Editing Cadwaladr (section)

== Cadwaladr and the Wars of the Roses ==
[[File:Coat of Arms of Henry VII of England (1485-1509).svg|thumb|upright=1.2|Henry VII's coat of arms, incorporating the "Red Dragon of Cadwallader"]]

During the [[Wars of the Roses]] the prophecies connected to Cadwaladr were used by various contenders as part of their claim to the throne. This was linked to the story of the struggle between the Red Dragon and the [[White dragon|White Dragon]], part of the myth of [[Merlin]], interpreted as warring Celtic and Saxon peoples. [[Edward IV of England|Edward IV]] claimed to be restoring the authentic ancient lineage of Cadwaladr, thus fulfilling Merlin's prophecy of the victory of the Red Dragon. His chancellor gave a sermon asserting that "the British line, which perished with Cadwallader's exile in 689 was restored by the arrival of Edward the king prophesied by Merlin and others."<ref>Hughes, Jonathan; "Politics and the occult at the Court of Edward IV", ''Princes and Princely Culture: 1450–1650'', Brill, 2005, p. 112–113.</ref>

The [[House of Tudor|Tudors]] also claimed descent from Cadwaladr to legitimize their authority over Britain as a whole. [[Owen Tudor]] claimed descent from Cadwaladr and used a red dragon badge. When [[Henry VII of England|Henry Tudor]] landed in Wales in 1485, he adopted the Red Dragon flag and claimed to be returning in fulfilment of the prophesies of Merlin as recorded by Geoffrey of Monmouth. After his victory at the [[Battle of Bosworth Field]] Henry was greeted at the gates of Worcester with a poem asserting:
<poem>
:Cadwallader's blood lineally descending,
:Long hath be told of such a prince coming.
:Wherefore friends, if that I shall not lie,
:This same is the fulfiller of the prophesy.<ref>Dobin, Howard, ''Merlin's Disciples: Prophecy, Poetry, and Power in Renaissance England'', Stanford University Press, 1990, p.51.</ref>
</poem>
 
The [[Welsh Dragon]] (Red Dragon) came to be known as the "Red Dragon of Cadwallader" and used as Henry's personal emblem. Tudor historian [[Thomas Gardiner (monk)|Thomas Gardiner]] created a [[genealogical roll]] that gave Henry's son, [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]], a pedigree showing his descent from Cadwaladr, referred to as "the laste kynge of that blode from whome by trew and lynyall descensse" the Tudors descended.<ref name = "woo">D.R. Woolf; "The power of the past: history, ritual and political authority in Tudor England", in Paul A. Fideler, ''Political Thought and the Tudor Commonwealth: Deep Structure, Discourse and Disguise'', New York, 1992, pp. 21–22.</ref>