The Legendary Welsh Dragon that Expelled the Saxons

16 MAY, 2020 -  DHWTY * By Wu Mingren  
https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-ancient-traditions/welsh-dragon-0013722

The legendary Welsh dragon. Credit: warpaintcobra / Adobe Stock

The Welsh Dragon is a heraldic symbol of Wales, and arguably one of the country’s most recognizable symbols. The image is most notably seen on the flag of Wales. Additionally, this symbol is also used by various institutions in the country, both public and private. The Welsh Dragon traces its history as a national symbol all the way back to the

9th century, though it is popularly believed that the symbol was already used by the ancient Celts who inhabit the country, and even by the legendary King Arthur himself.

Welsh Dragon symbol on the flag of Wales.

Source: Public Domain

The Welsh Dragon is known locally as Y Ddraig Goch , meaning ‘The Red Dragon’ in Welsh and the heraldic term ‘gules’ (for the red tincture) is also used. The national flag features the red dragon passant, which in heraldry terms indicates that the animal has its right paw raised.

The earliest written record in which the Welsh Dragon is used as a symbol of Wales is the Historia Brittonum (History of the Britons), traditionally attributed to Nennius, a Welsh monk. Approximately 35 manuscripts of the Historia Brittonum survive to this day, although none from the 9 th century AD, when the work was compiled. These later manuscripts date from the early 10 th to 13 th centuries. One of the stories found in the Historia Brittonum is about King Vortigern and how the Welsh Dragon came to be a symbol of Wales.

Digitized page from Historia Brittonum, 12th Century, held by Bibliothèque nationale de France
( Public Domain )

Vortigern and the City he was Fated to Never Build

Vortigern is depicted as notoriously evil as well as an illegitimate ruler, who usurped the throne of Britain from his predecessor. In the Historia Brittonum , Vortigern is said to have found an ideal site to build a city. The king collected the necessary construction materials and had them transported to the site. All of the materials, however, vanished within a single night, thereby making it impossible to build the city. The king collected more building materials for his city, but the same thing happened. When this happened a third time, Voltigern consulted his wise men and asked them to solve the mystery.

The wise men told the king to find a child born without a father, kill him, and sprinkle the blood on the ground where the city was to be built. Only by these means, the wise men claimed, would the king be able to build the city he desired. Voltigern sent his men throughout Britain to search for such a child. They managed to find him in the field of Electi, in the district of Glevesing, and brought him back to their master. Incidentally, when the men found the child, he was playing a ball game with a group of boys. This may be one of the oldest references to football in the history of Britain.

The next day, the boy was brought before the king to be put to death. When the boy met Voltigern, he asked the king the reason he had been brought there. Hearing the king’s reply, the boy wanted to know who had given the king this advice. The king told the boy that it was his wise men who gave him these instructions. The boy asked the king to call them and after questioning them and exposing their ignorance, the boy revealed the truth.     

The boy told the king and his wise men to dig at the site until they found the pool. True enough, they found a pool. In the pool were two vases which the boy said contained a tent. When the vases were taken out of the pool and separated, a folded tent was found within. Next, the boy explained that there were two serpents in the tent, one red and the other white, and asked the wise men to unfold the tent. Once again, everyone was amazed to find that what the boy said was true. At first, the serpents were asleep, but when they awoke, they began fighting and the white serpent was winning the battle. The red serpent, which seemed to be the weaker of the two, recovered its strength, expelled the white one from the tent and pursued its rival to the pond.

Pictured Vortigern sits at the edge of a pool whence two dragons emerge, one red and one white, which do battle in his presence Detail from Lambeth Palace Library MS 6 folio 43v illustrating an episode in Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1136). 

( Public Domain )

After the serpents had disappeared beneath the water, the boy explained the meaning of this mysterious incident. He told Voltigern and his wise men that the pool symbolized the world, the tent stood for Britain, and the serpents denoted dragons. The red serpent represented the king’s people, whereas the white one symbolized the invading Saxons . The boy foretold that although the Saxons have occupied much of Britain, they would be driven off the island and chased back to their homeland. The boy added that the king and his men had to leave as he was not allowed to build a city on that site. Fate had assigned the place to the boy instead. Voltigern asked the boy for his name, which was Ambrose, and gave him the site, as well as the western provinces of Britain. In the story recounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his 12th century History of the Kings of Britain , Ambrose is replaced by the renowned wizard Merlin.

Post continues at:  https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-ancient-traditions/welsh-dragon-0013722

The national flag of Wales was officially unfurled for the first time in 1959.

Recommend this post and follow The birth of modern Man

https://disqus.com/home/forum/lifeofearth/