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Notes and Queries, Number 177, March 19, 1853

Note 3 — Replies.

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Footnote 3:

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This supporter, and the crest, as also the supporter which I shall mention presently, attached to the respective 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 resembling 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.

Footnote 4:

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Mathraval, in the vale of Meifod, in Montgomeryshire, the palace of the sovereigns of Powys, erected by Rhodri Mawr, King of Wales:

"Where Warnway [Vwrnwy] rolls its waters underneath Ancient Mathraval's venerable walls, Cyveilioc's princely and paternal seat." Southey's Madoc.

Footnote 5:

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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 vechio."

Footnote 6:

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"His [Owen Glyndwr's] father's name was Gryffyd Vychan: his mother's, Elena, of royal blood, and from whom he afterwards claimed the throne of Wales. She was eldest daughter of Thomas ap Llewelyn ap Owen, by his wife Elinor Goch, or Elinor the Red, daughter and heiress to Catherine, one of the daughters of Llewelyn, last Prince of Wales, and wife to Philip ap Ivor of Iscoed."—A Tour in Wales [by Pennant]: Lond. 4to. 1778, p. 302.

Footnote 7:

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Of this celebrated antiquary, the author of British Antiquities Revived, and other valuable antiquarian works, the friend of Archbishop Ussher, Selden, Sir Simon d'Ewes, Sir John Vaughan, &c., it is observed in the Cambrian Register, "In genealogy he was so skilled, and his knowledge on that subject derived from such genuine sources, that Hengwrt became the Heralds' College of the Principality, and no pedigree was current until it had obtained his sanction."

His MSS. and library, formerly at Hengwrt, have been transferred to Rûg in Edeirnion, the present seat of his descendant, Sir Robert Vaughan of Nannau; and it may be confidently stated, that in variety, extent, rarity, and value, they surpass any existing collection, public or private, of documents relating to the Principality. Many of them are unique, and indispensable for the elucidation of Cambrian literature and antiquities; and their possessor, by entrusting, to some gentleman competent to the task, the privilege of preparing a catalogue raisonnée of them, would confer a public benefit which could not be too highly appreciated.

To the noble collections of Gloddaeth, Corsygedol, and Mostyn, now united at Mostyn, as also to that of Wynnstay, the same observation might be extended.

Footnote 8:

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The golden lion on a red field may have been displayed on the standard of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, but, from analogy to the arms assigned to the English monarchs of a corresponding period, it can, as armorial bearings, be only regarded, it is apprehended, as attributive. Of the armorial bearings of the English monarchs of the House of Normandy, if any were used by them, we are left totally without contemporary evidences. The arms of William the Conqueror, which have been for ages attributed to him and the two succeeding monarchs, are taken from the cornice of Queen Elizabeth's monument, in the north aisle of Henry VII.'s Chapel at Westminster. The arms assigned to Stephen are adopted on the authority of Nicholas Upton, in his treatise De Militari Officio, b. iv. p. 129., printed in 1654. For those of Henry II., there is no earlier authority than the cornice of Queen Elizabeth's monument, and it is on the second seal used by Richard I. after his return from captivity, that, for the first time, we find his shield distinctly adorned with the three lions passant guardant in pale, as they have been borne by subsequent English monarchs. (Willement's Regal Heraldry.)

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