Here we have the arms of Brecon. And why? Well Dwynwen`s father was a man that is now called Brychan Brycheiniog. However a little digging finds out that he was king of Breconshire, but that there is a twist, for at the time he was king, in the 5th century, the area was known as Brycheiniog. It seems unlikely it was named after him so I think he was simply Brychan and the [of] Brycheiniog got attached to his name somewhere along the way.
Now he was actually born an Irish Prince, but his mother inherited this part of Wales and when his father died he went there. Maybe this was because his father had rather a lot of children for his widow to support, anywhere from twelve to over sixty, and he was married three times, or some say four. This is also supported by the fact that some of his children went to Cornwall, where eleven of them had been born. In fact one of them, a daughter called Anwen, is the Cornish saint of lovers.
Reputedly our Dwynwen was the prettiest of all, and could have had many suitors, but her heart was set on just one man from the moment she saw him. And we will read about him tomorrow....
This card is just one of the variations of this fascinating set, which are dealt with more fully in our blog "B for Borough Arms". That tells the differences in all the sets, and one day will include a sample back and front of every one.
This particular card we feature today is from Group 11 - entirely new pictures, but same style as the rest, being numbered 151-200 on the backs, fronts printed in full colour, no frame lines, with "Wills`s Cigarettes" across fronts of cards. Backs with descriptive text, printed in grey. Cards marked "Fourth Series".
This fourth series has no other version, unlike the others, these cards only appear in this one final series. There was also an error card, number 170, the Borough Arms of St. Marylebone. W. which has the last line of either (a) "let it be done according to thy word" - or - (b) "let thy word be favourable". The card gives the Latin version of this "Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum" in the banner on the front and tells us that this was the motto of the Portman and Bentinck families who owned so much of the land. In fact they are the words of the Virgin Mary, when she was told she had been chosen to give birth to Jesus, and they mean "Let it be done to me according to Thy Word”, so (a) is the closer translation. Actually I cannot find version (b), so probably that was first to be printed and then changed and reprinted. It does not make much sense to move further away from the translation.