EDWARD IV-THE OTHER RED DRAGON?
While doing some research, I came upon a beautiful 15th century scroll of Edward IV on the website of the Philadelphia Free Library, showing the King’s full line of descent with stunning imagery and symbolism.
What was particularly interesting was that Edward also used, as did Henry Tudor, the image of the Red Dragon in his propaganda. Here, Edward directly borrowed from Arthurian myths, but cast the Lancastrian faction in the role of the ‘white dragon’ (traditonally the ‘invading’ Saxons) that would be eventually overcome by the red. Henry IV, V and VI are all denoted as ‘Saxons’ while Edward brings forth his Welsh ancestry going back to Llewellyn the Great via the marriage of Llewellyn’s daughter, Gwladys Dhu ‘the Dark,’ to Ralph Mortimer, lord of Wigmore Castle.
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He looks very handsome and noble in this picture.
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What a fascinating post. I vaguely remember this scroll being mentioned years ago. It occurred to me that Tudor may have been trying to copy some of the information in this scroll by heavily promoting his Welsh ancestry. However, it is very possible that he didn’t have any Welsh ancestry at all.
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