Исследовательская работа по английскому языку
проект по английскому языку (7 класс)

Муниципальное бюджетное общеобразовательное учреждение

Бобровская средняя общеобразовательная школа № 1

ПРОЕКТНАЯ РАБОТА

по английскому языку

«Тайна исчезнувшего дракона»

выполнил: Никита Бункин

учащийся 7 класса

руководитель: О.Б. Таласова

учитель английского языка

Бобров 2021

Bobrov Secondary School № 1

PROJECT REPORT

The Mystery of the Missing Dragon

Author: Nikita Bunkin

Year 7 student

Supervisor: Olga Talasova

Teacher of the English language

Bobrov 2021

Plan

Introduction

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a unique country with a great history beginning by about 30 000 years ago. It is relatively small by its physical size but it did play a major role in the history of the world, taking a leading role in developing democracy, literature and science. Most of people associate the UK with London – one of the greatest capitals in the world, with rainy and foggy weather, extremely polite people and amazing architecture.

Now, you can hardly find a student who does not know that the UK is made up of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the unity of countries is represented in the Union Flag, or the Union Jack as we all know it. It is generally accepted that National flags, and the symbols they contain, are an important element of a nation’s identity. They generally convey the nation’s collective feeling of “who we are” and “where we are from”. It follows that the Union Jack might be expected to contain symbolic referencing of all four of the home countries: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.  

You can find the element of the flag of England –St. George’s cross, Scotland’s cross of St. Andrew and Ireland’s cross of St. Patrick. But how about Welsh flag? How is Wales represented on the flag of the UK?

My research paper aims to find out why there is no Welsh dragon on the flag of the United Kingdom.

To achieve the aim we put some tasks in front of us to study the topic thoroughly:

1. to study the elements of the Union Jack and its history
2. to study the history and elements of the national flag of Wales
3. to study the history of annexation of four countries into the UK
4. make conclusion

Trying to answer the main question and finding solutions we have used the following methods:analyses of literature and materials from the Internet, description, generalizing.

The object of the investigation is the flag of the United Kingdom, the Union Jack.

The subject of the investigation is the Welsh dragon and its absence on the Union Flag.

Our hypothesis is that the dragon was a forbidden creature in England that is why it is not represented on the flag of the United Kingdom.

I. Main body

1.1 The Official Flag of Wales.

Although Wales is an integral part of the UK, represented by the Union Jack, it is still a Nation with its own identity and National Flag.

In fact, it is one of the oldest flags in human history. It might surprise you to learn that the Welsh flag we know today - a large red dragon on a white and green background - only came into being in 1959. The colour of the flag has a major significance: white half stands for peace and honesty, the green half stands for joy and hope and the red dragon signifies valor and bravery.

The first who introduced the dragon were the Romans who used to fix bronze and silk dragons to their lances during battle. According to SionJobbins, “The Romans used the dragon as a war emblem and it is believed that they had a military flag called the draco, which was a piece of cloth on a long pole that made a hissing sound when the wind blew through it, it would have looked very similar to a dragon from afar” [1]

The red dragon has been used as an emblem of Wales since the reign of Cadwaladr, King of Gwynedd (the most prominent Welsh kingdom at the time) from around 655AD. During the 7th and 10th centuries, dragons increased in popularity across Britain, moving from a more serpent like image to a creature often with four legs and wings and pointed tail.

The 12th century legend of Merlin featured two fighting dragons, one white and one red. The red dragon came to represent Wales in its struggles against the white dragon of the English.

The image of the red dragon was more firmly cemented into Welsh tradition by Henry Tudor (who would become King Henry VII) who placed a red dragon over the green and white Tudor banner during the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. This was to signify his claim to be a descendant of Cadwaladr, King of Gwynedd who, as you will recall, used the red dragon as his emblem.

The association of a dragon with strength and bravery was common in all of Great Britain at the time, and many kings of the time are said to have included it in some form on their flags or coats of arms. The legendary King Arthur is also said to have had a dragon as his battle standard. Henry V also had a dragon ensign in the Battle of Agincourt. [2]

So as we see, the dragon was an important element throughout the long history of the country.

1.2 The history of Annexation

The United Kingdom is made up of four constituent states: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. But there have long been tensions between England and the other three U.K. states, in part because England has always been the dominant political power among them. England brought all the states together through conquest and political union.

1.2.1 England Annexes Wales

The Kingdom of England, formed in 927, gained the first UK state other than itself through invasion.

