Wyvern/ Western Dragon-Bird Information

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_dragon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guivre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyvern
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilisk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockatrice
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aitvaras
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dragons_in_mythology_and_folklore

Owing to the constant interest in the topic by "Troodon Man," I am reviewing the information on the European dragons, Wyverns and dragon-birds, to be written up in a longer detailed article to follow. I have two preliminary scale reconstructions I am working on below with the green form centered in Western Europe from Spain and Portugal to Wales and England, and central Europe and the red phase in Eastern Europe from the Baltic to the Balkans and including also Russia and Turkey. The head seems to have little hornlike extensions similar to what is seen in some other types of pheasants, and it seems that both the longer wing and tail feathers are marked with eyespots (ocelli)

 

 

European dragons
Catalan dragon	drac	Catalan dragons are serpent-like creatures with two legs (rarely four) and, sometimes, a pair of wings. Their faces can resemble that of other animals, like lions or cattle. They have a burning breath. Their breath is also poisonous, the reason by which dracs are able to rot everything with their stench. A víbria is a female dragon.[NOTE: Also includes local 2-footed Tatzelwurm variant]
French dragons	Dragon	Authors tend often to present the dragon legends as symbol of Christianity's victory over paganism, represented by a harmful dragon. The French representation of dragons spans much of European history, and has even given its name to the dragoons, a type of cavalry.
Sardinian dragon	scultone	The dragon named "scultone" or "ascultone" appears in legends in Sardinia, Italy. It had the power to kill human beings with its gaze. It was a sort of basilisk, lived in the bush and was immortal.
Scandinavian & Germanic dragons	Lindworm	Lindworms are serpent-like dragons with either two or no legs. In Nordic and Germanic heraldry, the lindworm looks the same as a wyvern. The dragon Fafnir was a lindworm.
English dragons	Wyvern	Wyverns are common in medieval heraldry. Their usual blazon is statant. Wyverns are normally shown as dragons with two legs and two wings.
Welsh dragons	Y Ddraig Goch	In Welsh mythology, after a long battle (which the Welsh King Vortigern witnesses) a red dragon defeats a white dragon; Merlin explains to Vortigern that the red dragon symbolizes the Welsh, and the white dragon symbolizes the Saxons – thus foretelling the ultimate defeat of the English by the Welsh. The ddraig goch appears on the Welsh flag [The anfac  fourlegged , non winged and the twolegged, winged creatures are separate but combined in this dragon]
The worm hill dragon		700 AD the Anglo-Saxons settled and called the hill "Wruenele" this translates as "Wruen" worm, reptile or dragon and "ele" hill. According to local folklore the hill at Knotlow was the lair of a dragon and the terraces around it were made by the coils of its tail. Knotlow is an ancient volcanic vent and this may explain the myth.
The Bignor hill dragon		There is a brief mention of a Dragon on Bignor Hill south of the village of Bignor near the famous Roman Villa, apparently "A Large dragon had its den on Bignor Hill, and marks of its folds were to be seen on the hill". Similar legends have been told of ridges around other hills, such as at Wormhill in Derbyshire.
Zomok [Hungary]		A giant winged snake, which is in fact a full-grown zomok. It often serves as flying mount of the garabonciás (a kind of magician). The sárkánykígyó rules over storms and bad weather.
sárkány		A dragon in human form. Most of them are giants with multiple heads. Their strength is held in their heads. They become gradually weaker as they lose their heads. In contemporary Hungarian the word sárkány is used to mean all kinds of dragons. [It comes from a root meaning "Lord" as in feudal]
Slavic dragons	zmey, zmiy, żmij, змей, or zmaj, or drak, or smok Smok Wawelski from Sebastian Münster's Cosmographie Universalis, 1544	Similar to the conventional European dragon, but multi-headed. They breathe fire and/or leave fiery wakes as they fly. In Slavic and related tradition, dragons symbolize evil. Specific dragons are often given Turkic names (see Zilant, below), symbolizing the long-standing conflict between the Slavs and Turks. However, in Serbian and Bulgarian folklore, dragons are defenders of the crops in their home regions, fighting against a destructive demon Ala, whom they shoot with lightning.[2][3]
Armenian dragon	Vishap	Related to European dragons
Siberian dragon	Yilbegän	Related to European Turkic and Slavic dragons
Romanian dragons	Balaur, Zburator	Balaur are very similar to the Slavic zmey: very large, with fins and multiple heads.
Chuvash dragons	Vere Celen	Chuvash dragons represent the pre-Islamic mythology of the same region.
Asturian and Leonese dragons	Cuélebre	In Asturias and León mythology the Cuélebres are giant winged serpents, which live in caves where they guard treasures and kidnapped xanas. They can live for centuries and, when they grow really old, they use their wings to fly. Their breath is poisonous and they often kill cattle to eat. Leonese language term Cuelebre comes from Latin colŭbra, i.e., snake.
Albanian Dragons	Bolla File:Bua Shpata coat of arms Bollas in the Coat of Arms of House of Bua Shpata	In the Albanian mythology Bolla (also known as Bullar in South Albania), is a type of serpentic dragon (or a demonic dragon-like creature) with a long, coiled, serpentine body, four legs and small wings in ancient Albanian folklore. This dragon sleeps throughout the whole year, only to wake on Saint George's Day, where its faceted silver eyes peer into the world. The Bolla does this until it sees a human. It devours the person, then closes its eyes and sleeps again.[4] Bolla was worshiped as the deity Boa by the ancestors of Albanians, Illyrians.[5] Bolla appears in the coat of arms of the House of Bua Shpata.
	Kulshedra	In its twelfth year, the bolla evolves by growing nine tongues, horns, spines and larger wings. At this time it will learn how to use its formerly hidden fire-breathing abilities, and is now called a kulshedra or kuçedra (hydra). The kuçedra causes droughts and lives off human sacrifices. Kulshedras are killed by Drangue, Albanian winged warriors with supernatural powers. Thunderstorms are conceived as battles between the drangues and the kulshedras.
	Dreq	Dreq is the dragon (draco) proper. It was demonized by Christianity and now is one of the Albanian names of the devil.
Portuguese dragons	Coca [ie, Cocadrille]	In Portuguese mythology coca is a female dragon that fights with Saint George. She loses her strength when Saint George cuts off one of her ears.
Greek dragons	Drákōn - δράκων	Cadmus fighting the Ismenian dragon (which guarded the sacred spring of Ares) is a legendary story from the Greek lore dating to before ca. 560–550 B.C. Greek dragons commonly had a role of protecting important objects or places. For example, the Colchian dragon watched the Golden Fleece and the Nemean dragon guarded the sacred groves of Zeus.[6] The name comes from the Greek "drakeîn" meaning "to see clearly".[7]
Tatar dragons	Zilant	Really closer to a wyvern or cockatrice, the Zilant is the symbol of Kazan. Zilant itself is a Russian rendering of Tatar yılan, i.e., snake.
Turkish dragons	Ejderha or Evren	The Turkish dragon secretes flames from its tail, and there is no mention in any legends of its having wings, or even legs. In fact, most Turkish (and later Islamic) sources describe dragons as gigantic snakes. [Actually there are two kinds, see note at end]
Lithuanian Dragons	Slibinas	This dragon is more of a hydra with multiple heads, though sometimes it does appear with one head.

