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THE DRAGON AND ITS RELATIVES

Introduction

The myth of the dragon is known throughout the world, and it, or more usually variants of it, play a significant part in the lore and subsequently in the heraldry of Western Europe. The names are often interchangeable. The beast known as the dragon takes many forms, and early heralds drew it in different ways. Later, a number of these forms developed into the heraldic beasts, so beloved of students of heraldry. The concept of the dragon is not complicated: although there are many forms, the differences are sophisticated, and the root of the myth is simply that of the unknown, unexplained monster of awe, inspiring attributes and abilities. Here, the theme ranges beyond the heraldic to look at other aspects of the dragon in Europe, although it in no way exhausts the subject. In European folklore, dragons are serpent like creatures, usually with wings and fiery breath which live underground in lairs, often guarding treasure in a lake or fountain. The dragon is sometimes seen as an evil creature which only a hero can kill. Most of the legends of dragons in the Middle Ages come from Norse and Germanic mythology, of which some of the most noteworthy are Níðhöggrr, who gnawed at the roots of Yggdrasill, the world tree; Jörmungandr,the giant sea serpent, which Odin threw into the sea surrounding Miðgarð,the world of mortal men,and which grew so large it encircled the world and could grasp its own tail, recalling the myth of Ouroboros; Fafnirr, who had turned into a dragon in order better to guard his gold, and was killed by Siegfried; and the dragon of Beowulf.

The different forms

dragon first appears in English in about 1220, from Old French dragon, itself from Greek emδρακόν, drakon, serpent, seafish, with the original rootdrak-, the stem of the verb to see clearly, by way of Latin draco, draconem, serpent. Perhaps the best literal translation of the earliest word is the one with the deadly glance. Already, the sense of the monster who kills with a look is introduced. The obsolete form drake is an older borrowing of the same word.

     British Library, Harley MS3244, f59r

griffin arrives in English in about 1200, from Old French grifon, a bird of prey. From Late Latin gryphus, from Greek γρύψ, gryps, curved, hook-nosed, in reference to its beak, with the meaning of a fabulous bird of Greek mythology, believed to inhabit Scythia and guard its gold, another attribute of the dragon. It has the head and wings of an eagle, and the body and hind quarters of a lion. As the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle was the king of the birds, the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature. Infrequently, a griffin is portrayed without wings; in 15th-century and later heraldry such a beast was called an alce or a keythong, although it is unlikely that such a beast was ever blazoned. In heraldry, a griffin always has forelegs like an eagle's hind legs.

cockatrice, late 14th century, from Old French cocatris, altered by influence of coq, because of its form from Latin calcare, to tread. Latin calx is the heel. The origin is a translation of Greek ἰχνεύμων, ikhneumon, a tracker, defining an Egyptian animal who was the mortal enemy of the crocodile, which it tracked down and killed. This sense became lost, and in England the word was eventually applied to the equivalent of the basilisk. This last was a serpent hatched from a cock's egg, able to kill by its glance and its breath. This attribute also is part of the dragon myth. The basilisk could be killed only by tricking it into seeing its own reflection, which recalls the story of Medusa and her hair of serpents. Cockatrice is used several times in the bible to translate snake or serpent.

hydra, late 14th century, a many-headed Lernaean water serpent slain by Hercules, from Greek Ύδρα, hydra, a water serpent.

    

The dragon often lives in or near water.

lindworms are monstrous serpents of Germanic myth and lore, often interchangeable with dragons. The derivation of the name may be presumed to be derived from the linden or lime tree, since it was reputed to hide there, although it is also known as the lingworm, from the Old Norse lyngormr, the heather worm. In practice, there is little difference between these, and other monsters, such as the wyvern, dragon, cockatrice and others. The animal is said to have had a particular affinity with gold.

