highte that oon,
And that oother knyght highte Palamon.
Nat fully quyke, ne fully dede they were.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale. After the destruction of Creon’s army, scavangers come across two young knights lying side by side with the same coat of arms, not fully alive and not fully dead. From the knights’ richly wrought coat of arms, the scavangers know they are from royal Theban blood. Arcite and Palamon are handed over to Theseus, who imprisons them with no hope of ransom.