… because the Genoese have depicted him sitting on a very small horse murdering an even smaller dragon. If I were a legend, whose symbol has been adopted by Genoa and the flags of nations, including England, I would be a little angry about that as well!
St. George was from Palestine, which was a province of the Roman Empire in the third century. A high-ranking Roman soldier, George resigned from his post when the Emperor Diocletian started persecuting Christians. He is said to have personally complained to Diocletian about this and for his insubordination was tortured. After miraculously healing and returning to life on several occasions, George is thought to have finally succumbed to his injuries (no head) on 23 April 303 or 304 AD. This strikes me to be a remarkably specific date of death considering the bloke is alleged to have killed a mythical creature. If dragons did indeed exist as a species, and if this George fellow killed the last one, then I believe he should be posthumously charged with crimes against biodiversity. However, to be fair to the guy, it is thought the dragon-slaying fairytale originated in the 12th century. And unless he suffered from some kind of post-battlefield stress I believe it unlikely that he’d run about boasting of killing winged reptiles. Therefore I would give him the benefit of the doubt.
St. George’s Cross’ links to England are intriguing. During the Roman Catholic Crusades against Muslims and Greek Orthodox Christians and other claimants to Jerusalem and the Holy Land, Europe’s head honcho the Pope allocated the distinctive red cross on white background to French crusaders. The English who’d been allocated a white cross on red design didn’t like it much and went ahead and used the St. George’s Cross on their shields, banners, and pennants anyway. England’s King Henry II subsequently managed to persuade his French counterpart Philip II to swap designs.
Some historians believe that England’s current national flag, despite not being officially recognised as such until the 16th century, was adopted from the Genoese flag. (They’re identical.) Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, is quoted as saying: “The St. George’s flag, a red cross on a white field, was adopted by England and the City of London in 1190 for their ships entering the Mediterranean to benefit from the protection of the Genoese fleet. The English Monarch paid an annual tribute to the Doge of Genoa for this privilege.”
So England boasts a flag symbolising an insubordinate Palestinian thanks to some nice work undermining the French and some dodgy dealings with the Italians.
Brilliant!
References: For more on St. George, visit www.st-george-newbury.org/stgeorge.htm. And there’s Wikipedia of course.