Lindworms were supposedly very large and ate cattle and bodies, sometimes invading churchyards and eating the dead from cemeteries. Ancient Europeans believed that Lindworms symbolized war and pestilence. The creature is also called a Lindworm snake. Marco Polo reported seeing Lindworms on the steppes of Central Asia. In the Swedish folktale tale of Prince Lindworm, a queen gives birth to twins, one a lindworm, and a normal boy. The lindworm insists that a bride be found for him before his younger brother can marry. He eats each new bride they bring him, until he is defeated by a shepherd's daughter.

ouroboros, Greek Ουροβόρος, a snake devouring its tail. An ancient symbol of a serpent or dragon swallowing its own tail and forming a circle.

In the Middle Ages, in Norse mythology, it appears as the serpent Jörmungandr, one of the three children of Loki and Angrboda, who grew so large that it could encircle the world and grasp its tail in its teeth. In the legends of Ragnar Lodbrokk, such as Ragnarssona þáttr, the Geatish king Herraud gives a small lindworm as a gift to his daughter, Þóra Town-Hart, after which it grows into a large serpent which encircles the girl's bower and bites itself in the tail. The serpent is slain by Ragnar Lodbrok, who marries Þóra. Ragnar later has a son with another woman named Kráka, and this son is born with the image of a white snake in one eye. This snake encircled the iris and bit itself in the tail, and the son was named Sigurd Snake in the Eye.

vouivre, guivre, a mythical creature similar to a dragon. In legend they were portrayed as serpentine creatures who possessed venomous breath and prowled the countryside of Medieval France. The words guivre, wurm, wyvern, and givre are variations of the more common word vouivre. All these forms are derived ultimately from Latin vīpera, as is the English viper. Guivres were said to possess a long, serpentine body and a dragon's head, and in some accounts had horns in its forehead.

The text below the illustration reads "la wiuvre qui tue l"omme vestut et a poour de l'omme nu", "the vouivre which kills the man who is clothed and is afraid of the man who is naked".

In France it was known as an extremely aggressive creature that would sometimes attack without being provoked. They were afraid of naked humans, and when saw them, blushed and looked away. They often lived in pools and lakes, forests, and any damp place. The heraldic vouivre usually shows a snake undulant in pale devouring a child. It appears in the arms of Milano, Italy, and was the symbol of the ruling family of Visconti. There are two stories concerning its derivation: one is that Ottone Visconti, fighting in the Crusade in 1187, took the emblem from a captured Saracen standard; the other states that another Visconti, in about 1200, killed a serpent or dragon which was terrorising the region around Milano. The local symbol is known as biscione, or bissa, which is the local patois word for viper.

escarboucle, known as the single eye. Many vouivres bore a precious red stone which was set into the forehead. It was often reputed to be removed while the animal was bathing or fishing, and was hidden in reeds, where a brave man might steal it. There has always been a fascination for this jewel, which is akin to the ruby. It is known in English heraldry as the escarbuncle. In medicince, the carbuncle, or boil, is so called because of its colour. In the Middle Ages, almost all red gemstones were known as escarbuncles. Usually, these were forms of the ruby or garnet.

The arms of Navarre are a celebrated example of the use of the heraldic escarbuncle. Normally the escarbuncle is depicted as a red stone set in the middle of four symmetrically arranged batons, each of which has a fleur de lis at both ends. Often, the stone itself is not present or is of a different colour.The escarbuncle of Navarre has become chains, because of the legend of Sancho VII el Fuerte, who defeated the Almohad Moors in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, 1212 in northern Andalusia. It is said that he cut the defensive chains around the camp, and subsequently placed them in his arms.

wyvern makes its appearance in English as late as 1610, although Middle English has wyver from about 1300. The word is derived from Anglo-Norman wivre, itself from Old French guivre, snake, originally from Latin vipera, viper, snake. The sound changes involving g, gw, and v form an important development in French. In heraldry, the wyvern is a winged dragon with eagle's feet and a serpent's barbed tail. The terms Vouivre, Guivre, are synonymous with worm, Old English wurm, variant of wyrm, meaning serpent or dragon, cognate with Latin vermis, worm.

