Notes and Queries, Number 177, March 19, 1853: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. — John Shaqi
Notes and Queries, Number 177, March 19, 1853: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.Various
History
Notes and Queries, Number 177, March 19, 1853: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.
Various
Questions and answers -- Periodicals
"A dytwc i Rufut waywrutelyn
Gwin a gwydyr goleu yn ei gylchyn
Dragon Arwystli arwystyl tervyn
Dragon Owein hael o hil Kynvyn[5]
Dragon iw dechren ac niw dychryn cat
Cyvlavan argrat cymyw erlyn."
_Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales_: London,
1801, 8vo., vol. i. p. 265.
"And bear to Grufydd, the crimson-lanced foe,
Wine with pellucid glass around it;
The Dragon of Arwstli, safeguard of the borders,
The Dragon of Owen, the generous of the race of Cynvyn,
A Dragon from his beginning, and never scared by a conflict
Of triumphant slaughter, or afflicting chase."
Gray, whose "Bard" indicates the inspiration with which he had seized the
poetry and traditions of the Cymri, thus refers to the red dragon as the
cognizance of the Welsh monarchs, in his _Triumphs of Owen_ [ap Griffith,
Prince of North Wales]:
"Dauntless, on his native sands,
The _Dragon_, son of Mona, stands;
In glittering arms and glory dress'd
High he rears his _ruby_ crest."
The dragon and lion have been attributed to the Welsh monarchs, as
insignia, from an early period, and the former is ascribed, traditionally,
to the great Cadwallader.
In the _Archæologia_, vol. xx. p. 579. plate xxix. p. 578., are
descriptions of engravings of the impressions of two seals appendant to
charters of Edward, son of Edward IV., and Arthur, son of Henry VII., as
Princes of Wales, the obverse of each bearing three lions in pale passant,
reguardant, having their tails between their legs, reflected upon their
backs, upon a shield {290} surmounted by a cap of maintenance: Prince
Edward's shield has on each side a lion as a supporter, holding single
feathers, with the motto "Ich dien." On Prince Arthur's seal, the feathers
are supported by _dragons_. Thomas William King, Rouge Dragon, in a letter
to Sir Samuel Meyrick, dated 4th September, 1841, published in the
_Archæologia_, vol. xxix. p. 408., Appendix, regards the lions on these
shields as to the ensigns attributed at the period of the seals to certain
Welsh princes, and the dragon as the badge of Cadwallader.
In a MS. (for reference to which I am indebted to the courtesy of Sir
Frederick Madden), which was recently sold at Sotheby's, containing
translations by Johannes Boerius, presented to Henry, Prince of Wales, son
of Henry VII., about 1505, there is a beautiful illumination containing the
arms of that prince: Quarterly France and England, with the red dragon as
the dexter, and the greyhound of the House of York as the sinister,
supporter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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