COMMUNITY: Friends of Gainsborough Old Hall

On Wednesday, February 24, Doctor Jonathan Foyle gave a presentation on the Roots of the Tudor Rose: The lost identity of a National Identity. Deploying various sources from architecture, portraiture, stained glass, Dr Foyle demolished the strongly held view in all text books, that the Tudor rose was invented 500 years ago on the marriage of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, in 1486. He struggled to identify a '˜paper trail' to confirm this theory. The heraldic device it was argued was rooted in the political alliance between the house of Lancaster and York however Henry VII did not adopt this particular device but variations of a rose. Where, therefore was the source of this device? And Dr Foyle identified two separate roses; the red and the white rose in religious symbolism for our lady Mary, the Mother of Jesus. The Red rose symbolised '˜ charity, whilst the white rose symbolised '˜virginity and purity' and this was well supported in religious iconography.