Here Be Dragons - 1 (109 page)

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have the myths been stripped away, permitting historians to ju(je John's reign without passion or prejudice, to judge John himself-as king, as a mana judgment I sought to convey in Dragons. History' judgment upon Llewelyn echoes that of his contemporaries, to whom he was Llewelyn FawrLlewelyn the Great.
As a point of interest, the title of this book has its roots in the corn mon practice of medieval cartographers; when a mapmaker had drawn upon all of his geographical knowledge, he would neatly letter across the void beyond: Here be dragons. I found the symbolism hard to resist given how very little the
English of the thirteenth century knew of Wales and the Welsh. Then, too, the national emblem of Wales is a winged red dragon, much like those heraldic dragons once emblazoned upon the banners of her princes.
S.K.P. OCTOBER 1984

About the Author
Here Be Dragons is the first in the trilogy that continues with Falls the
Shadow and concludes with The Reckoning. Sharon Kay Penman is also the author of The Sunne in Splendour. She is currently at work on her next book.

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