Northamptonshire
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A Tudor rose gules on argent barbed vert.
The Tudor rose has been used in this form on the Northamptonshire County seal since 1665 at least. This isunusual as it is usually shown as white on red. The use of it in this form can be traced to the assoication of the county with the houses both York and Lancaster. The castle and Lordship of Fotheringhay were granted by Edward III to his fifth son and through him to Edware IV of York. Edware IV married Elizabeth Woodville, a member of an ancient Northamptonshire familty which supported the Lancastrian cause. When their daughter Elizabeth of York married Henry VII, a Lancastrian, at Grafton, in Northamptonshire, they combined the two roses in the usual Tudor form - white on red.
