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The White Dragon Flag of the English
The association of the English people with dragons stretches
back millennia, way back to the dark ages and beyond. They
weren’t called the Dark Ages for nothing and as is the
case for a great deal of history from this time much is open
to speculation and conjecture. What is certain is that the
early English adopted the Dragon as their battle standard.
The ancestors of the English people – the Angle, Saxon and Jutish tribes first encountered the Romans a century before the birth of Christ. The Rhine and the Danube became the northern frontiers of the Roman Empire and while the legions had conquered much of the known world, the “barbarian” Germanic tribes of northern Europe, they could never subdue. It is plausible that around this time the early English tribes adopted the battle flag of their Roman enemies who were known to fly the Dragon Standard. It was customary for the victors on the battlefield to take the standard of their defeated foe and although the northern tribes both won and lost many battles they were never conquered. The Red Dragon of the Welsh traces it’s existence back along a similar route to the interaction of the conquered British with their Roman masters. This is one theory but our association with dragons may go back even further. From the very earliest times the English spread from their continental homelands in boats with dragons heads on their prows and early English folklore tells us of heroes such as Beowolf and Sigurd and their battles with dragons. Estimating the dates of the origins of these legends is impossible but the English were a race of people centuries before they had a unified homeland and it is certain that both sagas far pre-date the existence of what we now call England.
So what did the earliest Dragon standards look like? The
shape and design of the early standards are lost in the mists
of time but if we take the Viking Raven banner as a reference
it is likely that there would not have been any unifying shape
or size. It would have varied from tribe to tribe and place
to place. What is certain is that the appearance of these
Dragon standards evolved over time. The Dragon standards from
the time of the English migration would have been different
from the time of the Norman conquest and these likewise would
have been different from the those used up to the early middle
ages (it is worth noting that the present day Welsh Dragon
only dates from the late 1950’s.) To modern eyes some
of them may not have even resembled what we would now days
call a flag and would have been more akin to what we would
call a wind sock with the dragon pinned to the staff through
it’s nostrils and front paws. They may well have been
designed to whistle eerily as the wind blew through them in
order to spread unease in the enemy ranks in the calm before
battle. Some say that we shouldn’t be calling it a dragon
at all and instead the early English battle standard should
be referred to as a Wyvern. I would certainly not go along
with this. Wyvern is a Norman/French word and is not a word
our ancestors would have ever used. “Wyverns”
only came about due to later Norman heraldry and so have nothing
to do with us (and to me is also a great argument for the
modern White Dragon having four legs. Why do we want to use
Norman words?). To our ancestors a 2-legged dragon was just
a dragon, just as a 2-legged dog would still have been a dog.
In English literature, Beowulf fought a fire-breathing dragon,
not a wyvern. Sigurd was a dragon slayer, not a wyvern slayer
and the Anglo-Saxon chronicle speaks of fiery dragons in the
sky and not fiery wyverns. In English folklore dragons come
in many shapes and sizes, with or without wings and with legs
varying from between none at all up to six. Possibly the quinisential
early English Dragon was the “Wyrm” of folklore
which had no wings and no legs.
In later years it became the custom for the personal banners of the English Kings to be interlaced with gold and jewels in order to reflect the wealth and power of the individual rulers (this would not have been an option open to the roaming war bands who first splashed up our shores in the very early days) but ever since Nennius (who even then was drawing on far earlier sources) in his, Historia Brittonum, wrote of the the early English being represented by a White Dragon it was an asssociation that stuck through many years.
When King Harold’s dragon standard fell onto the blood
soaked ground of Sandlake Hill at the Battle of Hastings the
long connection between the English people and dragons may
well have ended. It was in the victorious Norman’s interest
to remove as many signs of English cultural identity as they
possibly could, and they started with the English flags. The
Dragon Standards that the English had carried before their
armies for possibly the last milenia were done away with and
replaced by the more continental Cross of St George. The English
Dragons very nearly disappeared, but not quite. They lived
on, all be it, in a different form in the heraldic symbols
of Wessex, the cradle of the English nation. With the ending
of the Norman line the English dragons once again start to
reappear as the Battle standard of the English armies. In
later years during the War of the Roses the Lancastrians were
identified as being the Saxon half of the opposing armies
and so on medieaval manuscripts were represented by the White
Dragon. In modern times the Arch Bishop of Canterbury wears
a jeweled clasp on his enthronement vestments. The design
on the clasp bears the image of a White Dragon, representing
the people of England and a Red Dragon representing the people
of Wales greeting each other in peace across the Cross of
Canterbury.
