Editing Mercia (section)

== Symbolism and attributed heraldry ==
{{anchor|Flag of Mercia}}
[[Image:Flag of Mercia (2014).svg|250px|right|thumb|[[Saint Alban's Cross|Cross of St Alban]]]]
[[File:UK COA St Albans.png|137px|right|thumb|Arms of [[St Albans]] City Council]]

There is no authentic indigenous Mercian heraldic device, as [[heraldry]] did not develop in any recognizable form until the [[High Middle Ages]].<ref>{{harvp|Fox-Davies|1909|pp=1–18}}</ref>

The [[saltire]] as a symbol of Mercia may have been in use since the time of [[Offa|King Offa]].<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-12991778 | publisher=BBC News | title=Photo-gallery: Saxon trail across Mercian Staffordshire | date=7 April 2011}}</ref> By the 13th century, the saltire had become the [[attributed arms]] of the Kingdom of Mercia.<ref>College of Arms Ms. L.14, dating from the reign of [[Henry III of England|Henry III]]</ref> The [[coat of arms|arms]] are [[blazon]]ed ''Azure, a saltire Or'', meaning a gold (or yellow) saltire on a blue field. The arms were subsequently used by the [[St Albans Cathedral|Abbey of St Albans]], founded by King Offa of Mercia. With the dissolution of the Abbey and the incorporation of the borough of [[St Albans]] the device was used on the town's corporate seal and was officially recorded as the arms of the town at an [[heraldic visitation]] in 1634.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.civicheraldry.co.uk/herts.html |title=Civic heraldry of England and Wales – Hertdordshire |publisher=civicheraldry.co.uk |access-date=15 January 2008 |archive-date=16 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016085818/http://www.civicheraldry.co.uk/herts.html |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The saltire is used as both a flag and a coat of arms. As a flag, it is flown from [[Tamworth Castle]], the ancient seat of the Mercian Kings, to this day.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> 
[[File:Mercia flag.jpg|alt=Mercia flag created by community groups hung over the motte of Tamworth castle to celebrate Athelstan 1100|250px|right|thumb|Giant Mercia flag on Tamworth castle created by community groups in 2024]]

The flag also appears on street signs welcoming people to [[Tamworth, Staffordshire|Tamworth]], the "ancient capital of Mercia". It was also flown outside [[Council House, Birmingham|Birmingham Council House]] during 2009 while the [[Staffordshire Hoard]] was on display in the city before being taken to the [[British Museum]] in London. The cross has been incorporated into a number of [[coat of arms|coats of arms]] of Mercian towns, including [[Tamworth, Staffordshire|Tamworth]], [[Leek, Staffordshire|Leek]] and [[Blaby]]. It was recognised as the Mercian flag by the [[Flag Institute]] in 2014.<ref>[https://www.flaginstitute.org/wp/flags/mercia/ Flag Institute: Mercia, St Alban's Cross].</ref>

