ST.
GEORGE
ST.
GEORGE
GEORGE'S
'TRAVELS'
George was born around the year 270 in Cappadocia, in what is now central Turkey. Ironically in view of his destiny, his 'neighbours' to the north-west would have been the former Celts of Galatia (including modern Ankara). His parents were both Christians, which in the Roman Empire at the time was very dangerous. When his father died, George accompanied his mother back to her native Holy Land. George rose to become a tribune in the Roman army, but trouble was brewing. Emperor Diocletian issued an edict against Christians, which George refused to abide by. He was martyred by his own army for his Christianity around the year 304 at or near Lydda (Diospolis), in Israel - chopped into small pieces, buried deep in the earth and consumed by fire - three times, but each time he was resuscitated by God.
We often forget that the Anglo-Saxons in the so-called Dark Ages were great traders, and Turkish goods have been found on English Anglo-Saxon sites. It seems the story of George was an additional import, for he was well known in Britain as far back as the eighth century. His deeds were translated into Anglo-Saxon, and English churches were dedicated to him before the Norman Conquest, for example at Doncaster in 1061. The crusades added to his popularity. William of Malmesbury tells us that Saints George and Demetrius, 'the martyr knights', were seen assisting the Franks at the battle of Antioch, 1098 (Gesta Regum, II, 420). It is probable that the 'arms of St. George' (silver cross on gold) were introduced about the time of Richard the Lionheart (Richard I). In 1284 in the official seal of Lyme Regis a ship is represented with a plain flag bearing a cross. The large red St. George's cross on a white ground remains still the white ensign of the British Navy and it is also one of the elements which go to make up the Union Jack.
George's adoption as England's patron saint is a fuzzy process, and we cannot be quite sure of the date. In 1066 the official patron saint was St. Edward (King Edward the Confessor, who died that year). It was probably the Crusades, and particularly the reign of Richard I (1189-1199) which effected the change to the more militaristic George from the saintly but ineffectual Edward.
King Edward III had founded (c. 1347) the Order of the Garter, an order of knighthood of which St. George was the principal patron. The chapel dedicated to St. George in Windsor Caste was built to be the official sanctuary of the order, and a badge or jewel of St. George slaying the dragon was adopted as part of the insignia. In this way the cross of St. George has in a manner become identified with the idea of knighthood, and even in Elizabeth's days, Spenser, at the beginning of his Faerie Queene, tells us of his hero, the Red Cross Knight.
SAINT
GEORGE AND THE DRAGON
The best known form of the legend of St. George and the Dragon is that made popular by the Legenda Aurea, and translated into English by Caxton. According to this, a terrible dragon had ravaged all the country round a city of Libya, called Selena, making its lair in a marshy swamp. Its breath caused pestilence whenever it approached the town, so the people gave the monster two sheep every day to satisfy its hunger, but, when the sheep failed, a human victim was necessary and lots were drawn to determine the victim. On one occasion the lot fell to the king's little daughter. The king offered all his wealth to purchase a substitute, but the people had pledged themselves that no substitutes should be allowed, and so the maiden, dressed as a bride, was led to the marsh. There St. George chanced to ride by, and asked the maiden what she did, but she bade him leave her lest he also might perish. The good knight stayed, however, and, when the dragon appeared, St. George, making the sign of the cross, bravely attacked it and transfixed it with his lance. Then asking the maiden for her girdle (oh yes?), he bound it round the neck of the monster, and the princess was then able to lead it like a lamb. They then returned to the city, where St. George bade the people have no fear but only be baptized, after which he cut off the dragon's head and the townsfolk were all converted.
The king would have given George half his kingdom, but the saint replied that he must ride on, bidding the king meanwhile take good care of God's churches, honour the clergy, and have pity on the poor. The earliest reference to any such episode in art is probably to be found in an old Roman tombstone at Conisbrough in Yorkshire, considered to belong to the first half of the twelfth century. Here the princess is depicted as already in the dragon's clutches, while an abbot stands by and blesses the rescuer.
----------------------------------