Mae. 19. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



289 



attached to two documents deposited in the Hotel 

 Soubise, at Paris, in the Cartons I. 623. and I. 392., 

 relating, it is supposed, to the furnishing of troops 

 to the Welsh prince by Charles VI., king of France. 

 Casts of these seals were taken by the indefati- 

 gable Mr. Doubleday, to whom the Seal depart- 

 ment of the British Museum, over which he 

 presides, is so much indebted ; and impressions 

 were exhibited by Sir Henry Ellis at a meeting of 

 the Society of Antiquaries, on the 12th of Decem- 

 ber, 1833. Engravings of them, accompanied by 

 the following notice, were communicated by Sir 

 Henry to the Archeeologia, and will be found in 

 that publication, vol. xxv. plate Ixx. fig. 2, 3. page 

 616., and ibid. pp. 619, 620. : 



" The great seal has an obverse and reverse. On 

 the obverse Owen is represented, with a bifid beard, 

 very similar to Rich. II., seated under a canopy of 

 Gothic tracery : the half body of a wolf forming the 

 arms of Iiis chair on each side : the background is 

 ornamented with a mantle semee of lions, held up by 

 angels. At his feet are two lions. A sceptre is in his 

 right hand, but he has no crown. The inscription : 

 ' OwENus .... Princeps Wali.ie.' On the re- 

 verse of the great seal Owen is represented on horse- 

 back, in armour; in his right hand, which is extended, 

 he holds a sword, and with his left his shield, charged 

 with, Quarterly, four lions rampant ; a drapery, pro- 

 bably a kerchief de plesaunce, or handkerchief won at 

 a tournament, pendant from his right wrist. Lions 

 rampant also appear upon the mantle of the horse. On 

 his helmet, as well as on his horse's head, is the Welsh 

 dragon [passant]. The area of the seal is diapered 

 with roses. The inscription on this side seems to fill 

 the gap upon the obverse : ' Owenus Dei gratia 



. . . Wali-ie.' 



" The privy seal represents the four lions rampant 

 towards the spectator's left, on a shield, surmounted by 

 an open coronet [crown]: the dragon''' of Wales, as a 

 supporter, on the dexter side ; on the sinister, a lion. 

 The inscription seems to have been * Sigillum Oweni 

 Principis Walhe.' No impression of this seal is pro- 

 bably now to be found either in Wales or England. 

 Its workmanship shows that Owen Glyndwr possessed 

 a taste for art beyond the types of the seals of his pre- 

 decessors." 



The dragon is a favourite figure with Cambrian 

 bards ; and, not to multiply instances, the fol- 

 lowing lines may be cited from the poem of the 



* This supporter, and the crest, as also the supporter 

 which I shall mention presently, attached to the re- 

 spective shields of Arthur Prince of Wales, and of 

 Henry Prince of Wales, sons of Henry VII., is in 

 fact a Wyvern, having, like the dragon, a tail resem- 

 bling that of a snake, but differing from the dragon in 

 the omission of the two hind legs. The supporter in 

 respect of Wales, afterwards alluded to as assumed by 

 the English monarchs of the House of Tudor, was a 

 dragon strictly. 



'* Hirlas Horn," by Owen Cyfeilioc, Prince of 

 Powys Wenwynwyn, — 



" Mathraval's'" Lord, the Poet and the Prince," 

 father of Gwenwynwyn, Prince of Powys Wen- 

 wynwyn (the Gwenwen of Sir Walter Scott's 

 Betrothed)'. — 



" A dytwc i Rufut waywrutelyn 

 Gwin a gwydyr goleu yn ei gylchyn * 

 Dragon Arwystli arwystyl tervyn 

 Dragon Owein hael o hil Kynvyn •{• 

 Dragon iw dechren ac niw dychryn cat 

 Cyvlavan argrat cymyw erlyn." 



Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales: London, 

 1801, 8vo., vol. i. p. 265. 

 " And bear to Grufydd, the crimson-lanced foe, 

 Wine with pellucid glass around it ; 

 The Dragon of Arwstli, safeguard of the borders, 

 The Dragon of Owen, the generous of the race of 



Cynvyn, 

 A Dragon from his beginning, and never scared by a 



conflict 

 Of triumphant slaughter, or afflicting chase." 

 Gray, whose "Bard" indicates the inspiration 

 with which he had seized the poetry and tradi- 

 tions of the Cymri, thus refers to the red dragon 

 as the cognizance of the Welsh monarchs, in his 

 Triumphs of Owen [ap Griffith, Prince of North 

 Wales] : 



" Dauntless, on his native sands, 

 The Dragon, son of Mona, stands ; 

 In glittering arms and glory dress'd 

 High he rears his ruby crest." 

 The dragon and lion have been attributed to the 

 Welsh monarchs, as insignia, from an early period, 

 and the former is ascribed, traditionally, to the 

 great Cadwallader. 



In the Archeeologia, vol. xx. p. 579. plate xxix. 

 p. 578., are descriptions of engravings of the im : 

 pressions of two seals appendant to charters of 

 Edward, son of Edward IV., and Arthur, son 

 of Henry VII., as Princes of Wales, the ob- 

 verse of each bearing three lions in pale passant, 

 reguardant, having their tails between their legs, 

 reflected upon their backs, upon a shield sur- 



■* Mathraval, in the vale of Meifod, in Montgomery- 

 shire, the palace of the sovereigns of Powys, erected 

 by Rhodri Mawr, King of Wales : 

 " Where "Warnway [Vwrnwy] rolls its waters under- 

 neath 

 Ancient Mathraval's venerable walls, 

 Cyveilioc's princely and paternal seat." 



Southey's Madoc. 



f Cynfyn, father of Bleddyn, King of Powys, by 

 his consort Angharad, Queen of Powys, derived from 

 Mervyn, King of Powys, third son of Rhodri Mawr 

 (the Great), King of all Wales, progenitor of the three 

 Dynasties of North Wales, South Wales, and Powys : 



" chi fu di noi 



E de' nostri avi illustri il ceppo vechlo." 



