The Lion & the Unicorn

Research

‘The lion and the unicorn were fight for the crown. The lion beat the unicorn

all around the town.

Some gave them white bread, and some gave them brown; Some gave them plum cake

and drummed them out of town.’

The Lion and the Unicorn as they appear in A Nursary Rhyme Picture

Book by L. Leslie Brooke.

The Lion and the Unicorn use as symbols of the United Kingdom.

The Lion stands for England and the unicorn stands for

Scotland.

They appear in the full in both versions of the Royal coat of arms of the UK.

Although switched places in the Scottish version.

Scottish Version

The lyrics to the rhyme date back to 1603, when King James VI of Scotland became James I of England, unifying England

and Scotland.

The union of the two countries required a new royal coat of arms, previously the English one featured two Lions and the

Scottish featured two Unicorns. Compromising, both were combined together, featuring one of each.

The royal arms as used by the House of Stuart, arms of William and Mary

1688-1694/1702

Traditionally the Lion and the Unicorn have been considered natural rivals, opposites, destined to fight.

Lions; fiery, brave and ferocious. Unicorns; cool, healing and intelligent.

The nursery rhyme reflects this opposition of beasts, as well as the opposition between England and Scotland,

but has no representation of good vs evil.

The Lion

The Unicorn Lion is common in heraldry, and is historical thought to be the king of beasts. The lion is seen in many different positions.

Depending of the culture and country unicorns are characterised as:

Brave Strong Royal

Courageous Proud

The Unicorn

The Unicorn were considered to be very rate and precious, in heraldry the unicorn is best known as the symbol of Scotland. It was chosen because it is a proud beast which would rather die

than be captured. Depending of the culture and country unicorns are

characterised as:

Innocent Pure Bold

Proud Healing

Intelligent Nurturing

Unicorns are perceived to have the body and head of a horse, the tail of a lion and perfect spiralled horn

in the middle of their forehead.

The Lion and the Unicorn Illustrations

from ‘Through the Looking Glass’ by John Tenniel

The Lady and the Unicorn

The Lady and the Unicorn (modern title) is a series of six tapestries, texture art, woven from wool and silk. The six pieces were created in Paris around 1500, five of them depict the five senses, the last “À Mon Seul Désir” commonly interpreted as Desire.

Each of these six pieces show a woman, with a Lion on her right and a Unicorn of her left. The same as the English version of the UK coat of arms.

An earlier use of the two animals together are the series The Lady and the Unicorn.

Unicorn-Moon & Lion-Sun

The Lion is commonly known as a Solar symbol is astrology, whereas the Unicorn, although not as widely established, is often associated as a symbol for the Moon.

This adds to the opposing differences between the creatures.

The UK coat of arms is said to not only show the union of two formerly warring nations, but also the balanced forces of nature, harmony between the Sun and the Moon.

‘The Lion-sun flies from the rising Unicorn-moon and hides behind the

Tree or Grove of the Underworld; the Moon pursues, and, sinking in

her turn, is sun slain.’

Robert Brown, The Unicorn: A Mythological Investigation (1881)