Before fighting a battle near Bath, in Somerset, Arthur lorica tanto rege digna indutus, auream galeam simulacro draconis insculptam capiti adaptat, humeris quoque suis clipeum uocabulo Pridwen, in quo imago sanctae Mariae Dei genitricis inpicta ipsum in memoriam ipsius saepissime reuocabat.
donned a hauberk worthy of a mighty king, placed on his head a golden helmet engraved with the image of a dragon and shouldered his shield called Pridwen, on which was depicted Mary, the Holy Mother of God, to keep her memory always before his eyes.
[2][3][4] The list of weapons finds a parallel in Culhwch and Olwen, where Arthur swears by his shield Wynebgwrthucher (perhaps meaning "face of evening"), his spear Rhongomiant, his knife Carnwennan, and his sword Caledfwlch.
[15][16] The Gesta Regum Britanniae, a 13th-century Latin versification of Geoffrey's Historia attributed to William of Rennes, differs from earlier versions in representing the picture of the Virgin Mary as being on the outside of the shield after the manner of a heraldic blazon.
[19][20] Pridwen was named as the shield of King Arthur in the chronicle called Flores Historiarum, both in the original version written by Roger of Wendover and in the adaptation by Matthew Paris.