ADDITIONAL  Lithuania, Latvia, Estonian and Karelian Dragons:
Ai / Aijatar / Ajatar / Ajattara / Aijo
Region: Estonia, Southern Regions
Time Period: Unknown
Sources: Giants, Monsters, and Dragons

Aitvaras
Region: Lithuania
Time Period: 1547 (first mention)
Sources: Giants, Monsters, and Dragons pg 10, Circle of the Dragon others

Notes:
• Changes appearance - indoors it's a cock, outdoors its a dragon with a fiery tail
• Can bring both good luck and bad luck to it's masters, but will bring stolen money.
• Can be purchased - the price is a soul.
• The bad news - once you have one, they're near impossible to get rid of.
• Eats omelets, eggs and neighbour's chickens
• If injured, would be healed by just touching the ground
Tale 1:
One story says that a new wife wondered by her mother-in-law's corn bin never ran out, so she took a consecrated candle and looked in the bin. There she found an Aitvaras, but the candle scared it away and it disappeared.
Tale 2:
First mentioned when a neighbor suddenly became wealthy and the others investigated
Kaukas
Region: Lithuania
Time Period: Unknown
Sources: Giants, Monsters, and Dragons

Notes:
• Flying dragon with fiery tail that also manifests as a fowl.
• Brings good fortune and stolen goods and may be the guardians of treasure

aitvaras_by_silni-d4bzn9q

Ejderha (Turkey)

 

Galician_dragon_(Medieval_Age)

Zmej-Slavic, Balkan and Central-European Dragon

 



Trento-Italy-cathedral-relief_ hunting hound_with_wyvern
This could give the approximate scale for a large pheasant-like bird as measured against an average hunting hound.
In this case it is hard to measure around the tail coil but the whole is about ten feet long..