It would appear that the people of England, the Anglo-Saxon
people of England have for millennia used the Dragon as a
token of their common identity and as a rallying symbol to
carry before them in troubled times. Through one route or
another it has been with the
White Dragon that this association has been most enduring,
and that association continues up to the present day.
The White Dragon on the web – some things we found…..
Thus within the original boundaries of the Roman Empire this
left the Red Dragon as the symbol of authority only in the
extreme West (Britain) and in the Eastern Roman or Byzantine
Empire. The Red Dragon survived as a symbol of the Byzantine
Empire until Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1465.Taking
advantage of the newly weakened state of Britain these shores
came under increasing threat of invasion by the Saxons from
Denmark. Though outside the Roman Empire the Saxons had because
of their contact with Roman Forces acquired the dragon as
a symbol of their own. They however had preferred a White
Dragon. The next six hundred years saw battles and rivalry
between the forces of the Celts (with their Red Dragons) and
the Saxons (with their White Dragons). Around these two warring
forces grew the legends of Merlin and King Arthur. Eventually
a line was drawn by the Saxon King Offa of Mercia who built
a Dyke separating what was Celtic Wales (and the Red Dragon)
from Saxon England (and their White Dragon). The last time
the White Dragon was seen as a national Standard in Britain
was at the Battle of Hastings where on the Bayeux Tapestry
the White Dragon is seen in the same scene in which King Harold
is struck down.
The History of the Welsh Flag
"At any rate it became their standard, and it
was beneath a White Dragon that Harold, the last English king
fell, under the arrows of the Normans"
Flame Bearers of Welsh History - Owen Rhoscomyl
"The Welsh fought under a "golden"
banner and the adoption of a White Dragon by the men of Sussex
may have been merely a matter of useful distinction between
the opposing forces"
The Dragons - Ernest Ingersoll
"...the readers attention must still be diverted
to the victorious Germanic race and the conquered Celtic race,
he must view the white standard of the Saxons and Angles gradually
driving the red standard of the Kymri back towards the west...the
national poems of the Cambrians designated the two hostile
standards, the Red Dragon and the White Dragon"
History of the Conquest of England by the Normans - Augustin
Thierry
"In their subsequent contests with the Saxons,
our British ancestors always had a red dragon painted upon
their standards; while the colourless banner of their opponents
bore the figure of the White Dragon"
The National Magazine - Abel Stevens
"...it was then that he discovered that the
Red Dragon of the Cymry had joined issue with the White Dragon
of Wessex"
Collections Historical & Archaeological Relating to Monmouthshire
"Owen Glyndwr's war standard in 1401 showed
a Golden Dragon and the bard Dafydd tells us that they sang
that it would overthrow the White Dragon"
The Princes and Principality of Wales
The clasp that holds the two sides of the cope together
bears a jewel made by jeweller, Rhiannon of Tregaron. The
design shows the white dragon of England and the red dragon
of Wales greeting each other in peace across the cross of
Canterbury.
The Arch Bishop of Canterbury web site
The mysterious White Horse is carved into the chalk hillside
above the village of Uffington. Various interpretations of
the stylised carvings are possible; some believe that it might
be a dragon rather than a horse.
The Uffington White Horse (many Anglo-Saxon representations
of dragons resembled horses. There are many accounts of it’s
origins including that it was cut to commemorate King Alfred’s
victory over the Danes and also that it was cut by Hengist,
leader of the 5th century Anglo-Saxons. It is interesting
that the hill just below the carving is called Dragon Hill)
The Celtic dragon represents sovereignty, power or a chief,
such as Pendragon, the Celtic word meaning 'chief'. The Red
Dragon of Cadwallader or Cadwaller is the emblem of Wales
- 'upon a mount vert, a dragon passant, wings expanded and
endorsed gules - the Red Dragon Dreadful' The Saxons had the
white dragon as a royal standard. In early Britain it depicted
supreme power.
