St George's Day

St George is a very popular chap. He’s the patron saint of Ethiopia, Georgia, Catalonia, Malta, and Aragon in Spain as well as various other territories, cities, universities, hospitals, professions and organisations.

He's also the patron saint of both Ukraine and Moscow, which is somewhat ironic.

But why England also adopted him is something of a mystery as there is no evidence that he ever once set foot in the UK. 

If he existed at all, he was most likely a 1st century Turkish or Greek mercenary fighting in the army of Rome, possibly as a member of the Praetorian Guard under Emperor Diocletian. If that’s true, he picked the wrong emperor as Diocletian famously led the largest persecution of Christians in Roman history. This included purging his army and the story goes that George was sentenced to death for refusing to recant his faith. Consequently, his stoicism led to him being canonised in the 4th century and he became something of a cult figure to many Christian missionaries and, in particular, to fellow soldiers such as the Crusaders and Knights Templar. 

He is most famous for defeating a dragon, of course. The first recorded version of this story appeared in the 11th century in Georgia. A fierce dragon was terrorising the city of Silene in Libya. In order to keep the monster satiated, the people gave it two sheep a day as a sacrifice. But the dragon wanted more and more and soon demanded a human sacrifice. The choice of victim was put to the people and, with the king being unpopular, they chose his only daughter. At this point, George rode in on his horse and saved the princess by killing the dragon with his lance. The grateful king offered the brave knight jewels and gold but George turned them down and insisted that they be distributed to the poor. Meanwhile, the citizens were so impressed that they all converted to Christianity. 

The cult of St George continued to grow throughout the 11th and 12th centuries and when Richard the Lionheart led the Third Crusade in 1189CE he did so under the flag of St George. Consequently, the saint became even more of a shining symbol of bravery and chivalry. He captured the mediæval imagination and appeared in hundreds of art works and poems. He also appeared in countless mumming plays and May Fairs around the country where his battle with the dragon was always a firm favourite. 

In 1348 Edward III of England chose George as the patron saint of his newly created Order of the Garter – the highest level of knight - and began to use the red cross on white ground as his his Royal Standard. It has been the flag of England ever since. Then, around 1415, the 23rd April – supposedly the date of George’s death - was officially declared to be a feast day in his name. Guilds of St George were founded in the 14th and early 15th centuries which featured ridings (as explained in the previous chapter) and processions of pageantry. 

Meanwhile, isn't it curious that most of the British Isles’ patron saints didn’t come from the places they now represent. St George came from the Mediterranean, Ireland’s St Patrick was English, Scotland’s St Andrew was one of the apostles born in Galilee, and Cornwall's St Piran came from Ireland. The only saint who does represent their home country is St David of Wales who hailed from Henfynyw in Ceredigion. He would later perform a miracle at the Synod of Brefi in which the ground he stood on rose up and became a hill. The village on the top became known as Llanddewi Brefi, which means 'Church of David on the (river) Brefi'. It also was the village in which Little Britain's Daffyd Thomas was the only guy in the village.

The things you learn on this blog ...