| The White Dragon Flag of the English
The years around 450 AD witnessed the landing, in what was then Celtic
Britain, of the first Anglo-Saxon war bands who were to go on and lay the
foundation stones of what was to become the English Nation. Two of these warrior
traders, Hengest and Horsa, together with their Saxon, Angle and Jutish
followers are traditionally regarded as the founders of England. From the coast
they gradually pushed inland up the rivers with small squadrons of ships whose
crews became the founders of new communities as they advanced from East to West
through Celtic Britain. During the next four centuries, the Saxon, Angle and Juttish settlers together with the northern Vikings, would become known
collectively as the English. History records that the White Dragon was their
emblem.
Various accounts of the times record many battles between armies carrying the
Celtic British Red Dragon Banner (now the Welsh Dragon) and the white dragon
flag of the early English. Legend has it that the defeat of their Celtic enemies
by the early English was foretold in a prophecy. It goes that in an underground
lake slept two dragons. The Britons were represented by a red dragon and the
English by a white dragon. When they awoke they started fighting and the red
dragon was overcome by the white one, symbolically representing the victory of
the Anglo-Saxons over their Celtic adversaries.
The White Dragon was, and still is, the emblem of Wessex, the territory of the
West Saxons. It is the banner under which King Alfred the Great defeated the
great Viking Army at the Battle of Edington and it was the banner carried by the
mighty King Athelstan when he smashed the combined armies of the Scots, Welsh,
Norse and Irish at the Battle of Brananburgh in 937. The White Dragon was flown
by Harold II, when he destroyed the Norse army at the Battle of Stamford Bridge
in 1066 and it was the banner under which he and his warriors fought to the
death, three weeks later protecting their homeland from invasion. The White
Dragon flag of the English is shown on the battle scene of the tapestry sewn by
Englishwomen to commemorate the battle. It is also seen displayed on the same
tapestry featuring a scene at Westminster Abbey during the crowning ceremony for
the usurper, William the Bastard.
Moves are now under way to once again raise the White Dragon flag, not as the
flag of England, but as the flag of the ethnic-English community within England.
We need to see our banner flown as a signal to everyone else that although we
may well have been forgotten about by our beloved leaders we most certainly have
not gone away and we are once again finding our voice.
In a world with few certainties this flag tells us who we are and from where we
have come. It imparts a sense of permanence and continuity. It is a symbol of
our identity, our common history, tradition and of the kinship of all the
Anglo-Saxon people. It is also a stark reminder that in multi-cultural England
unless we embrace these things then we will surely die.
Look for the sign of the White Dragon and you will find a friend
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