In this period the banner, the sign in textile, was a crucial
part of the battle. It was not to be captured for that signified
defeat. There were royal standards, banners which represented,
like the glove, the person of the king. Pagan Vikings—and
even Christian Anglo-Saxon kings—fought under a dragon
standard.
The Welsh, as a distinct people, may be said to date from
about the seventh century, when the advance of the Saxons
to the Bristol Channel and the Mersey isolated them from the
rest of Celtic Britain. The 'Historia Brittonum,' of about
800 A.D. (traditionally ascribed to the scholar Nennius),
which drew on earlier sources, described a Red Dragon as the
symbol of the British people in their wars against the White
Dragon of the Saxons.
With the relative safety of the line gone, the Huscarls formed
a ring around the king. With the king were the standards of
England; the Dragon standard of the line of Cerdic, the ancient
House of the kings of Wessex; and the fighting man, the personal
marker of Harold Godwinsson, worked with silver and gold thread
upon in red and white Byzantine silk by Edith, his wife.
Regia Anglorum
Whet the bright steel,
Sons of the White Dragon!
Kindle the torch,
Daughter of Hengist!
Sir Walter Scott - Author of Ivanhoe
A dragon standard was taken on the Third Crusade by Richard
I in 1191. A dragon was borne by the English army at the battle
of Lewes in 1216 and later Henry III had a dragon standard
made to be placed in the re-built Abbey at Westminster. Used
by Edward I, Edward III at the battle of Crécy 1346,
Henry V at the battle of Agincourt 1415, and at the battle
of Bosworth in 1485, after which it was carried in state to
St Paul’s Cathedral. Henry VII displayed the red dragon
of Cadwallader, from whom he claimed descent, on the Tudor
colours of white and green. Until this time it was probably
golden. The supporters of the English royal arms were a lion
and a dragon, but the latter was replaced by a unicorn for
Scotland by the Stuarts. The dragon reappeared briefly as
a supporter of the arms of the Commonwealth under Cromwell.
"In the year 742 a great battle was fought at Burford
in Oxfordshire, and the Golden Dragon, which like the White
Dragon was the standard of Wessex was victorious over Ethelbald,
the King of Mercia"
A Study of Serpent Symbolism in All Countries And
Ages - M. Oldfield Howey
Anyway, I’d like to add I’m more inclined to believe
that Dragon standards have an even older origin than the Romans,
in Britain or Germany, when one considers the prevalence of
‘dragon- slayer’ myths, it is likely that some
of these old heroes adopted the dragon as their symbol.
Whence came the red dragon of Cadwaladar? Why was the Welsh
dragon in fables of Merddin (Merlin), Wennius, and Geofrey
described as red, while the Saxon 'fenris' was white?
Battles and rivalry between the forces of the Celts and the
Saxons continued until eventually in the eighth century, a
line was drawn by the Saxon King Offa of Mercia who built
a Dyke separating what was Celtic Wales (and the Red Dragon)
from Saxon England (and their White Dragon). The people of
Wales would have to wait for the Tudors to re-establish any
claim to the throne of Britain. It is significant, therefore,
at Bosworth Field in 1485, the Red Dragon of Cadwaladr was
carried by Henry Tudor in his defeat of Richard III.
In the Historia Brittonum of around 800 A.D. the dragon is
seen as a symbol of national independence in the story of
the red dragon battling with the white dragon of the Saxon
over the green fertile lands. You can see the White Dragon
representing the Saxons on the Bayeaux Tapestry which of course
illustrates the Norman invasion of 1066 and conquest of the
Saxons. The Saxons did not get a chance to flee west into
Wales.
One author interprets “pursuing a dragon” as a
poetical description of a campaign against the Saxons or Welsh,
who used a dragon banner.
This alludes to the Vikings referring to their armed campaigns
in England as “pursuing a dragon”
The English standard was the dragon, shown lying on the ground
in the scene depicting Harold's death. Thought to have derived
from the figure of the dragon encountered by Trajan's legions
in Dacia, it may be the origin of the red dragon of Wales.
In historic times, the Roman soldiers in England carried images
or pictures of dragons as ensigns in their wars with the native
Britons. If these were mainly white that fact might account
for the whiteness of the emblems used by the 'Saxon' armies
of the South (Sussex), with which, after the Roman troops
had quit England, the west-central kingdom, Wessex, was incessantly
in conflict.
