Cry "God for Harry, England, and Saint George!"

The title is from Shakespeare's Henry V, and is King Henry's battle cry at Agincourt. And I'm writing this today because today is 23rd April - Saint George's Day.

George is the patron saint of England, and you might expect that this would be our national day, but no........ We English seem to have missed the boat on national days such as Ireland and Scotland.

Anyway, here's something about George, fact and fiction, truth and legend - read on

Facts first...

As mentioned, George is patron saint of England, and his emblem, a red cross on white is the flag of England.

Curiously he is also patron of Moscow City, and Georgia (former SSR that is). Iberia has claimed him too, and he is also patron saint of Aragon and Catalonia (Barcelona especially).

He was patron saint of Portugal until the 18th Century, and is still, it seems, "Commander" of the Portuguese Army.

Actually, the list is much, much longer, and includes patronage of Palestinian children, and the city of Beirut, as well as Canada and Montenegro....

Curiously too, he is regarded as a muslim saint, Mar Girgis

Fictions...

There seem to have been many tales about George, brought back to Europe by troubadours after the Crusades. Many tales seem to have been inspired by the Eastern Orthodox Church, who saw George as a great soldier and saint (and martyr). In English legend he is said to have been the only mounted knight at the time of King Arthur, and so was also the patron of cavalry, and hence, of chivalry.

The true story...

There really was a George, although I can't be sure that was his real name. He was born into a well-to-do family in the 3rd Century, and lived in Cappodicia, which we know today as Turkey. He moved with his mother (no idea what happened to Dad - he had also been a soldier, so may have died in battle) and lived near Diospolis, which is present day Lydda, or Lod, and eventually joined the Roman Army. (Remember that in those days the Roman Empire took in almost all the Mediterranean shores). He must have done well, because ultimately he gained the rank of Tribune, which is equivalent to Colonel today, by his twenties.

The Roman Empire was then ruled by Diocletian, who began a series of persecutions against Christians from about 302 AD. George was expected to take part, but objected personally to the Emperor, which went down very badly. He was imprisoned, and tortured - broken on a wheel, according to one account - and finally beheaded.

Legend has it that Alexandrina, the Emperor's wife, was so impressed with George's courage, that she converted to Christianity, and not surprisingly was executed shortly thereafter.

The Dragon story...

George is always associated with a dragon, although there are many similar dragon tales around the world, and the tale which is generally told is this:

A dragon lived near a pagan town in Libya - perhaps Selena. The dragon terrorised the people, who fed it with sheep, at first. However, the dragon was insatiable, and so the diet was changed to people, especially maidens. Clearly they must have been running out of maidens, as one day the King's daughter found herself chained to a rock in her wedding dress, for the dragon's delight.

Fortunately George was riding by, and attacked the dragon.he disabled it with his spear, and asking the princess for her girdle, subdued the dragon completely. he marched the dragon back to town, whereupon it was slaughtered by the townsfolk.

The princess gave George a red rose (the red rose is the flower of England), although that seems to be as far as he got. And the people all became Christian.

The meaning of the legend...

The simplest meaning of the legend is that it's a fight against good and evil, the dragon representing the devil (or evil in general), and the maiden representing the Church.

But... The story is very similar to the legend of Perseus and Andromeda, which had been around for very much longer.

Modern day George...

England has seen six King Georges, and it is likely that if Prince Charles should ever ascend to the throne of England, he would take the name George too (it is one of his names).

The George Cross is a British decoration for civilian gallantry, roughly equivalent to the military Victoria Cross. One of the most famous awards of the George Cross was to the entire population of Malta, following World War 2, and the cross is depicted on the Maltese flag.

The girdle of legend seems to have inspired the Order of the Garter, also patronised by George.

And finally, George is commemorated, but not celebrated, by the Anglican church, which flies his flag (the English flag) on his feast day.