Sep 23, 2019
When we think of unicorns, we most often think of the mythical creature roaming forests in Europe or if you are from the UK, you’ll likely make a connection with the famous nursery rhyme about the Lion and the Unicorn. In addition to being the national animal for Scotland, and a symbol of their strength and independence, for Shakespeare and the 16th century society in Scotland, the unicorn is a type of currency.
Scotland's unicorn is not only a national legend and official symbol, but also a coin minted originally by James III of Scotland, and the symbol would become under James VI of Scotland, also James I of England, part of the national symbol for Britain as a whole. Here this week to help us explore the advent of the Scottish unicorn on Britain’s royal coat of arms, as well as the numismatic history of the Scottish unicorn as a coin, is our guest Dr. Crystal Lake.
Crystal B. Lake is Professor of
English Language and Literatures at Wright State University in
Dayton, OH. She is also the co-founder and editor of the online
magazine, the-rambling.com. Crystal’s book, Artifacts, will be published in paperback by Johns
Hopkins University Press in Spring 2020, and you can read more
about her research at crystallakephd.com.