A vouivre attacked by angels, Liber Floridus, 1448

The attributes of the dragon

Many European stories of dragons depict them guarding a treasure hoard. The dragons of both Fafnir and Beowulf were guardians of earthen mounds full of ancient treasure. The treasure was cursed and brought ill to those who later possessed it. Although dragons are most often thought of as being associated with fire, in medieval legend the creatures were often linked with water, guarding springs or living near or under water. A standard vision of the dragon is that it terrorises a community, hunting victims whom it eats, or demanding tribute, usually in the form of local maidens, and is eventually overcome by a courageous man. Also associated with the beast is the belief that it can kill with a look or with a blast of its, often fiery, breath.

Some stories not recounted above

Britain

The dragon is now more commonly associated with Wales, whose national flag bears a red dragon, Y Ddraig Goch. This may originate in Arthurian Legend, where Myrddin, employed by Gwrtheyrn, had a vision of the red dragon, representing the Britons, and the white dragon, representing the invading Saxons, fighting beneath Dinas Emrys The red dragon was linked with the Britons who are today represented by the Welsh, and it is believed that the white dragon refers to the Saxons who invaded Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries. This particular legend also features in the Mabinogion, in the story of Llud and Llefelys.

Beowulf is an anonymous epic poem, written in Old English, about 1100.The main protagonist, Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hroðgar, the king of the Danes, whose great hall, Heorot, is plagued by the monster Grendel. Beowulf kills both Grendel and Grendel's mother, the latter with a magical sword. Strangely, although it may be inferred that the monster is a dragon of some sort, it is not described. Later in his life, Beowulf is himself king of the Geats, and finds his realm terrorized by a dragon, so named, whose treasure had been stolen from his hoard in a burial mound. He attacks the dragon with the help of his companions, but they do not succeed. Beowulf decides to follow the dragon into its lair, at Earnanæs, but only his young Swedish relative Wiglaf dares join him. Beowulf finally slays the dragon, but is mortally wounded. He is buried in a tumulus by the sea.

Spain

Aragón

A dragon which could kill by looking at its victim, lived in the the Peña Uruel mountain near Jaca. A young man took a highly polished shield to its lair, where it looked at its own reflection, thus making it easy to kill. The story is very similar to that of Perseus and Medusa. Peter IV of Aragón used a dragon on his helmet as a rebus, to show that he was the king of Aragón, Rei de Aragón, which suggests the dragon king.

Asturias

The Cuélebre, or Culebre, was a giant winged serpent, which lived in a cave, guarding treasure.  As it grew older, its scales became thick and impenetrable. Before its death, it was forced to leave Asturias and fly to the Mar Cuajada, a paradise located beyond the sea, recalling the isle of Avalon. Normally, it stayed in its lair, coming out only to kill and eat people and cattle. One way to kill it was to offer it meal of a red-hot stone or a loaf of bread full of pins. Its spit it is said to turn into a magic stone which heals many diseases. On Midsummer night, the powers of the cuélebre fail, and it was possible to kill it, retrieve the treasure, and rescue the xana which it kept prisoner. The xana was a beautiful nymph who lived in fountains, rivers, or waterfalls. She was slender with long hair, which she tended with gold or silver combs woven from sun or moonbeams. Xanas could not suckle their children, and they would take a human baby from his cradle and substitute their own fairy child as a changeling. The word Cuélebre is cognate with Modern French couleuvre, grass snake, from Latin colubra. The idea of the spit forming a precious stone is similar to the story of the carbuncle on the head of the basilisk.

