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At last, that all the men might not be eaten up, a law was
made that lots should be drawn to select the victim from the
youth and infants of all ranks ; and so the dragon was fed
with young gentlefolks and poor people's babes, till the lot
fell upon the king's daughter. Then the king was very sorry,
and begged the people to take his gold and silver instead of
his only and much-loved daughter, whose name was Cleodolinda.
This the people would not accept, because the law was of his
own making. So the king wept very much, and begged of the
people to allow the princess eight days before it came to her
turn to be given to the dragon to be devoured. And to this the
people consented.
When the eight days were passed, the king caused his
daughter to be richly dressed, as if she were going to her
bridal, and having kissed her and given her his blessing, she
was allowed to be taken by the people to the dragon.
It was at that moment that St. George arrived on the scene
; and when he saw the princess being led out, he demanded to
know what all the commotion was about.
"Go thy way, fair young sir, that thou perish not also
!"
But again the fair youth demanded to know the reason of her
being there, and why she wept. Then he tried to comfort her ;
and she, seeing that he would not be satisfied, had to tell
him. Instantly upon learning this, St. George promised to
deliver her ; but she begged him to go away, not believing he
could do her so great a service.
While they were thus talking together the dragon appeared
and was seen running towards them. The new-found champion,
being on horseback, drew his sword and
signed himself with the sign of the cross, and then, riding
violently forward, attacked the monster with his spear,
wounding him so sorely that he was overthrown. The victor then
called the princess to approach and bind her girdle about the
dragon's neck, and not to be afraid. When she had done so, the
dragon "followed as he had been a meek beast" ; so she led him
into the city.
The people, however, when they saw the creature were so
affrighted they fled out of the city, seeking safety in the
mountains and valleys. St. George went after them to encourage
them, promising to slay the beast outright if they would
return, believe on Christ Who had given him the strength, and
be baptized. To this they consented ; so the champion slew the
dragon, cut off its head, and the people drew the monster's
body out of the city on four great carts, each drawn by four
strong oxen.
The king and upwards of fifteen thousand men, besides women
and children, were immediately baptized ; and soon the king
built a magnificent church on the spot where the beast was
slain, dedicated it to St. George.
As to the moral character of this great Christian champion,
it is only reasonable to suppose that an eminence so high in
the saintly calendar was not attained, or a popularity so wide
among the various nations of Christendom was not won, without
the personal possession of those virtues by which alone man
ordinarily wins and retains the confidence and esteem of his
fellows. Yet the learned historian Gibbon, who wrote The
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, declares that St. George
was an army contractor - he is regarded as the patron saint of
all soldiers - who was actually guilty of fraud and cheating
in his business dealings with the Roman army authorities.
Surely no patriotic Englishman will ever accept this estimate
of his favourite Christian champion.
A real estimate of St. George's character is best seen in
Edmund Spenser's grand poem, The Faerie Queene, written during
the spacious days of Queen Elizabeth. This beautiful
composition is cast in the form of an allegory or parable, of
which the hero is the Red Cross Knight, otherwise St. George,
who represents the idea of Piety ; while the heroine is Una, a
beautiful maiden who stands for the idea of truth.
Of the various startling adventures of this pair in their
perilous journey through Wandering Woods it is unnecessary to
say more here ; but it must be noted that towards the end,
when they approach Eden, the Dragon porter at the gates flies
at the Knight, and St. George has to do battle with it for
three days before he succeeds in slaying it.
The Dragon being slain, the two enter Eden, where the Red
Cross Knight is united to Una in the holy bonds of matrimony.
This happy ending to the tale, if not the description of his
character all through the lengthy narrative of the exquisite
poem, plainly indicates our national conception of the
character of St. George.
Now there are said to be Seven Champions in Christendom ;
and St. George is easily the greatest of them. The Christian
Champions are : St. George for England (said to have been
imprisoned seven years by the Almidor, the black King of
Morocco) ; St. Denis for France (who lived for seven years in
the form of a hart) ; St. James for Spain (who for seven years
was dumb) ; St. Anthony for Italy (who enchanted in a Black
Castle till released by the St. George's three sons) ; St.
