Y DDRAIG GOCH — Welsh Red Dragon

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30686, 27 February 1965, Page 5

Y DDRAIG GOCH — Welsh Red Dragon

On St. David’s Day on Monday, the Welsh flay will be flown in Christchurch. This article by Myra Thomson, chairman of the Cambrian Society of Canterbury, tells of its tradition.

JJ/ALES has a long history. Two thousand years ago, when the Romans came to Britain, bringing with them their ideas of law and order, their metalled roads and their stone cities, Wales held out against them for many stormy years.

In the end, of course, the Celts were forced to give in, and the Romans crossed and re-crossed the land of our fathers, building here a road, there a villa, here a camp, and there a walled city, before they left, in the fourth century, almost as suddenly as they had come.

There are many ancient towns in Wales where even today there are traces of the Roman occupation—at Caerleon. at Castell Collen, at Aberysgir and a score of other places Digging and delving in the modern way, to excavate for buildings or cultivate the land, men are still finding bits and pieces left behind by the Roman invaders.

There is, however, one reminder we treasure more than any other, probably not even knowing that the Romans gave it to us—our flag, with its Red Dragon striding purposefully, ever onwards. No-one really knows when it was that people, either individuals, or tribes, or nations, started using emblems; the Egyptians had them, and so did the Greeks. The Romans, we know, were

very proud of their badges and banners, and the people of Roman Britain became very familiar not only with the Eagle, but with several other devices. They brought the Red Dragon into Britain after Trajan had conquered Dacia in the second century, and it was carried, at first, by the 10 cohorts of the Roman legion. Red Dragon was different from many of his fellows in the legends of the ancient nations who regarded these beasts as extremely evil. This one was, and still is, outstanding in his strength, wisdom and power.

Towards the end of the Roman occupation, British leaders either adopted or were awarded the Red Dragon, and were proud to carry such a noble emblem as a • sign of headship and royalty. A British monk, Gildas the Wise, writing in 540, described King Maelgwn of Gwynedd as “The Dragon of tiie Isle of Britain,” so we know that Y Ddraig Goch was fluttering on in his day. It was about that time that the great King Arthur is thought to have led his mailclad cavalry through the hills and valleys of our native

Dragons there are galore in the tales of King Arthur’s day; indeed, the great king’s father was said to be Uther Pendragon, a crowned king, who carried about with him a dragon "wrought in marvellous cunning craftsmanship” as a symbol of his kingship. There are bloodcurling tales of fights between the White Dragon of the Saxons and the Red Dragon of Britain, of their both being buried deep down below the fortress at Dinas Emrys, of their being dug up and starting to fight all over again.

Of all British monarchs, Henry VII Was the one who displayed Y Ddraig Goch most. From the moment he entered London in 1485, with the Red Dragon waving before him, he kept it ever before the people of Britain. His palaces and chapels were decorated with dragon designs; he made the dragon one of the supporters of the Royal Arms; he saw to it that there were Welshmen in the Yeomen of the Guard, and he dressed them in the Welsh colours of green and white, the livery colours of Llewelyn the Great. When his enemies jeered at him, he employed experts to trace his

ancestry back and back through the centuries to King Cadwalader, and even further. King Cadwalader was the very last of the Welsh Kings, the last of the family of the great King Maelgwn. His father was Cadwallon, the Christian King of North Wales who led the Cymry, under his Red Dragon banner, in brave attempts to drive out the Northumbrians, during the seventh century. Cadwalader, too, was a great leader in his day, and came to be known as Cadivaledr Fendigaid, the Blessed. He suffered many trials and setbacks during his lifetime, but it is said that he was comforted by a prophecy that one of his seed would one day wear the croWn of England. Henry VII' was sure that he was the King of the prophecy. Y Ddraig Goch did not lie folded away, forgotten, when Cadwalader died in 681. It fluttered on through the centuries in the provinces of Powys and Gwynedd and South Wales, where the Welsh Princes held court, each with his teulu or household guard of a hundred or so horsemen. It fluttered over Gruffydd ap Cynan and his sons, Owain and Cadwaladr; it fluttered over Llewelyn the Great, who gave himself the title of Prince of Wales; It fluttered over Owain Glyn Dwr, as he tried again and again to unite the Cymry against the might of Henry IV.

When Henry VIH took over Hampton Court, to mark hik ownership he ordered his sculptors and stonemasons to set up on the paths, on the battlements, on the gables, and in the ponds, dozens of Royal beasts—animals from the badges and emblems of his ancestors. Among them, Y Ddraig Goch was very conspicuous, his head, back and wings richly painted in red, while the underparts were gold; he appeared in all manner of places round the palace and grounds. When the Queen was crowned in 1953, the idea of the beasts was revived, and 10 were chosen to guard the entrance to the Abbey annex. Huge and solid, they stood there, the crowned lion, <the greyhound, the yale, the white horse, the unicorn, the griffin, the bull, the falcon and—the Tudor dragon, holding the arms of Llewelyn the Great. Y Ddraig Goch was there. In 1953 Her Majesty announced that, “the existing red dragon badge, which was appointed as a Royal badge for Wales 150 years ago, should be honourably augmented by enclosing it in a scroll carrying the words: “Y Ddraig Goch Ddry Cychwyn,” in green lettering on a white background, and surmounting it a Royal CrownThat motto is a line from a poem written in the fifteenth century; it can be translated as “The Red Dragon gives the lead.” May It always do so.