 

Front half of dragon statue, can be considered as representing the whole of a Wyvern in  itself  by incorporating the legend this way. The Dragon of Wales started out with just the two (Front)

 legs but later added on the rear pair also, as in this statue.                     

cockatrice



St George and the Dragon, above and below

 

Turkish lore speaks of a good dragon and a bad dragon in eternal conflict, a tradition supposedly derived from Inner Asia.
http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%BCkrek
Bükrek and Sangal - Altai Turks and  two dragons fighting in mythology. The conflict is reminiscent  of Yin-Yang symbol. Bukri or also known as Bukra (Bukran),  Has good qualities. Harmless to humans, or even to help. Lizard appearance. No wings, and therefore can not fly. All the seas connects the major sea (ocean) live. There is a very strong ["Water tiger"] claws and a long neck. Her voice is also very nice, and it sounds even said to the other end of the world. It is in conflict with Evil dragons who seek escape from his voice. Fought the nine-year-long war with the evil dragon Sangal and won the match. (Twist / bug / Buk) is derived from the root. Twisty, is writhing. It also embodies the meaning of strength and invincibility. In this context, Boke (hero, champion) has to do with the concept. Bogen / Böge (shaman) are also linked with the word.

It seems that the religious myths recognize a sort of long-necked sea serpent or dragon traditionally, whose name is a "String of Buoys" reference originally but which became the common term of reference for Long Necked Sea-serpent when seen around the area of modern Turkey. This is potentially useful to know. I also don't know how extensively the myth reaches into Inner Asia.

 

"Cocodrillum" from Bestiaries

Bestiary: C is for Cocodrille

It seems that when bestiaries in Western Europe wanted to illustrate a crocodile of the Nile, thy fell back on illustrations of a different kind of animal understood as a "Crocodile" in its place. This was definitely a hairy mammal with what looked like a row of spines on its back and a head like a hound's. This was the version current in Britain, Germany, France and adjoining areas. Peter Costello's book In Search of Lake Monsters in his chapter concentrating on Ireland, mentions a creature with a fearsome reputation known as the "Irish Crocodile" which is probably the Master-Otter. One of the early sightings off of Norway and mentioned to Pontopiddian concerns a four-legged creature caught in a net by some fishermen and which he said 'must resemble a crocodile' and which is also very likely the same creature. Back in the Mediterranean, the confusion was somewhat alleviated because artists were more familiar with actual crocodiles instead.

 

 The bestiary illustrations usually are about a fable where the crocodile swallows a winged dragon but the dragon chews its way through though the crocodile's abdominal wall. This story is actually a hero story originally told with a human protagonist (Who dug his way out with the help of his knife) and it may actually have been native to Africa originally. It is also interesting that the "Dragon" as illustrated in the bestiaries appears to be one of those winged serpents or wyvern types.  That would also be an interpretation made in Western Europe especially. Both of these animals are represented in what passed for a realistic portrayal back then. The Master-Otter or Dobhar-Chu was sometimes also said to attack humans, and this is illustrated in the last picture at the bottom.

 

 

http://marginaliamonster.wordpress.com/tag/medieval-bestiaries/

Still More Gargoyle Dragons and Guivre of France, Including Giant Eels This Time

Gargouille or Langen-Nacker from German website on dragons. 'The Gargoyle has a scaly head, which is supported by a long neck. A slender snout and a large gullet. Pronounced eyebrows, surrounding a pair of glowing eyes like moon rocks. He is a water-snake-like dragon of colossal size. Encased in a fine gray-green scallop-shaped scales, and instead of legs he has two pair of fin membranes. Can spit out of his mouth, he flooded an enormous jet of water, the huge pieces of land. This behavior gave him the name 'Gurgler'. If he has flooded everything, he pushes over the boat of the fugitives, and eats the occupants.'
Below it is a Wasserdrache or water-dragon: a traditional sea serpent but also the type of sighting to be expected in freshwater in Germandic countries, in the larger lakes (mostly in the sea but also sometimes in the larger lakes is specified). We are still talking the pre-1500s period mostly in these instances.

http://homepage.hispeed.ch/nimue/s_drachen.html


Blogger is playing me the funny little trick of not allowing my comments on older posts through again. No matter: whenever that happens, I can make another blog posting. I had some more comments about the diffusion of the dragon conventionalizationalised images being something different from the real animals involved, but I can save that for another day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guivre#La_Guivre

[Wyvern. Public-Domain Clip Art Coloured by DD]




[French Wyvern or Guivre from Wikipedia]


'Typhon' made a remark on my last gargoyle dragons article about the Guivre and I answered the remark to the best of my understanding then, that the name was the same as the Wyvern and not technically the same as the dragon, per se. I then did a little more research and it seems the French at one time were using 'Guivre' where the Germans would say 'wurm' for a serpentine creature without limbs or only with the front limbs. The word has in fact been used to refer to both the French version of the two-legged Tatzelwurm (sometimes with the cat head)

[Internet artwork featuring Tatzelwurm-shaped Guivre]
and sometimes for eel-like water monsters a dozen to two dozen feet long. Both of these are still in contrast to the larger snake-necked quadruped long-necked Gargouille water dragons, which are still some of the more distinctive exemplars of the type. Both of those uses have also continued down to more modern times and sometimes I think the older term has gone out of use but then revived more recently. The use of Guivre as a large serpentine creature definitely seems to be a more modern revival in some of the instances I saw on my recent internet searches.






