House of York

Edward IV King of England and Lord of Ireland, «The Armorial of Edward IV», «The Edward IV Roll», armorial in the form of a roll about 6 meters long, created to celebrate the coronation of Edward IV as the first King of England from the House of York and illustrated, probably, by different artists, 1461.

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The image illustrating this reference corresponds to the banner, which is number 27 in the 2^nd column, the final one of this armorial. This banner is held by a white deer, which was a personal badge of King Richard II of England, and also, two white deer were the supporters of his shield. The reason for the inclusion of this white deer might be to contribute to the legitimization of Edward IV as king.

It is notable that in row 25 of the 2^nd column of this armorial there is a banner with the arms of the shield of Castilla y León, probably because Edward IV, like his predecessors, claimed their throne. In this version of the shield of Castilla y León:

• The two gold castles, in the 1^st and 4^th quarters of gules, have three towers with the central one taller like the Castilian, but the twin side towers seem to be connected by the wall as in the English castle, [Valero de Bernabé, L.; 2009a; page 2] and [Valero de Bernabé, L.; 2009b; page 33], the wall has a door that is enameled in azure as in the Castilian.
• The two lions, in the 2^nd and 3^rd quarters of silver, seem to be gold, therefore, of «metal on metal» and, furthermore, very different from the purple lion of Castilla y León, it could well be an error by the artist or a degradation of an original purple enamel to ochre, as explained in the pendón de Castilla y León.

This shield of Castilla y León also appears:

• On the banner in row 27 of the 1^st column of this armorial. In this banner, they are combined with the arms of England represented in this article, in a new quartered, under an escutcheon with the imaginary arms of «Brutus of Troy», the also imaginary founder and king of Britain.
• On the caparison of the horse that Edward IV rides in the portrait at the beginning of his armorial. This caparison is a reproduction of the previous banner in row 27 of the 1^st column that combined the arms of England with those of Castilla y León. The presence of these arms in this initial portrait of the armorial of Edward IV denotes the importance he gave to his aspirations to the crown of Castilla y León.

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Bibliographical reference of century XV.

The author is Edward IV of England.

External resources:

• Free Library: Edward.
• Free Library: Banners.
• The Edward IV Roll.
• Brutus of Troy.