Flag of wales

Flag of wales
Vexillological symbol :	?
Aspect ratio:	3: 5
Officially accepted:	1959

On the flag of Wales a red dragon (English The Red Dragon; Welsh Y Ddraig Goch, / ə ˈðraig ˈgoːx /) can be seen on a green and white field. The exact shape of the kite is not standardized, so there are several variants.

symbolism

The two dragons.
Illustration (15th century) to Geoffrey's Historia Regum Britanniae .

There are many legends about the Welsh dragon. Medieval chroniclers pass on the legend of a red and a white dragon who fought against each other in a cave under a mountain in Wales and repeatedly let the tower collapse against the Anglo-Saxons that King Vortigern tried to build there. A "fatherless child", who was originally supposed to bring about the desired success as a human sacrifice, explained the real reason to the king and interpreted the battle of the two dragons as the battle between the British and Anglo-Saxons. The boy said the red dragon, which was weaker at the beginning but won in the end, stood for the Celts.

According to the Historia Brittonum (9th century), the child is Ambrosius, whose father was "one of the consuls of the Roman family" . This Ambrose received the tower and the kingdoms in the area. Associations with the historically not fully comprehensible warlord Ambrosius Aurelianus emerge here . The Historia Regum Britanniae by Geoffrey von Monmouth (12th century) and with it the old French novel de Brut des Wace identify the boy, about whom an almost identical story is told, with the otherwise well-known Merlin . It is interesting in this context that in most of the traditional versions of the manuscript, Wace omits the prophetic interpretation of the dragon fight and only mentions the prophecies that are apparently presumed to be known. “I don't want to translate his book / because I can't interpret it; / I don't want to say anything / in case it won't be as I say. "

The fact that this legend refers to a place in Wales and the contrast between "Anglo-Saxons" and Celts in Wales, which was conquered quite late, is still reflected on a linguistic level today, may explain why the dragon symbol was chosen for the flag. The motto of Wales, “Y Ddraig Goch ddyry cychwyn” (/ ə ˈðraig ˈgoːx ˈðɘri ˈkɘxwɪn /; German “The red dragon goes ahead”), contains a similar, albeit less warlike, symbolism.

history

In 1807 the red dragon became the national flag of Wales, and in 1959 in its present form. But it has been the symbol of Wales for centuries . Some historians believe that the flag of Wales is the oldest national flag still in use in the world, along with the flag of Scotland . The origin of the dragon symbol is unclear. One plausible theory is that the Romans brought the symbol to Wales during their occupation, but it could be even older. The green and white stripes go back to the Welsh royal family Tudor , who ruled England from 1485 to 1603 . The oldest recorded use of the red dragon as a symbol of Wales dates back to 820.

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  ^? 1807-1953

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  ^? 1953-1959

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  since 1959

See also

• Wales coat of arms

Web links

Commons : Flag of Wales  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• FOTW : Flag of Wales

Individual evidence

1. ↑ unus est pater meus de consulibus Romanicae gentis Historia Brittonum , chap. 42.
2. ↑ Ne vuil son livre translater / Quant jo nel sai interpreter; / Nule rien dire nen vuldreie / Que si ne fust cum jo dirreie. - Judith Weiss, Wace's Roman de Brut. A History of the British. Text and Translation , Exeter 1999/2002, vv 1539–1542, pp. 190/191, translated using the English translation given in the above book.