Inner Temple.
March 7, 1853.
[Footnote 3: 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: 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: 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: "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: 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: 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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