Andrew for Scotland ; St. Patrick for Ireland ; and St. David
for Wales (he slept for seven years in an enchanted garden
till gallantly rescued by St. George).
All these champions, of course, performed wonderful deeds
to win their high renown, but it will be noticed that St.
George is always accounted the mightiest champion, and was
therefore the most famous. Of such marvellous doings were the
romances of the Middle Ages made up ; and for some reason
seven is always the mystic number in them.
By the sixth century St. George was fully established in
popular favour, and the Crusades added to his great renown. He
is said to have fought for Godfrey de Bouillon, in the First
Crusade, at the Battle of Antioch, which city was captured and
made the capital of a Christian principality ; and for Richard
the Lion-Heart, of England, in the Third Crusade, nearly a
hundred years later. at Acre, which was taken after a
desperate siege of two years.
Many and exceeding marvellous were the miracles attributed
to St. George ; and so popular did he become in olden times
that many places besides England claimed him for their patron
saint ; as Sicily, Aragon, and Malta. Many towns, too, elected
to fight under his banner, as Genoa, Barcelona, and not a few
others.
His connection with England begins with the first of these
episodes, when he appeared at the head of the Christian army,
carrying a red-cross banner. The broad red Latin-shaped cross
on a white field is now known as the flag of St. George and
was for centuries our national flag. It was embodied in the
Union Jack, and is to-day the flag of an English admiral.
Since the siege of Antioch, St. George has been regarded as
the champion of Christendom as well as of England. The reason
for this choice is thus set forth by one historian : "At the
famous siege of Antioch, when the city was like to be relieved
by a mighty army of Saracens, St. George appeared with an
innumerable army coming down from the hills all in white, with
a red cross to his banner, to reinforce the Christians, which
occasioned the Infidel army to fly, and the Christians to
possess themselves of the city."
The name of this saint was used as a war-cry because he was
of the military caste, and therefore fitted to become the
patron of soldiers.
Shakespeare mentions our patron saint and the use of his
name as a battle-cry. Thus in the play of Richard III he makes
Richmond finish and address to his soldiers with these words :
"Sound drums and trumpets boldly and cheerfully,
God
and Saint George ! Richmond and victory !"
So also, on the other side, King Richard, after receiving
the news that Lord Stanley had deserted and gone over to the
enemy, valiantly exclaims :
"Advance our standards, set upon our foes,
Our
ancient word of courage, fair Saint George,
Inspire us with
the spleen of fiery dragons !
Upon them !"
Richmond won the day, and became King Henry VII. In the
tenth year of his reign the Irish were forbidden to use their
favourite war-cry in their own language, "Aboo !" and strictly
enjoined to use only words that were not "contrary to the
king's laws, his crown and dignity and peace, but to call on
St. George," or else the name of the King of England, for the
time being.
Indeed, in olden times there was an instruction to English
soldiers in the art of war, worded in this way : "Item that
all souldiers entering into battaile, assault, skirmish, or
other faction of armes, shall have for their common cry and
word, 'St. George forward,' or 'Upon them, St. George' ;
whereby the souldier is much comforted, and the enemie
dismaied by calling to minde the ancient valor of England,
which with that name has so often been victorious."
And never let it be forgotten that at the glorious attack
on Zeebrugge Mole, on the eve of St. George's Day, 1918, our
gallant men rushed on the German defenders, strongly posted
with every weapon that modern military science could devise,
to the ancient battle-cry of "St. George for England !" They
showed the same great courage as the mail-clad knights of
Coeur de Lion who spurred their chargers against the Paynim
hosts of Saladin.
Many are the old ballads in honour of England's patron
saint. The ballad of "St. George and the Dragon" places the
saintly dragon-slayer above all the heroes of English romance.
The first and last verses of this composition run as follows
:
"Why should we boast of Arthur and his
Knights,
Knowing how many men have performed fights ?
Or
why should we speak of Sir Lancelot de lake,
Of Sir
Tristram du Leon, that fought for Ladies' sake ?
Read in
old stories, and there you shall see
How St. George, St.
George, he made the dragon to flee.
St. George he was for
England, St. Denis was for France ;
Sing, Honi soit qui mal
y pense !
