The Thistle

The Rose

The National Emblems of Britain

The national flower of England is the rose. The flower has been adopted as England’s emblem since the time of the Wars of the Roses - civil wars (1450-1485) between the royal house of Lancaster (whose emblem was a red rose) and the royal house of York (whose emblem was a white rose). The Yorkist regime ended with the defeat of King Richard III by the future Henry VII at Bosworth on 22 August 1485, and the two roses were united into the Tudor rose (a red rose with a white centre) by Henry VII when he married Elizabeth of York.

The thistle is a wild plant with prickly leaves and yellow, white, or esp. purple flowers.

The thistle is the national emblem of Scotland. This is how, according to a curious legend, that homely plant came to be chosen as a badge, in preference to any other.

In very ancient times the Norsemen once landed somewhere on the east coast of Scotland, with the intention of plundering and setting in the country. The Scots assembled with their arms and took their stations behind the river Tay, the largest in Scotland, at the only practicably ford. As they arrived late in the day, weary and tired after a long march, they pitched their camp and rested, not expecting the enemy before the next day.

The Norsemen, however, were near; noticing that no guards or sentinels protected the camp, they crossed the river Tay, intending to take the Scots by surprise and slaughter them in their sleep. To this end, they took off their shoes so as to make the least noise possible. But one of the Norsemen stepped on a thistle. The sudden and sharp pain he felt caused him to shriek. The alarm was given in the Scots’ camp. The Norsemen were put to flight, and as an acknowledgement for the timely and unexpected help from the thistle, the Scots took it as their national emblem.

Дата добавления: 2015-05-06