It is difficult to imagine the skyline bare of its presence,
but on the 14th of October, 1066 it was not a many-towered
abbey that broke the cold horizon, but the ominous sight of
Harold's Saxon shield wall with the dragon banner of Wessex
and his own personal banner of the Fighting Man, flying in
the stiffening breeze of a bleak October morning.
The two "dragon" banners here are supposedly the
"Dragon of Wessex" Harold's banner as the earl of
Wessex. His personal standard the "Fighting Man"
is not depicted. It is described as jewelled and was sent
as a gift to the pope by William after the battle. The first
"dragon" is going down with its bearer - out of
sequence if they are meant to be the same (or else the standard
is picked up by another housecarle when the original bearer
goes down). The "dragon" is a windsock, patterned
after Carolingian types, which in turn derived from the Roman.
This corresponds to pre-800 BC, for the Etruscans had arrived
by then. We're clearly dealing with the Gaul migration (i.e.
"Hallstatt" Celts). The question is, did the Cymbry
of Wales originate from the Danish branch of Cimmerians, or
from the Italian branch from Umbria/Venetia? Could the red
colour of the Welsh dragon indicate Venetia, since the Tyrol
symbol (north of Veneto) is a red dragon-like phoenix, while
the Anglo-Saxon dragon is depicted as a white one?
The boy says that the red dragon symbolized the people of
Vortigern and the white dragon symbolizes the Saxons. Which
symbolizes that in the future, the Vortigern, who are today
called the Welsh, would fight the Saxons and drive them to
the edge of their country and out of their land in 5th century
AD, many years later.
There is a medieval map of the English "heptarchy",
a period where there were seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms at war
with each other. This map, made I believe in the 12th Century
after the heptarchy period is illustrated with banners of
the kingdoms. Those shown for Essex, Kent and Sussex appear
to be very similar to their "county standards" today,
while East Anglia has three crowns on a white background,
Mercia appears to have a white dragon of some kind.
One of the British leaders after the departure of the Romans
was Vortigern (Gwyrtheryn of Welsh legend), who may have been
a native of the Welsh borders. Certainly the kings of Powys
claimed him as an ancestor. It was Vortigern who is blamed
for inviting Saxon mercenaries into Britain to help maintain
order in the period following the departure of Roman troops.
When the money ran out to pay the mercenaries, they rebelled
and over the course of several centuries, took over control
of large sections of Britain from the Romano-British. Just
to confuse matters the Saxons also liked the idea of a dragon
(which they saw when fighting romans cohorts in Europe) and
had adopted the white dragon as their symbol.
At one time, the Saxons had a dragon too, a white one, and
legend has it that in Eryri (Snowdonia) there was a battle
between the two, the White Dragon winning at first then losing
as the Red Dragon found renewed strength. This was supposed
to foretell a time when the Welsh would drive out the Saxon
invaders (perhaps their survival as a separate people against
heavy odds is a sort of fulfilment of that prophecy).
'The Red Dragon signifies our people of Britain. For a long
time he shall suffer woe and be driven into hiding by the
White Dragon, who signifies the Saxons whom you have invited
into the Island. For a little space the Red Dragon shall conquer,
when King Arthur rules this land: but when he passes into
Avalon, the White Dragon shall triumph wholely, and the Saxons
shall rule all Britain. Yet at the last Arthur shall return,
and the Red Dragon of Wales conquer the White and set his
country free.
Wales is symbolised by a red dragon. In the Mabinogion the
tale of Lludd and Llewelys speaks of the struggle between
this red dragon and the white dragon. It was long ago in the
days of the Saxon invasions that this story takes place and
it is no wonder that the white dragon is the invader, the
Saxons, come to battle the red.
As the symbolic struggle comes to a close, the two opposing
dragons become drunk with mead. It is in this drunken state
that they are both buried in a large stone coffin and placed
to rest in the centre of the island of Britain. The story
goes that so long as the pair remain buried beneath Oxford
the island will be protected from invasion. The dual burial
is a symbol of the latent power within the combined strength
of the Anglo-Saxons people. Therefore the double burial is
key to their reconciliation. The bloody relations have been
calmed and the dragons wait to rise together in protection
of the island.