"Mark Anthony, I'll warrant ye, play'd feats with
AEgypt's Queene ;
Sir Eglemore that valiant Knight, the
like was never seen ;
Grim Gorgon's Might was known in
Fight ; old Bevis most men frighted ;
The Mirmidons and
Prester John ; why were not these men knighted ?
Brave
Spinola took in Breda, Nassau did it recover ;
But St.
George, St. George, turn'd the dragon over and over.
St.
George he was for England, St. Denis was for France ;
Sing,
Honi soit qui mal y pense !"
The burden of this ballad (which is by no means the oldest
relating to the legend), "Honi soit," etc., is Norman-French,
which was the court language when the ancient Order of the
Garter was founded by Edward III. It may be translated, "Evil
be (to him) who thinks evil." This is the remark which
tradition says the king made when he picked up the garter
accidentally dropped by the Countess of Salisbury at a grand
court ball at Windsor, and induced him to institute in memory
thereof that most noble order for the most chivalrous of his
knights. So that a blue ribbon, bearing that famous motto, has
become the highest badge of knightly honour in the world. It
accompanies a jewelled badge representing St. George slaying
the Dragon as the patron saint of the Order. The banners of
these knights are appropriately hung in St. George's Chapel at
Windsor. Of all the Orders of Chivalry in Europe, the Order of
the Garter is accounted the most noble.
This is the way a very old book quaintly extols the virtues
of England's patron saint :
"This blyssyd & holy martyr, saynt George, is patron of
this realme of englond, & the crye of men of warre. In the
worshyp of whom is founded the noble ordre of the gartre,
& also a noble college in the castel of wyndsore by kynges
of englonde, in whiche college is the hert of saint George,
which Sugysmond the emperour of almayne brought & gave it
for a grete & precyous relyke to kynge Henry the fyth ;
and also the sayd Sygysmond was a broder of the said garter,
& also there is a pece of his heed."
The day set apart for the commemoration of St. George is
April 23. In England this date is now called Empire Day, and
is a national festival. In the old Clogg Almanacks - those
wooden calendars such as poor lonely Robinson Crusoe made and
marked off with notches to reckon the days of the year - St.
George's Day notch was always distinguished by a shield or
else by a spearhead.
St. George's Day is also kept by us as Shakespeare's Day,
the great poet is said to have been born and to have died on
that day of the year. One ancient custom in honour of the
national saint was to wear blue, though the practice has now
entirely fallen out f use. An old rhyme of the time when all
patriots donned blue coats or blue gowns on April 23 has it
that -
"On St. George's Day, when blue is worn
The harebells
blue the fields adorn."
In olden times great was the reverence paid to our national
saint on April 23, and rather striking were some of the
customs observed on that day. One general custom was for
people of fashion to wear blue coats on St. George's Day
because, as some said, of the abundant flowering of bluebells
in the fields about that season ; or, as others would have it,
because blue was the national colour , as St. George was the
national saint, and therefore the one was appropriate to the
other. More probably the fashion was in imitation of the blue
mantles worn by the Knights of the Garter, which noble Order
of St. George was sometimes known as the Blue Garter. Another
popular custom of St. George's Day was to light great bonfires
everywhere possible.
But when the Reformation came, this great national day was
shorn of its ancient glories, many of the old customs not
being in accord with the purer ideas of religion.
According to an old ballad preserved among the Percy
Reliques, St. George was the son of Lord Albert of Coventry.
His mother is said to have died at his birth, and the new-born
babe was stolen away by the Weird Lady of the Woods, who
brought him up to deeds of arms. His body had three remarkable
birthmarks : on his breast was a dragon, round one of his legs
was a garter, and on his right arm was a blood-red cross. It
is easy to see that this tale must have originated
subsequently to the institution of the Order of the Garter in
1344, and been inspired by a wish to make the patron saint of
England a hero of English birth.
The chorus of an old May-day carol, once popular in the
Wednesbury district of South Staffordshire, was :
"Awake, St. George, our English knight, O !
For
summer is a-come and winter is a-go !"