In the late 13th century, King Edward I conquered the western Principality of Wales, claiming it as a territory of England. Next, he invaded the northern Kingdom of Scotland, kicking off the First War of Scottish Independence.

Scotland emerged from the First and Second Wars of Scottish Independence with its sovereignty intact. Wales, meanwhile, remained a conquered territory. Beginning with Edward I, English monarchs gave their successors the title of “Prince of Wales” to signify their control over the territory. This tradition continues today with Charles, Prince of Wales. The late Lady Diana was also the Princess of Wales during their marriage.

Still, Wales was not an official part of the Kingdom of England until the 1530s and ‘40s. Under King Henry VIII, England passed Acts of Union extending English laws and norms into Wales. This was the first major political union in what would become the UK.

1.2.2 England and Scotland Form Union

When Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, the next person in line to the throne was her cousin, King James VI of Scotland. Now, he gained a second name: King James I of England.

Even though Scotland and England shared the same king, they were still two politically separate kingdoms, each with their own parliament. Over the next century, there were several failed attempts to merge them into one nation. These attempts ended in 1707, when England and Scotland united as “Great Britain” under Queen Anne.

There were several reasons for this union, says Christopher A. Whatley, a professor of Scottish history at the University of Dundee and author of The Scots and the Union: Then and Now, “One was the fact that Scotland was in debt after trying to establish a colonial empire in the Americas the same way that England, Portugal and Spain had done.

The Scots recognized that the Realpolitik, if you like, of the situation was that if they were to establish markets overseas, contacts overseas, they needed the support of a stronger maritime power, which was England.” [3]

Many Scots also saw the union as a way of preventing the Catholic Stuarts from reinstating an absolute monarchy, and securing Scotland’s future under a Protestant constitutional monarchy. For England, there was concern that if it didn’t unite with Scotland, the country might side against England with France in the War of the Spanish Succession.

So in 1707, England agreed to give Scotland money to pay off its debts, and both countries’ parliaments passed the Acts of Union to become one nation.

1.2.3 Ireland Annexes England

Remember how King James VI of Scotland was also King James I of England? Well, he was actually King James I of Ireland, too. Back in the 1540s, Ireland became a dependent kingdom of England, and the 1542 Crown of Ireland Act mandated that the king of England was now also the king of Ireland. The first person to hold both titles was Henry VIII. The last was George III, who oversaw the 1801 creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Whatley says,“England used its 1707 union with Scotland as a model for Great Britain’s 1801 union with Ireland.” [3] However, the Irish union didn’t last nearly as long. Between 1919 and 1921, the Irish Republican Army fought for independence from the UK. The Irish War of Independence ended with the division of Ireland into northern and southern regions in 1922.

The northern region remained a part of the UK, which changed its title to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The southern region became the Irish Free State, which, despite its name, was still a part of the British Commonwealth. In 1937, the southern region became the sovereign nation of Ireland (or the Republic of Ireland). It joined the European Union in 1973 and is still a member nation today

1.3 The Union Flag or Union Jack

The Union Jack is one of the most recognisable flags in the world - the Union Flag, known universally as the Union Jack. It is the flag of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and represents the four countries of the union - England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Union Jack and Union Flag are used interchangeably to refer to the flag of the UK. Both terms are historically correct in the description of the national flag of the UK.

The flag consists of three heraldic crosses:

· The cross of St George, patron saint of England since the 1270's, is a red cross on a white ground. After James I succeeded to the throne, it was combined with the cross of St Andrew in 1606

· The cross saltire (diagonal) of St Andrew, patron saint of Scotland, is a diagonal white cross on a blue ground.

· The cross saltire (diagonal) of St Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, is a diagonal red cross on a white ground.

The origin of the flag of the Great Britain dates back to 1606 when James VI united England and Scotland. In 1606, King James VI ordered for the creation of a flag which bore the crosses of both St George and St Andrew. The resultant flag was the Union Flag or Union Jack with Jack as the short form of Jacobus which is a Latin word for James. When the first flag was established, it was just referred to as the British Flag.

When Ireland became a part of Great Britain in 1801, the British Flag was redesigned to include the Cross of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. It is in this form that British flag we know today exists.

In 1921, even when Ireland gained independence from the United Kingdom, the cross representing Ireland continued to remain on the flag because Northern Ireland remained a part of the UK.

The Union Flag is flown on Government buildings on days marking the birthdays of members of the Royal Family, Commonwealth Day, Coronation Day, The Queen's official birthday, Remembrance Day and on the days of the State Opening and prorogation of Parliament.

