Editing Wessex (section)

==Symbols==

===Wyvern or dragon===
[[File:Bayeux Tapestry 3.jpg|thumb|The [[Bayeux Tapestry]], depicting the death of Harold II, 14 October 1066. His "Wyvern Standard" can be clearly seen at the left side.]]
Wessex is often symbolised by a [[wyvern]] or [[dragon]].

Both [[Henry of Huntingdon]] and [[Matthew of Westminster]] talk of a golden [[dragon]] being raised at the Battle of [[Burford]] in 752 by the West Saxons. The [[Bayeux Tapestry]] depicts a fallen golden dragon, as well as a red/golden/white dragon at the death of King [[Harold II]], who was previously [[Earl of Wessex]]. Dragon standards were in fairly wide use in Europe at the time, being derived from the [[Draco (military standard)|''draco'']] standard employed by the [[Late Roman army|later Roman army]], and there is no evidence that it explicitly identified Wessex.<ref name="JSP">[[J. S. P. Tatlock]], ''The Dragons of Wessex and Wales'' in ''Speculum'', Vol. 8, No. 2. (Apr., 1933), pp. 223–235.</ref>

A panel of 18th century [[stained glass]] at [[Exeter Cathedral]] indicates that an association with an image of a dragon in south west Britain pre-dated the [[Victorian era|Victorian]]s.  Nevertheless, the association with Wessex was only popularised in the 19th century, most notably through the writings of [[E. A. Freeman]]. By the time of the grant of [[armorial bearings]] by the [[College of Arms]] to [[Somerset County Council]] in 1911, a (red) dragon had become the accepted heraldic emblem of the former kingdom.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.somerset.gov.uk/oldtourism/residents/pages/coatofarms.htm |title=The Coat of Arms |publisher=Somerset County Council |access-date=14 January 2008 }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> This precedent was followed in 1937 when [[Wiltshire County Council]] was granted arms.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.civicheraldry.co.uk/cornwall_wessex.html#wiltshire%20cc |title=Civic Heraldry of England and Wales – Cornwall and Wessex Area – Wiltshire County Council |publisher=Civicheraldry.co.uk |access-date=6 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161120205725/http://civicheraldry.co.uk/cornwall_wessex.html#wiltshire%20cc |archive-date=20 November 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Two gold Wessex dragons were later granted as supporters to the arms of [[Dorset County Council]] in 1950.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.civicheraldry.co.uk/cornwall_wessex.html#dorest%20cc |title=Civic Heraldry of England and Wales – Cornwall and Wessex Area – Dorset County Council |publisher=Civicheraldry.co.uk |access-date=6 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161120205725/http://civicheraldry.co.uk/cornwall_wessex.html#dorest%20cc |archive-date=20 November 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
[[File:43 inf div -vector.svg|thumb|Wessex Division Formation patch]]
In the [[British Army]] the wyvern has been used to represent Wessex: the [[43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division]], and postwar regional 43 (Wessex) Brigade adopted a formation sign consisting of a gold wyvern on a black or dark blue background. The regular [[Wessex Brigade]] of the 1960s adopted a cap badge featuring the heraldic beast, until the regiments took back up individual regimental badges in the late 1960s. The Territorial Army [[Wessex Regiment]] continued to wear the Wessex Brigade badge until the late 1980s when its individual companies too readopted their parent regular regimental cap badges.   The now disbanded West Somerset Yeomanry adopted a Wessex Wyvern rampant as the centre piece for its cap badge, and the current [[Royal Wessex Yeomanry]] adopted a similar device in 2014 when the Regiment moved from wearing individual squadron county yeomanry cap badges to a unified single Regimental cap badge.

When [[Sophie, Countess of Wessex]] was granted arms, the sinister supporter assigned was a blue wyvern, described by the College of Arms as ''"an heraldic beast which has long been associated with Wessex"''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.royal.gov.uk/OutPut/Page4491.asp |title=The Arms of the Countess of Wessex |work=Royal Insight |publisher=Royal.gov.uk |date=28 October 2010 |access-date=28 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080222173807/http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page4491.asp |archive-date=22 February 2008 }}</ref>
[[File:FlagOfWessex.svg|thumb|Crampton's 1970s flag, designed for the modern Wessex region.]]
In the 1970s [[William Crampton]], the founder of the British [[Flag Institute]], designed a flag for the [[Wessex Regionalist Party|Wessex region]] which depicts a gold wyvern on a red field.<ref>[http://www.flaginstitute.org/wp/flags/wesse/  The Flag Institute: Wessex]. Retrieved 26 August 2015</ref>

===Cross of Saint Aldhelm===
{{multiple image|total_width=350px
|image1=Flag of Saint Aldhelm.svg
|caption1=Flag attributed to [[Saint Aldhelm]]
|image2=Coat of arms of Sherborne Abbey.svg
|caption2=Coat of arms of [[Sherborne Abbey]], of which Saint Aldhelm was the first bishop
}}
A white cross on a field of red, known as the Flag of [[Saint Aldhelm]] (whose feast day on 25 May is also celebrated as "Wessex Day") is sometimes flown by Wessex regionalists as an alternative to the Wyvern. The flag is effectively an inverted version of the Cross of Saint George, although it is also thought to have been derived from the arms of [[Sherborne Abbey]], Dorset.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fotw.info/flags/rel-stgb.html#aldhelm |title=Banners of English saints: St. Aldhelm |author=Tomislav Todorovic |date=17 September 2016 |work=Flags of the World |access-date=13 April 2023}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110815053205/http://wessexsociety.org/wessex_flag_flying_days.html Wessex flag flying advice]</ref>

===Attributed coat of arms===
A [[coat of arms]] was [[attributed arms|attributed]] by medieval [[herald]]s to the Kings of Wessex. These arms appear in a manuscript of the 13th century, and are [[blazon]]ed as ''[[Azure (heraldry)|Azure]], a [[Crosses in heraldry|cross patoncé]]'' (alternatively a ''[[cross fleury]]'' or ''[[cross moline]]'') ''between four [[martlet]]s [[Or (heraldry)|Or]]''.<ref>College of Arms MS L.14, dating from the reign of [[Henry III of England|Henry III]]</ref>

The attributed arms of Wessex are also known as the "Arms of Edward the Confessor", and the design is based on an emblem historically used by [[King Edward the Confessor]] on the reverse side of [[Penny (English coin)|pennies]] minted by him. The heraldic design continued to represent both Wessex and Edward in classical heraldry<ref>For example in ''Divi Britannici'' by Winston Churchill, published in 1675 and ''Britannia Saxona'' by G W Collen published in 1833</ref> and is found on a number of church windows in derived shields such as the Arms of the Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster ([[Westminster Abbey]], which was founded by the king).