Wednesday, July 10, 2013

The origins of the Liondragon

A bit of SCA history from my local group. This particular segment talks about the origins of the liondragon heraldry, the identifying element of our group's fighting unit. While I won't quite compare it to the "eagle, globe and anchor", the there are some parallels to be had between them. Please, enjoy, share and if you know more on this subject, by all means, let me know. The point of the actual document is to collect information and include it in the narrative. 

(Citations for what I have are available upon request, if anyoneis that interested)

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The mythical “Liondragon” badge was actually born of an in-group joke. Several members of the shire had quipped that the group should register a “Draggin’ tail” because of how bad Mooneschadowe tended to procrastinate. The early efforts to move forward with the pun ran into some local resistance because of possible associations with Middle Kingdom, or Drachenwald. While the pun was eventually discarded for more serious imagery, the concept of a creature with a dragon’s tail persisted. Lord George Michael Edmundson, the herald at the time, discovered two previously registered badges called “winged lion-dragons”. George presented a wingless variant of the illustration to the group, dubbing it simply the “Liondragon”. The invocation (weather deliberate or coincidental is lost to history) of an kingdom icon (the lion) and a unique feature, (the dragon’s tail) went over well with the group and won popular support quickly. Ultimately Talen and his wife Treshen became the strongest advocates of a newly fashioned design. While not a historical design in itself, the combination of animals (even fictional ones) into mythical figures is a documentable practice in English heraldry. The Badge was submitted (fieldless, meaning it needed no background) to the college of arms, and registered in June of 1991. The actual purpose of the Liondragon figure was not decided upon for some time, though the general idea had been to use it as an overall Mooneschadowe badge. Gulf Wars V would mark its first use as a military uniform, and the subsequent years to follow would cement it in this roll. In over a decade of history since, this display has changed little, and has since proven to be one of the guard’s most identifiable features. 
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Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God save the King!"

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