The silver double-headed eagle surmounted by a golden three-pronged Saxon crown has been used by several units of the [[British Army]] as a heraldic device for Mercia since 1958, including the [[Mercian Regiment]]. It is derived from the [[attributed arms]] of [[Leofric, Earl of Mercia]] in the 11th century.<ref>A.L. Kipling and H.L. King, ''Head-dress Badges of the British Army'', Vol. 2, reprinted, Uckfield, 2006</ref> Leofric is sometimes attributed a black, single-headed eagle instead.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ngw.nl/int/gbr/c/coventry.htm |title=Heraldry of the world - Coventry |publisher=ngw.nl |access-date=17 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080628051751/http://www.ngw.nl/int/gbr/c/coventry.htm|archive-date=28 June 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[wyvern]], a type of [[European dragon|dragon]], came to have a strong association with Mercia in the 19th century. The [[Midland Railway]], which used a white (silver) wyvern ''sans legs'' (legless) as its crest, having inherited it from the [[Leicester and Swannington Railway]], asserted that the "wyvern was the standard of the Kingdom of Mercia", and that it was "a quartering in the town arms of Leicester".<ref>Geoffrey Briggs, ''Civic & Corporate Heraldry'', London 1971<br />C. W. Scot-Giles, ''Civic Heraldry of England and Wales'', 2nd edition, London, 1953<br />A. C. Fox-Davies, ''The Book of Public Arms'', London 1915<br />Cuthbert Hamilton Ellis, ''The Midland Railway'', 1953<br />Frederick Smeeton Williams, ''The Midland Railway: Its rise and progress: A narrative of modern enterprise'', 1876<br />''The Railway Magazine'', Vol. 102, 1897<br />{{harvp|Dow|1973}}{{pages needed|date=September 2019}}<br />Clement Edwin Stretton, ''History of The Midland Railway'', 1901</ref> The symbol appeared on numerous stations and other company buildings in the region, and was worn as a silver badge by all uniformed employees. However, in 1897 the ''Railway Magazine'' noted that there appeared "to be no foundation that the wyvern was associated with the Kingdom of Mercia".<ref>''The Railway Magazine'', Vol. 102, 1897</ref> It has been associated with [[Leicester]] since the time of [[Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster|Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster and Leicester]] (c. 1278–1322), the most powerful lord in the Midlands, who used it as his personal crest, and was recorded in a heraldic visitation of the town in 1619.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.thiswasleicestershire.co.uk/2012/09/what-is-origin-of-leicester-wyvern.html |title=Leicestershire History: What is the Origin of the Leicester Wyvern? |access-date=12 June 2019 |archive-date=26 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190826100948/http://www.thiswasleicestershire.co.uk/2012/09/what-is-origin-of-leicester-wyvern.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In [[Bram Stoker]]'s 1911 novel ''[[The Lair of the White Worm]]'', explicitly set in Mercia (see above), the Mercian white wyvern ''sans legs'' of the Midland Railway was transformed into a monstrous beast, the eponymous worm of the title. The word "worm" is derived from [[Old English]] ''wyrm'' and originally referred to a dragon or serpent. "Wyvern" derives from [[Old Saxon]] ''wivere'', also meaning serpent, and is etymologically related to [[Viperidae|viper]].<ref>[https://lccn.loc.gov/13026102 "The lair of the white worm"] (1st ed). LC Online Catalog. [[Library of Congress]] (loc.gov). Retrieved 2016-09-16.</ref>

The ultimate source for the symbolism of white dragons in England would appear to be [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]]'s fictional work, ''The History of the Kings of Britain'' (c. 1136), which recounts an incident in the life of Merlin where a red dragon is seen fighting a white dragon and prevailing. The red dragon was taken to represent the Welsh and their eventual victory over the Anglo-Saxon invaders, symbolised by the white dragon.<ref>{{cite book |author=Geoffrey of Monmouth |title=The History of the Kings of Britain |publisher=Penguin |year=1973 |isbn=9780140441703}}</ref>

The philologist and Tolkien scholar [[Tom Shippey]] has suggested that the Middle Kingdom in J. R. R. Tolkien's ''[[Farmer Giles of Ham]]'', a story dominated by a dragon, is based on Mercia, the part of England where Tolkien grew up. This dragon, [[Chrysophylax Dives|Chrysophylax]], though mostly hostile, eventually helps Giles found a realm of his own, the Little Kingdom. Shippey states further that "the Mark", the land of the [[Riders of Rohan]] – all of whom have names in the Mercian dialect of Old English – was once the usual term for central England, and it would have been pronounced and written "marc" rather than the West Saxon "mearc" or the Latinized "Mercia".<ref>{{cite book |last=Shippey |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Shippey |title=[[The Road to Middle-Earth]] |date=2005 |edition=Third |orig-year=1982 |publisher=Grafton (HarperCollins) |isbn=9780261102750 |pages=111, 139–140}}</ref>