The Tudor rose (sometimes called the Union rose) is the traditional floral

heraldic emblem A heraldic badge, emblem, impresa, device, or personal device worn as a badge indicates allegiance to, or the property of, an individual, family or corporate body. Medieval forms are usually called a livery badge, and also a cognizance. They are ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and takes its name and origins from the House of Tudor, which united the House of Lancaster and the House of York. The Tudor rose consists of five white inner petals, representing the House of York, and five red outer petals to represent the House of Lancaster.

Origins

In the Battle of Bosworth Field (1485), Henry VII, of the House of Lancaster, took the crown of England from Richard III, of the House of York. He thus brought to an end the retrospectively dubbed "

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...

". Kings of the House of Lancaster had sometimes used a red or gold rose as a badge; and the House of York had used a white rose as a badge. Henry's father was Edmund Tudor, and his mother was

Margaret Beaufort Lady Margaret Beaufort (usually pronounced: or ; 31 May 1441/43 – 29 June 1509) was a major figure in the Wars of the Roses of the late fifteenth century, and mother of King Henry VII of England, the first Tudor monarch. A descendant of ...

from the House of Lancaster; in January 1486 he married

Elizabeth of York Elizabeth of York (11 February 1466 – 11 February 1503) was Queen of England from her marriage to King Henry VII on 18 January 1486 until her death in 1503. Elizabeth married Henry after his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field, which mark ...

to bring the two factions together. (In battle, Richard III fought under the banner of the boar, and Harry under the banner of the dragon of his native Wales). The white rose versus red rose juxtaposition was mostly Henry's invention, created to exploit his appeal as a 'peacemaker king'.Penn, Thomas
"How Henry VII branded the Tudors"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 2 March 2012 The historian Thomas Penn writes: On his marriage, Henry VI adopted the Tudor rose badge conjoining the

White Rose of York The White Rose of York (Latinised as ''rosa alba'', blazoned as ''a rose argent'') is a white heraldic rose which was adopted in the 14th century as a heraldic badge of the royal House of York. In modern times it is used more broadly as a s ...

and the

Red Rose of Lancaster The Red Rose of Lancaster (blazoned: ''a rose gules'') was the heraldic badge adopted by the royal House of Lancaster in the 14th century. In modern times it symbolises the county of Lancashire. The exact species or cultivar which it represents i ...

. The Tudor rose is occasionally seen divided in quarters (heraldically as "quartered") and vertically (in heraldic terms ''per pale'') red and white. More often, the Tudor rose is depicted as a

double rose Double rose is a term used for a rose in heraldry when it has not only five petals, but additionally five petals within the outer petals. It is in essence a combination of two roses, one on top of the other. A standard heraldic rose should not be d ...

, white on red and is always described, heraldically, as "

proper Proper may refer to: Mathematics * Proper map, in topology, a property of continuous function between topological spaces, if inverse images of compact subsets are compact * Proper morphism, in algebraic geometry, an analogue of a proper map for ...

" (that is, naturally-coloured, despite not actually existing in nature). Elizabeth1

Historical uses

Henry VII was reserved in his usage of the Tudor rose. He regularly used the Lancastrian rose by itself, being the house to which he descended. His successor Henry VIII, descended from the House of York as well through his mother, would use the rose more often. When Arthur, Prince of Wales, died in 1502, his tomb in

Worcester Cathedral Worcester Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Worcester, in Worcestershire, England, situated on a bank overlooking the River Severn. It is the seat of the Bishop of Worcester. Its official name is the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Bles ...

used both roses; thereby asserting his royal descent from both the houses of Lancaster and York. During his reign, Henry VIII had the legendary " Round Table" at

Winchester Castle Winchester Castle is a medieval building in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1067. Only the Great Hall still stands; it houses a museum of the history of Winchester. History Early history Around AD 70 the Romans constructed a ...

– then believed to be genuine – repainted. The new paint scheme included a Tudor rose in the centre. Previous to this, his father Henry VII had built the

Henry VII Chapel The Henry VII Lady Chapel, now more often known just as the Henry VII Chapel, is a large Lady chapel at the far eastern end of Westminster Abbey, paid for by the will of King Henry VII. It is separated from the rest of the abbey by brass gates ...

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...

(it was later used for the site of his tomb) and it was decorated principally with the Tudor rose and the Beaufort portcullis – as a form of propaganda to define his claim to the throne. The Tudor rose badge may appear ''slipped and crowned'': shown as a cutting with a stem and leaves beneath a crown; this badge appears in

Nicholas Hilliard Nicholas Hilliard () was an English goldsmith and limner best known for his portrait miniatures of members of the courts of Elizabeth I and James I of England. He mostly painted small oval miniatures, but also some larger cabinet miniatures, ...

's "Pelican Portrait" of Elizabeth I and since an Order in Council (dated 5 November 1800), has served as the royal

floral emblem In a number of countries, plants have been chosen as symbols to represent specific geographic areas. Some countries have a country-wide floral emblem; others in addition have symbols representing subdivisions. Different processes have been used to ...

of England. The Tudor rose may also appear '' dimidiated'' (cut in half and combined with half another emblem) to form a compound badge. The

Westminster Tournament Roll The 1511 Westminster Tournament Roll is a painted roll of 36 vellum membranes sewn together. It is almost 60 feet long and 14 inches wide. The Roll depicts the joust called by Henry VIII in February 1511 to celebrate the birth of his son, Henry, ...

includes a badge of Henry and his first wife Catherine of Aragon with a slipped Tudor rose conjoined with Catherine's personal badge, the Spanish

pomegranate The pomegranate (''Punica granatum'') is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae, that grows between tall. The pomegranate was originally described throughout the Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean re ...

