Tradition: Dutch Mythology
Alternative Names: De Draak van Gelre, Gelderse Draak
Category: Dragon
The Myth
A fearsome dragon lived beneath an ancient medlar tree. It terrorized the surrounding countryside, seizing both people and animals and tearing them apart. The dragon’s terrible cry was always the same: “Gelre, Gelre!”
Lupold and Wichard, sons of Otto, lord of Pont, heard of the beast and set out to destroy it. Beneath the old medlar tree they found the dragon and confronted it. After a fierce struggle, the brothers succeeded in killing the monster.
Where the dragon had been slain, the brothers founded a castle and named it Gelre, after the strange cry that had come from the dragon’s mouth.
Lupold later died without children, and his younger brother Wichard succeeded him. Wichard was married to a daughter of Zutphen, sometimes named Margaretha, daughter of Herman of Hameland. From that time onward he bore three medlar flowers in his coat of arms, preserving the memory of the dragon that had been defeated beneath the ancient medlar tree.
Sources
“De draak van Gelre.” Mijn Gelderland. Accessed September 30, 2026. https://mijngelderland.nl/inhoud/verhalen/de-draak-van-gelre