The White Horse was the symbol of the invading Saxons. This
sort of symbolism is also indicated by references to the British
Red Dragon and Saxon White Dragon of the text of Nennius.
The pool is the emblem of this world, and the tent that of
your kingdom: the two serpents are two dragons; the red serpent
is your dragon, but the white serpent is the dragon of the
people who occupy several provinces and districts of Britain,
even almost from sea to sea: at length, however, our people
shall rise and drive away the Saxon race from beyond the sea,
whence they originally came.
England has many flags, each representing each county, that
date back to the Anglo Saxon invasion, with dragons being
a popular theme. The current flag of England is the flag of
Saint George, the 'dragon slayer'. The flag consists of a
red cross on a white background and was first worn by the
English King Richard 'The Lionheart' Plantagenet and his English
Knights on the Third Crusade in the 12th century. When the
Crusaders returned back to England, they replaced England's
first flag, which was the Anglo Saxon 'White Dragon' flag
with the Saint George. The white dragon flag consisted of
a white dragon on a blood red background. Even though the
Saint George flag is the official flag of England, the 'White
Dragon Flag' is still in use and is still very popular amongst
the English who some of which would like to have it re instated
as the official flag of England.
Wikipedia
The White Dragon Flag is reputedly an Anglo-Saxon flag with
historic associations for pre-Norman England. The White Dragon
arrived with the Angle, Saxon and Jutish raiders attacking
Celtic Britain during the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Centuries. It is
believed to feature on the Bayeux Tapestry. The White Dragon
Flag is not used in any official capacity and was phased out
of popular use.
Wikipedia
In pagan times the Mercians fought under the banner of the
white dragon. This remained in use during the Christian period
as well.
Wikipedia
One of the most ordinary Anglo-Saxon sculptures," he
remarks, "is that of a dragon. All sorts of Anglo-Celtic
work bear this figure."
Q: Dear Mr. Cornwell, I have been an avid reader of your books
for many a year and read "The Last Kingdom" with
the usual enjoyment. As something of an Anglo-Saxon enthusiast,
I was interested in your description of Alfred's Wessex flag
as a white dragon on a green background. I have seen reference
to the Wessex flag as a white dragon on a red background and
of a golden dragon on a red background. But I cannot find
details of the green background you mention. I've talked to
some other Anglo-Saxon enthusiasts and they aren't sure of
the origin of the green background either. I would much appreciate
if you could tell me the source of where you found this information
if you have it at hand anywhere. Keep up the superb work and
I look forward to reading "The Pale Horseman".
A: Honestly don't have a clue. I've got it in a notebook,
so I copied it down from somewhere, but as I keep explaining
(and apologising) I rarely note my sources because they aren't
really relevant to an historical novelist. I'll keep an eye
out though, and if I come across the reference again I'll
make sure to let you know.
This refers to a question posed to the best selling
novelist Bernard Cornwell who also has a reputation for his
research and historical accuracy
Two images toward the bottom of this section also bear mentioning.
A pair of small roundels containing a red dragon, representing
the Welsh, and a white dragon, representing the Saxons…
For the Yorkists the red dragon represented Edward IV, and
the white dragon the Lancastrians. The identification of Lancastrians
and Saxons is made further along in the manuscript, where
Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI are all bordered in Saxon
yellow alone.
This refers to a 15th century heraldic manuscript.
A white dragon was the original pagan banner of Marcia; it
remained in use during the Christian period as well.
Wikipedia
Various accounts of the times record many battles between
armies carrying the Celtic British Red Dragon Banner (now
the Welsh Dragon) and the White Dragon Flag of the Saxons,
Angles and Jutes (the English Dragon).
The White Dragon of the English probably began as a rallying
symbol on the battlefiled. Attached to a spear or pole it
would have possibly been a windsock type design that could
have made a noise. Imagine many of them! But the White Dragon
of the English is no longer a far forgotten emblem on a forgotten
battlefield. It is fast becoming a symbol of the English alongside
the Cross of St George. But it is less religious. It represents
the pride and resilience of the English people. It is truly
a symbol for our times. Its appeal will continue to grow.
Icons of England Website
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