Battle of Bosworth Field


The red dragon against a green and white background is an unambiguous symbol of Wales. But how Welsh are these colours and how ancient is the design? I had always assumed that the Welsh Flag was an ancient design. The green and white stripes have a suitably Celtic feel and are completely alien to the vexillological tradition across the rest of the British Isles. England, Scotland, […]

The Red Dragon and the House of Tudor


In Thomas Penn’s ‘The Winter King’, Henry VII is depicted as neurotically protecting his precarious grasp on the English throne. On page 20, Penn describes the security measures the new monarch puts in place: “One of his first acts was to create a new French-style security force, three hundred strong: the yeoman of the guard.” The Yeoman of the Guard? French? This was enough to pique […]

A “French-style security force” – the origin of the yeomen of the ...