[Guivre as depicted at Fantasy Artist Liza Phoenix's website]


'Guirve' appears to still be used locally as the name of some eel-like freshwater monsters sighted in France of more recent vintage, presumably including the same sort of sightings that Maurice Burton had mentioned. One comedian had even said that the Loch Ness monster was an old-time Vourive on vacation from France.







[This Boa at the top might be indicating short fins located on either side of the body just behind the head]


The large bestiary serpent called a 'Boas' (Boa) from French bestiaries of the mid-1400s


The Boas is a very large 'snake' seen in France, Italy, Monaco and on the Mediterranean islands, said to be fond of eating children. That probably
means that it was used as a nursery bogie to frighten small children into behaving better. This one looks very much like a large conger eel and is showing what looks like a lateral line. It is indicated as being 'As big as a tree.'


There is a very famous family crest for the Viscount family (various spellings) that shows a very large snake (called a Guivre but presumably the same as the Boas) swallowing a child (always feet-first). An older version of this is depicted on a stone wall and a more recent re-drawing of the family crest follows after that. Both images are from Wikipedia. 'Boas' alone is of course also a well-known family name, including in Latin America.






















More commonly-printed depiction of The Boas also depicted as eating a child. From A Fantastic Bestiary and a public-domain image. There are still occasionally sightings of very large 'snakes' in the area, including a 30-foot-long 'Brontosaurus'-headed 'snake' seen on Sicily in the 1930s. That also sounds like the same sort of giant eel.

If this is actually a giant eel of the Megaconger sort, it is actually scaleless and the scales as shown on the artwork would be imaginary.



The Dragon being slain by Saint George is also shown as a large 'serpent' in Italian and French depictions from the 1100s. Legs and wings were added in later versions because they were 'expected' to be there from other, more contemporary depictions.




Best Wishes, Dale D.

Some Late Dragons and Dragon-Slayings

While I was on a photo search for dragons, I came across a few interesting illustrations that I thought I should share.



The first illustration is the "Winged Serpent" Wyvern or Gwiber type, shown as if it were an Ouroboros. In this case I thoought it was an important depiction because it is obviously feathered and has a feathered neck, but also thatit is feathered in green and that the long green feathers of its tail have ocelli like a peacock's tail. The reminisces of Gwibers in Wales mentioned that their bodies were feathered and gaudy. and the feathers resembled peacock feathers. I wrote a blog for the CFZ in which I identified these "Flying serpents" as a sort of long-tailed pheasant-like bird and this looks like the illustration is going right along with the identification. It also seems to have a couple of feather tufts or "Horns" on its head, as some other more usual pheasants do.

The first part of this article was reprinted in Richard Muirhead's journal FLYING SERPENTS (April 2011) and the part two is now pending. It had been a recent blog entry at that time and one of the first articles on the current blog was a posting on New World Flying Serpents (Amphitheres)which was a follow-up from the CFZ articl;e on Gwibers.

This illustration was labelled as a dragon slaying as illustrated in Lucas Jennis' Bestiary. This would once again be one of the "Flying serpent" Wyverns or Cockatrices. It is interesting in that it seems to be another long-tailed bird but that the long trailing tail is interpreted as a snake's tail. In the case of a pheasant the long tail feathers are not exactly stiff bur can bend and curve around to some extent. I had some photos illustrating this in my CFZ blog on Gwibers (and in the reprinted article)

This is another bestiary illustration indicated as coming from the renaissance period but in Northern Europe, possibly Germany (or Holy Roman Empire as it was then) In this case (one of a few others I have found like it), it seems the "Dragon" or Dragonet is a Master-otter: a nursing mother if the artist isn't being extravagent. The creature would appear to have a full set of teats. The style is probably from the 1500s and this kind of "Dragon" depicted from the British Isles up through Scandinavia. There is some confusion of types because "Salamanders" would be illustrated as just about the same: the size of this one would probably be more the size of a "Salamander".

Best Wishes, Dale D.