Every schoolboy knows that England’s patron saint slew a dragon, but what do we really know about our beloved hero? George was born into a Christian family in Turkey (probably in Bithynia) some time between 275 and 281 a.d. His father was from Cappadocia and served as a soldier in the Roman army. His mother was from Lydda (now Lod, Israel) and the young George was raised there by his mother after his father’s death.
He followed his father into the Roman army and soon proved himself an excellent soldier, becoming tribunus (tribune) and then comes (count) by his late twenties. By 303a.d., George was stationed in Nicomedia as a member of the personal guard of the Emperor Diocletian. It was now that the emperor issued an edict demanding the systematic persecution of Christians across the Empire. George was ordered to participate but, instead, confessed his own Christianity and denounced the emperor. An enraged Diocletian ordered his torture and execution and George was martyred on 23rd April 303.
That’s all we really know for certain about St. George but truth has never been known to stand in the way of a good legend! And the legend goes something like this: a dragon made its nest at the spring that provided water for the city of "Silene" (perhaps modern Cyrene) in Libya or the city of Lydda depending on which source one believes. Consequently, the citizens had to dislodge the dragon from its nest for a time, in order to collect water. To do so, each day they offered the dragon a human sacrifice. The victim was chosen by drawing lots. One day, this happened to be the princess. The monarch begged for her life with no result. She was offered to the dragon, but now appeared the saint on his travels. He faced the dragon, slew it and rescued the princess. The grateful citizens abandoned their ancestral paganism and converted to Christianity.
George was adopted as the patron saint of soldiers after he was said to have appeared to the Crusader army at the Battle of Antioch in 1098. When Richard I was campaigning in Palestine in 1191-92 he put the army under the protection of St George. The banner of St George, the red cross of a martyr on a white background, was adopted for the uniform of English soldiers possibly in the reign of Richard I, and later became the flag of England and the White Ensign of the Royal Navy. When Richard II invaded Scotland in 1385, every man was ordered to wear 'a signe (sic) of the arms of St George', both before and behind, whilst death was threatened against any of the enemy's soldiers 'who do bear the same crosse or token of Saint George, even if they be prisoners'.
In 1348, George was adopted by Edward III as principal Patron of his new order of chivalry, the Knights of the Garter. The earliest records of the Order of the Garter were destroyed by fire, but it is believed that either in 1344 or in 1348 Edward proclaimed St George Patron Saint of England.
Saint George is a leading character in one of the greatest poems in the English language, Spencer's Faerie Queene (1590 and 1596). In more modern times, St George was chosen by Baden-Powell, to be patron of the Scouting Movement, and on St George's Day, scouts are bidden to remember their Promise and the Scout Law. Baden-Powell recounted in Scouting for Boys that the Knights of the Round Table 'had as their patron saint St George because he was the only one of all the saints who was a horseman. He is the patron saint of cavalry, from which the word chivalry is derived'.
St George is still venerated in a large number of places, by followers of particular occupations and sufferers from certain diseases. He is patron of soldiers, archers, cavalry and chivalry; of farmers and field workers, Boy Scouts and butchers; of horses, riders and saddlers; and of sufferers from leprosy, plague and syphilis. George is the patron saint of Aragon, Catalonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Germany and Greece; and of Moscow, Istanbul, Genoa and Venice (second to St Mark). Despite the vast number of places which lay claim to “our” saint, he will always, first and foremost, be associated with those great English institutions of Romance, Chivalry and Honour which gives special point to these famous lines from Shakespeare's Henry V, Act 3, Scene 1:
'I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit; and, upon this charge
Cry - God for Harry! England! and Saint George!’
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