George, Saint

George, Saint, 4th cent.?, perhaps a soldier in the imperial army who died for the faith in Asia Minor. His life is cloaked in legends; Gibbon's identification of him with George of Cappadocia is false. George is one of the great saints of the Eastern Church and the ancient patron of soldiers. A vision of St. George at the seige of Antioch during the First Crusade is said to have preceded the defeat of the Saracens and the fall of the city to the crusaders. Richard I placed himself and his army under the protection of St. George during the Third Crusade. He became the patron of England in the late Middle Ages. In old plays and in art St. George is the slayer of the dragon; The Golden Legend did much for the extension of the tale. The Red Cross Knight of Edmund Spenser's Faërie Queene is St. George and stands for the Church of England. St. George's Cross is red, and it appears in the Union Jack. Feast: Apr. 23.

Bibliography

See A. Barclay, Life of St. George, ed. by W. Nelson (1955, repr. 1960).

---

George, Saint

(flourished 3rd century—died traditionally Lydda, Palestine; feast day April 23) Early Christian martyr and patron saint of England. His historical existence is uncertain, but from the 6th century he was the subject of legends as a warrior-saint. He was said to have rescued a Libyan king's daughter from a dragon, which he killed in return for a promise that the king's subjects would be baptized. In art, the young saint often wears knight's armor ornamented with a scarlet cross. He probably became England's patron saint in the 14th century, when Edward III made him patron of the Order of the Garter.