Casgliadau Arlein

Obverse. The king enthroned, wearing an open crown of three fleurs-de-lis, clothed in tunic, dalmatic and loose mantle fastened by cords over his breast and thrown back; his arm outstretched, his left hand (of which two fingers extended) holds a small orb from which issues an elongated fleur-de-lis surmounted by a cross paty, his right hand holds a broad sword erect, its point penetrating the legend; the uprights and lowest panel of the throne are ornamented with small arches, the monarch’s feet rest upon a foot-board (either trellised or carved with quatrefoils) borne upon seven arches. In field, to either side of the throne, a sprig of the plant gemista or broom (from which. Camden asserted, Richard gained his name of Plantagenet), and - to either side of the king’s head - a crescent surmounted by an estoile of seven points wavy. (Bloom sees these as ‘the symbols of unceasing watchfulness, the sun and moon symbolising day and night, the royal eye watching over the subjects both sleeping and waking’.