; their daughter

Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She ...

bore the same badge. Following his ascent to the English throne,

James VI of Scotland and I of England James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...

used a badge consisting of a Tudor rose dimidiated with a Scottish thistle and surmounted by a royal crown.

Contemporary uses

The crowned and slipped Tudor rose is used as the plant badge of England, as Scotland uses the

thistle Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the planton the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves ...

, Wales uses the leek, and Ireland uses the shamrock (Northern Ireland sometimes using flax instead). As such, it is seen on the dress uniforms of the

Yeomen Warders The Yeomen Warders of His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, and Members of the Sovereign's Body Guard of the Yeoman Guard Extraordinary, popularly known as the Beefeaters, are ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London. ...

at the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...

, and of the

Yeomen of the Guard The King's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard is a bodyguard of the British monarch. The oldest British military corps still in existence, it was created by King Henry VII in 1485 after the Battle of Bosworth Field. History The king ...

. It features in the design of the 20-pence coin minted between 1982 and 2008, and in the

royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom The royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, or the royal arms for short, is the arms of dominion of the British monarch, currently King Charles III. These arms are used by the King in his official capacity as monarch of the United Kingdom. Vari ...

. It also features on the

coat of arms of Canada The Arms of Canada (french: Armoiries du Canada, links=no), also known as the Royal Coat of Arms of Canada (french: armoiries royales du Canada, links=no) or formally as the Arms of His Majesty the King in Right of Canada (french: Armoiries de Sa M ...

. As part of the badge of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the Tudor rose represents England alongside the floral badges of the other constituent parts of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The heraldic badge of the Royal Navy's current flagship aircraft carrier HMS ''Queen Elizabeth'' uses a Tudor rose with colours divided vertically (''per pale''), inheriting the heraldry of the early twentieth century super-dreadnought oil-fired

fast battleship A fast battleship was a battleship which emphasised speed without – in concept – undue compromise of either armor or armament. Most of the early World War I-era dreadnought battleships were typically built with low design speeds, s ...

HMS ''Queen Elizabeth''. The Tudor rose makes up part of the cap badge of the Intelligence Corps of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. The Tudor rose is used as the emblem of The Nautical Training Corps, a uniformed youth organisation founded in Brighton in 1944 with 20 units in

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Berkshi ...

. The corps badge has the Tudor Rose on the shank of an anchor with the

motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mot ...

"For God, Queen and Country". It is also used as part of the Corps' cap badge. The Tudor rose is also prominent in a number of towns and cities. The Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, uses the emblem frequently, due to the town being given Royal Town status by Henry VIII. The Tudor rose appears on the

coat of arms of Oxford The coat of arms of Oxford is the official heraldic arms of Oxford, used by Oxford City Council. While the bull is common in heraldry, in the arms of Oxford an ox, which is less common, is used. The arms is canting, showing an ox fording over wa ...

. It is also notably used (albeit in a monochromatic form) as the symbol of

VisitEngland VisitEngland is the official tourist board for England. Before 1999 it was known as the English Tourist Board and between 1999 and 2009 as the English Tourism Council. In 2003, it merged with the British Tourist Authority to form VisitBritain bef ...

, England's tourist board. A half-and-half design was used as the "Border Rose" in some parts of

Todmorden Todmorden ( ; ) is a market town and civil parish in the Upper Calder Valley in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England. It is north-east of Manchester, south-east of Burnley and west of Halifax. In 2011 it had a population of 15,481. Todm ...

, a conurbation that was historically bisected by the Yorkshire-Lancashire border. The borough and county of

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

uses a Tudor rose on its flag and seal. The flag and seal of Annapolis, Maryland, features a Tudor rose and a thistle surmounted with a crown. The city of

York, South Carolina York is a city in and county seat of York County, South Carolina, United States. The population was approximately 6,985 at the 2000 census and up to 7,736 at the 2010 census. York is located approximately southwest of Charlotte, North Caroli ...

is nicknamed "The White Rose City", and the nearby city of

Lancaster, South Carolina The city of Lancaster () is the county seat of Lancaster County, South Carolina, United States, located in the Charlotte Metropolitan Area. As of the United States Census of 2010, the city population was 8,526. The city was named after the famou ...

is nicknamed "The Red Rose City".

York, Pennsylvania York (Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Yarrick''), known as the White Rose City (after the symbol of the House of York), is the county seat of York County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the south-central region of the state. The populatio ...

and Lancaster, Pennsylvania are similarly nicknamed, using stylized white and red roses in their emblems, respectively. File:Tudor Rose from Holbein's Portrait of More.jpg, The Tudor rose used on the chain in the portrait of Sir Thomas More by Hans Holbein the Younger File:HMS_Queen_Elizabeth_ships_crest.jpg, Tudor rose divided ''per pale'' as the ship's badge of HMS ''Queen Elizabeth'' File:Badge of the Yeomen of the Guard.svg, Contemporary badge of the

File:UK Supreme Court badge 2.svg, Simplified rose on the stylised Supreme Court badge used in the building's upholstery.

Notes

References

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External links