On news of a Royal death, the Union Flag is flown at half-mast. But it really is never flown at half-mast, as the Sovereign never dies, the new monarch immediately succeeds his or her predecessor.

The Union Flag is not symmetric and many people, without knowing it, hang it upside down and in the UK, flying the flag upside down can be considered an insult, even if it was an honest mistake. The right way up – if you look at the side closest to the flagpole, the wider white stripes should sit above the diagonal red stripe. The thick white band is above the red band. The white stripe that runs diagonally on the furthest side from the flagpole should be thinner on the side on top of the red stripe.

1.4 Where is the Welsh Dragon?

As we have seen, the first version of the British flag was introduced in 1606 on the proclamation of King James I, who was keen to visibly symbolise his rule over a Great Britain (albeit the United Kingdom of Great Britain would not be formalised for another 100 years).

Now, the fact is that “national” flags aren’t as old as we might think, and England and Wales had already been running as one entity since 1283 (when England effectively annexed Wales), and certainly by 1536 with the establishment of the “Kingdom of England and Wales”.

At this time, flags were mostly used as battle ensigns, and the concept of a “national” flag didn’t really develop in most countries until the 17th/ 18th century. By default, the “flag of England” (and Wales - though the “and Wales” part is often missed off ) was the Red cross on a White Background (St George’s) that had been used in battle.

In 1707, the flag of Great Britain was created and this combined the flags of the Kingdom of England (implying England and Wales) and the Kingdom of Scotland.

In 1800, when the Acts of Union united the Kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain, Ireland’s St Patrick’s red saltire was added to the Flag of Great Britain to create the Union Flag.

So there you have it, Wales didn’t have its own flag but is implicitly included in the English part of the flag, because the two nations were already one entity before the concept of national flags arose.

Malcolm Farrow, honorary president of the Flag Institute, the world’s leading organisation for the research and documentation of flags explains the absence of the Welsh dragon: “Wales is not representedbecause when the Union Flag was first created in 1606, Wales was already long a principality of England, and had been incorporated into England constitutionally.The two flags of England and Scotland were combined but Wales, as part of England, would be represented only by St George’s Cross”. [7]It is for this reason that no element of the Welsh flag was incorporated into the Union Jack.  This remained the case after Ireland joined the Union in 1801, when the Irish Cross of St Patrick was further incorporated into the design to gives us the Union Jack flag that we know now.

So, to this day, Wales has no symbolic representation of its own on the Union Jack - the only home nation country not to.   You might think that the Welsh people would be universally aggrieved at this lack of representation in the British flag.   In 2014, ICM Research, on behalf of BBC Wales, interviewed a sample of over 1000 adult Welsh nationals.  The object was to ascertain whether the population believed that a dragon (or, alternatively, the colour green) should be included somewhere on the Union Jack as a symbol of Wales.   Interestingly, only 45% of the people felt that a dragon (or green) should be included.   36% of people felt that the flag should not be changed at all whilst 16% didn’t regard the Union Jack as their flag at all.  The remaining 3% didn’t have a particular view.

On reviewing the results of this survey, Charles Ashburner, a Welshman and the Chief Executive of the Flag Institute suggested that “there would have to be a much clearer desire within Wales before a change to the Union Jack (to incorporate representation of Wales) could be discussed more widely throughout the United Kingdom”.

With the current Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, set to ascend to the British throne on the eventual death (or abdication) of an aging Queen Elizabeth II,

perhaps, an increased desire to modernise the Union flag and recognise Wales’s place in the Union will develop in the coming years.  For the time being, however, it looks as though the Welsh Dragon will have to lie sleeping in its den for a little while longer.  

II. Conclusion

Recent research on the history of the United Kingdom has provided a more complete understanding of the question about the absence of Welsh dragon on the Union Flag of the UK. Current findings show that Wales is not represented on the flag because of the decisions made hundreds of years ago. When the first Union Flag was created, Wales had already been part of the kingdom of England for more than 150 years and was represented by St George’s Cross only as well as England. Our hypothesis has not been proven.

Reference

1. Christopher A. Whatley, The Scots and the Union: Then and Now. Second Edition, 2014
2. Nick Groom, The Union Jack: The Story of the British Flag. Atlantic books, 406 pages,-2016
3. Sion Jobbins, The Red dragon: The Story of the Welsh Flag, August 9, 2016; 96 p.
4. https://www.history.com/news/united-kingdom-scotland-northern-ireland-wales
5. https://www.forces.net/heritage/history/union-jack-do-you-know-correct-way
6. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-47389680
7. https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/wales-isnt-represented-union-jack-15138001