Although St. George, as a veritable character in history,
was never in England, there is in Berkshire a place called
Dragon's Hill which is declared by local tradition to be the
actual spot where this saintly champion slew the dragon. A
bare place is pointed out upon which nothing will grow,
because, say the country folk, it was there the dragon's blood
ran out and sank into the soil. This is mere legend, of course
; but in the Saxon Annals we are told that at this place
Cedric, the founder of Wessex, slew Naud, the Pen-dragon (that
is "the Great Chief"), with 5,000 of his men. In this historic
fact is doubtless found the origin of the legend.
Although, as has been said, our national saint was never in
these islands, the Welsh claim not only that he came from
Wales, but that he performed his memorable exploit there. At
the village of St. George in Denbighshire, which is claimed to
have been the actual spot where he slew the dragon, they will
proudly show you the hoof-mark of the saint's horse on the
coping-stone of the churchyard wall ! In Wales St. George was
regarded as the protector of horses ; and in the Middle Ages,
when university students at Oxford were divided into
"nations," Welshmen attended lectures at St. George's Hall
!
Wide indeed is the popularity of the saint, and many are
the virtues attributed to him. Around Rennes in Brittany he is
regarded as the special protector of cherry-trees.
In Egypt, where St. George suffered death, he is venerated
by the Coptic Christians next to their founder, St. Mark ; and
his ikon or image is found in all their churches.
Not the least curious thing in the remarkable history of
St. George of Cappadocia is the surprisingly circumstantial
report that during the recent great World War the British Army
in Egypt discovered the tomb of their patron saint, which had
been long hidden beneath the mosaic of the church at Shellal,
on the main road from Jerusalem to Egypt, where it is now
suggested his remains had reposed unknown for fourteen
centuries.
A captain of Anzacs noticed that the Turks in digging a
trench had exposed the edge of a mosaic, whereupon the
regimental chaplain got together a band of willing workers
from an engineer detachment, and after many days' labour
(within range of the enemy's guns) succeeded in carefully
removing the superincumbent soil, and revealing an
inscription, a translation of which read : "This temple was
built by our Most Holy and Most Pious George in the year A.D.
561." Below was a skeleton believed to be that of the saint
himself, with the feet towards the east, and with the arms
crossed on the breast. All of which is very strange, if the
facts are as surmised.
There are a number of places which claim to possess sacred
relics of this widely honoured saint, the church of
Mares-Moutier, in Picardy, proudly boasting possession of his
head.
No symbolical device is more familiar than that of St.
George and the Dragon. Yet it will be noticed that it varies
in detail. Sometimes the saintly champion is on foot,
trampling on the vanquished dragon, but more frequently he is
depicted on horseback ; more rarely a female is seen in the
distance praying. Occasionally he is even represented without
the dragon, but then always on foot, with a spear or sword in
one hand, and holding in the other a shield or a banner of
white, with a red cross on it. He is invariably represented as
a young man, and is usually clad in Roman armour.
No design for ornamentation is more commonplace, even to
use on a plate and china ware. As a public-house sign it is
mentioned in Shakespeare's play of King John :
"Saint George that swindg'd the dragon, and e'er since
sure
Sits on his horse-back at mine hostess' door."
This refers to its ordinary type of composition as a
picture ; but in Beaumont and Fletcher's play of A Woman's
Prize occurs a reference to one of a humorous description, and
apparently well known at Kingston, depicting the valiant saint
as running away from the dragon :
"To-morrow morning we shall have you look,
For all
your great words, like St. George at Kingston,
Running
a-footback from the furious dragon
That with her angrie
tail belabours him
For being lazie."
Here it will be noted that the dramatists refer to the
dragon in the feminine, which is very uncommon, though in an
old Black Country mumming play the character of a Queen Dragon
is introduced ; and the term She-dragon has often been used to
designate a duenna, or female guardian of a young maiden, such
guardianship being one of the useful functions attributed to
the fabled dragon of old romance. This quaint old signboard
offers one of the very rare instances in which fun is poked at
the much-bepraised saint.
St. George and the Dragon is a prolific theme ; and
representations of the subject in art, past and present, in
sculptured stone and carved wood, in painting and in stained
glass, are as numerous as they are widely scattered throughout
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