Cataluña

Dragons are well-known in Catalán myths and legends, and Saint George, Catalán Sant Jordi, is the patron saint. The drac is depicted as an enormous serpent with two, or rarely, four legs, and sometimes with a pair of wings. In common with other dragons, the drac breathes fire, which consumes everything. It can also emit a fetid odor, which rots anything it touches. The víbria or vibra, cognate with English viper and wyvern, is a female dragon with two prominent breasts, two claws and an eagle's beak, which is very similar to the harpy, a beast with a woman's face and breasts, and the body of a vulture. The harpy is mostly found in German heraldry, where it is known as Jungfraunadler.

Vizcaya

Herensuge is the name given to the dragon in Basque mythology, meaning apparently the last serpent. The best known legend has Saint Michael descending from Heaven to kill it. Sugaar, the Basque male god, is often associated with the serpent or dragon but able to take other forms as well. His name can be read as male serpent.

Italy

The legend of Saint George and the dragon is well-known in Italy, but other Saints are depicted fighting a dragon. The first bishop of Forlì, Saint Mercurialis, was said to have killed a dragon and saved the city, and the first patron saint of Venice, Saint Theodore of Tyro, was also a dragon-slayer. A statue representing this feat still tops one of the two columns in Saint Mark's square. Saint Michael, the patron saint of paratroopers, is also frequently depicted slaying a dragon. In Terni in the Middle Ages,Thyrus, a wyvern that terrorised the inhabitants, was killed by a young knight. The town is said to have assumed the creature in its coat of arms in recognition of that feat.

Germany

The Teutonic and Scandinavian myths are often the same, with elements appearing in both cultures.

There are several examples of the Drache in German civic heraldry, one of which is

The drachenstein, or firedrake, was a fire breathing dragon in Teutonic mythology, known as the guardian of a treasure and as the abductor or guardian of maidens. The ubiquity of the image of the dragon can be seen in this ship's badge.

France

The Drac was a medieval monster associated with Beaucaire in the Gard. The story is that in 1250 he abducted a lavender seller and took her beneath the waters to raise his son. When she was released at the end of seven years, the young woman was endowed with the ability to recognise the Drac with one of her eyes. One day, she recognised him as he was going about the market in Beaucaire. Upon being identified, the Drac ripped the woman's eye out. The Drac was then supposed to have gone on to kill over three thousand people. The legend was perpetuated by Frédéric Mistral in his Poèmes du Rhône, in which he tells of a hybrid monster, dwelling in the river and coming out from time to time to feed on lavender-sellers, ferrymen or others who strayed to close to the water's edge.

The Tarasque is the emblem of Tarascon, in the Bouches-du-Rhône. The legend of this ancient creature, as described in 12th-century writings, was of a half-serpent half-lion monster from Gallicia, the offspring of the ancient-world serpents, Leviathan and Onacho. The Tarasque terrorised the region, breathing flames, destroying houses, and killing the people. The dragon destroyed the bridges and then devoured anyone who tried to cross. Many, including the King of Nerluc, the ancient name of Tarascon, fought the Tarasque, and perished. The city was saved by Martha, Saint Martha of Bethany, who was born sometime in the 1st century to a Syrian duke named Syro and his wife, Encharia of Magdalene, in Bethany, near Jerusalem. She is reputed to have lived with her brother, Lazarus and her sister, Mary Magdalene. Following the crucifixion, Martha, Lazarus, Mary Magdalene, and others were cast adrift in a small boat. They eventually landed safely at Marseille where Martha became a missionary, She was in Nerluc, one market day, when she heard about the dragon. The townspeople challenged her to prove the strength of her religion by subduing the dragon. Martha set out, bare-foot, to find the dragon, with no other weapon other than a jar of holy water, and with the whole town following her. At the dragon's lair, Martha held up two sticks as a cross and stopped the dragon as if pierced by a sword. She sprinkled holy water on it to quench its fire, then used his sharp tooth to cut off her braids and make a bridle to lead the Tarasque back to town. The people, still terrified by the monster, attacked it and killed it with a shower of stones. The citizens errected a new church in honor of Saint Martha and changed the name of the town from Nerluc to Tarascon.

Arms bearing the dragon, from different countries