In a MS. (for reference to which I am indebted to the courtesy of Sir Frederick Madden), which was recently sold at Sotheby's, containing translations by Johannes Boerius, presented to Henry, Prince of Wales, son of Henry VII., about 1505, there is a beautiful illumination containing the arms of that prince: Quarterly France and England, with the red dragon as the dexter, and the greyhound of the House of York as the sinister, supporter.
"The red fierye dragō beeten upō white and greene sarcenet" was the charge of a standard offered by Henry VII. at St. Paul's, on his entry into London after his victory at Bosworth Field; and this standard was represented on the corner of his tomb, held by an angel (Willement's Regal Heraldry, 4to., London, 1821, p. 57.). The red dragon rampant was assumed as a supporter by Henry VII. in indication of his Welsh descent, and was borne as a supporter, either on the dexter or sinister side of the shield, by all the other English monarchs of the House of Tudor, with the exception of Queen Mary, who substituted for it an eagle: and among the badges attributed to our present sovereign is, in respect of Wales, "a dragon passant, wings elevated gu., upon a mount vert."
It may be assumed, with little doubt, that the colour of the dragon borne by Owen Glyndwr was rouge; and although the colour of the other supporter of his shield, the lion, is not susceptible of such positive inference, it may be conjectured to have been sable, the colour of the lion, the principal charge on his hereditary shield.
To Mr. Woodward's immediate Query as to the blazon—colour of the field and charges—of the arms on these seals, I can afford no direct answer, never having met with any trace of these arms in the extensive collections of Welsh MSS. to which I have had access. These ensigns may have been adopted by Owen as arms of dominion (as those of Ireland by the English sovereigns) on his assumption of the principality of Wales, a suggestion countenanced, if not established, by four lions quarterly ("Quarterly gules and or, four lions rampant, counterchanged") being assigned to Griffith ap Llewelyn (killed April, 28 Hen. III., 1244, in attempting to escape from the Tower), eldest son of Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, prince of Wales (dead 31st November, 25 Hen. III., 1240), father of the ill-fated and gallant Llewelyn ap Griffith, last sovereign of Wales, slain at Builth, December 10, 8 Ed. I., 1282. Further confirmation is, perhaps, afforded to this suggestion by Owen having, it is understood, vindicated his assumption of the Cambrian throne as heir of the three sovereign dynasties of North Wales, South Wales, and Powys respectively,—of the last, as male representative, through the Lords of Bromfield, of Madoc ap Meredith, the last monarch of that principality; and of the two former as their heir-general, in respect of his mother, Elenor, sister of Owen (ap Thomas ap Llewelyn), Lord, with his paternal uncle, Owen ap Llewelyn ap Owen, of the comot [hundred] of Iscoed, September 20, 1344, Representative paternally of the sovereigns of South Wales, and, by female descent, of those of North Wales[[6]], through Griffith ap Llewelyn above named.
The hereditary arms of Owen's paternal line, the Lords of Glyndwrdwy, are those of his ancestor, Griffith Maelor ap Madoc, of Dinas Bran, Lord of Bromfield, Yale, Chirk, Glyndwrdwy, &c., who died A.D. 1191, viz. "Paly of eight argent and gules, over all a lion rampant sable," thus differenced, apparently, from "The Black Lion of Powys" (Argent a lion rampant sable), the royal ensigns of his father, Madoc ap Meredith, last sovereign Prince of Powys, who died at Winchester in 1160. I am unable to refer to any seal of the Lords of Glyndwrdwy, or of the Lords of Bromfield, bearing the family arms of their line; but they are thus given invariably by the Cambrian heralds, and, so far, are susceptible of proof by the most authentic MS. authorities of the Principality. It is, however, remarkable, that the Heraldic Visitations of Wales of Lewis Dwnn, appointed in 1580 Deputy-Herald for all Wales, by Robert Cook Clarenceux, and William Flower Norroy King-at Arms, published in 1846 by the Welsh MSS. Society, contain no pedigree of the house of Glyndwrdwy. Of the descendants, if any, of Owen Glyndwr himself, beyond his children, I am not aware that there is any authentic pedigree, or other satisfactory proof; and there seems to be presumptive evidence that in 12 Henry VI., 1433—a period so recent as nineteen years from the last date, 19th February, 1 Henry V., 1414, on which Owen is ascertained to have been alive (Rymer's Fœdera, ix. p. 330.),—his issue was limited to a daughter and heir,
Alice, wife of Sir John Scudamore, Knt., described in a petition of John, Earl of Somerset, to whom Owen's domains, on his attainder, had been granted by his brother, Henry IV., as
"Un John Skydmore, Chivaler, et Alice sa femme, pretendantz la dite Alice etre file et heir au dit Owyn (Glyndwr)."—Rot. Parl. 12 Hen. VI.
I have not found evidence to show that there were any children of Alice's marriage with Scudamore; and, assuming the failure of her issue, and also the extinction of Owen's other offspring, the representation of the three dynasties—
". . . . . . . the long line
Of our old royalty"—