well I'm first
These are called sun dogs or technically parhelion ( I keep on getting confused with aphelion which er is something else )
they are quite well written up here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dogs
and there is a good historical section
There was one battle of the War fo the Roses fought in a snow storm ( Towton ) and I keep on thinking that was where the sun dogs were seen. They werent - that was Mortimer Cross.
The Yorkists high jacked it as a sign from God that They Were Right and God was on the York side.
This is referenced in the lines at the beginning of Richard III
now is the winter of our discontent turned to glorious Summer, by thei Sun of York [ cue you lurching around the kitchen as tho' you have a coal sack on your back ]
altho' the piece says that it is better referenced by the scenes in Henry Vi Pt 3.
I am pretty mixedd up my all this