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The
White Dragon is recorded as being the emblem carried by Hengest and Horsa as
they established the nation of England
out of lowland Britain. As such, it is the original and most
authentic emblem of the Anglo Saxon English people and one that is being
revived today.
An old
legend is said to have prophesised English victory over the Celtic Welsh in
the struggle for land. It tells of an
underground lake in which two dragons slept; one white (English) and one red
(Welsh). When they awoke, they started
fighting and the red dragon was overcome by the white one, symbolically
representing an English victory over the Welsh.
The
White dragon came to be particularly associated with the Kingdom of Wessex,
especially in the dark days of the Viking invasions when this remained the
only Kingdom under English control. It
was the emblem carried by King Alfred when he defeated the Danish armies at
the battle of Edington. It was the
emblem carried by King Athelstan when he defeated a combined army of Scots,
Welsh, Irish and Vikings at the battle of Brananburgh. It was also the emblem carried by King
Harold II when he defeated the Norwegians at the battle of Stamford
bridge and when catastrophe struck and he was in turn defeated by the Duke of
Normandy at Hastings.
The White Dragon flag is depicted on the Bayeux tapestry.
It is
still the emblem of Wessex,
but is in reality the emblem of the whole Anglo Saxon people. It is a symbol of our identity and history,
of our determination to survive and prosper in an increasingly strange and
changing world.
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