Everything you need to know about St George
Including incredible details about Farleigh Hungerford's St George mural
St George: martyr, mythical hero, trusted intercessor and a focus of community cohesion —there's so much about the saint (in fact and legend) that makes him an ideal patron for modern England.
Not much is known about St George as a historical person.
It's likely George was among those who suffered for their faith during the last great persecution of the Church initiated in 303 by the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
A mid-fourth-century inscription from modern-day Syria provides the earliest evidence of St George's veneration and specifically states he was a martyr.
From an early date, devotion to St George (or his cult) was focused on the Roman city of Diosplis, present-day Lod, in Israel. Diosplis attracted pilgrims from at least the sixth century.
St George: Roman soldier
By then more details were being added to the saint’s story.
St George was identified as a soldier in the Roman army who suffered a hideous martyrdom for his refusal to sacrifice to pagan gods.
St George dragged through the streets of the city behind horses (detail), by Bernat Martorell, 15th century. Image: wikimedia commons
St George dragged through the streets of the city behind horses (detail), by Bernat Martorell, 15th century. Image: wikimedia commons
Veneration of St George spread across the Mediterranean basin, sowing the seeds of an international dimension to his cult that blossomed during the Middle Ages and still characterises his veneration (however you choose to define it) in the 21st century.
St George and the Crusades
The military associations of St George were amplified during the Crusades. He was believed to have appeared to assist the Christian armies during the sieges of Antioch in 1098 and Jerusalem in 1099.
Despite this, his shrine in the Holy Land was (and to some extent, still is) venerated by not only Christians but also Muslims and Jews. Moreover, George's story was conflated with the Islamic prophet and holy man, al-Khadir.
Suggestions that the English adopted the banner of St George as their own during the Third Crusade (1189-92) don't stand up to scrutiny.
It wasn't until the time of Henry VIII that the St George's cross became the national flag. Nor, as is often claimed, did Richard I, the Lionheart, have a special devotion to St George. Among the saints Richard I favoured was Pope Gregory the Great, regarded in the Middle Ages as the Apostle of the English because he had dispatched St Augustine to convert the pagan Anglo-Saxons.
In fact, it wasn't until the mid-13th century that George became firmly associated with the English nation, especially the Crown and at times of war.
St George and the dragon
Veneration of George always had a strong popular dimension.
This was helped along by his dragon-slaying powers. Depictions of the saint in combat with the fearsome serpent date from at least the 9th century.
The statue of St George with a dragon head at his feet, by Alfred Frank Hardiman at Eltham Palace
The statue of St George with a dragon head at his feet, by Alfred Frank Hardiman at Eltham Palace
The popularity of the dragon-slaying story was turbo-charged thanks to its inclusion in the Golden Legend, a collection of saints’ lives by Jacobus de Voragine, an Italian Dominican friar, completed in 1265.
Jacobus de Voragine tells how the handsome George, the embodiment of Christian chivalric virtue, rescued a chaste princess of the city of Silene in Libya from a dragon, by spearing it with his lance.
St George: one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers
George's name was invoked in battle cries, most famously at Agincourt in 1415. However, his appeal extended far beyond the medieval soldiery.
St George killing the dragon, 1434/35, by Bernat Martorell. Image: wikimedia commons
St George killing the dragon, 1434/35, by Bernat Martorell. Image: wikimedia commons
The saint – especially in German-speaking lands – came to be included among a select group of holy personages known as the Fourteen Holy Helpers; empathetic saints whose prayers of intercession were believed to have a high chance of success, particularly at times of personal and communal crisis.
St George and disease
In common with St George, many of the Holy Helpers were early Christian martyrs with colourful legends describing their piety, fantastical deeds and sufferings for Christ.
These same legends provided the basis for their association with particular ailments.
George was no exception. His slaying of the scaly-skinned, fiery breathing dragon meant that his assistance was sought against diseases with dermatological manifestation or that were believed to be spread by 'miasmas' (bad air). Many of these had infectious causes, including leprosy, plague, syphilis and a vast array of hideous ulcerative disorders that remain a source of bemusement for modern medical historians.
It's arguable, given the limited medical knowledge at the time, that prayers pleading for St George's intercession were as likely to have been as beneficial as any therapy offered by a physician.
The treatment of disease in the Middle Ages had a strong spiritual dimension: it was the next world that really mattered.
St George: a popular patron saint across Europe
The friendship offered by St George transcended contested political borders and the boundaries of a rigid class structure.
The saint was – and remains – the patron of numerous polities across Europe and beyond, including not only England but also parts of Germany, Portugal, Armenia, the cities of Antioch, Barcelona and Genoa.
The country of Georgia is even named in his honour. At times of crisis, traditional enemies would turn to St George against the unseen foe of disease.
St George was also part of the glue that bound medieval society together.
Many towns had civic guilds founded in his honour. Membership provided status, a sense of belonging and was also a source of mutual aid and charity in times of need. These same guilds staged elaborate pageants on their patron's feast, which were enjoyed by rich and poor alike.
Their chaplains were also there to provide succour and the sacrament to the sick and dying.
A friend, protector and source of unity: there's plenty in St George that deserves to be honoured and celebrated.
The wall painting of St George and the kneeling knight: St Leonards Chapel, Farleigh Hungerford Castle
Found in both secular and ecclesiastical buildings in England from the Roman period onwards, wall paintings are a unique aspect of our cultural heritage. The wall paintings in the care of English Heritage constitute some of our greatest, little-known treasures.
Stylistically diverse and often technically complex, wall paintings are a major art form which can offer a fascinating insight into the physical, aesthetic and social history of their architectural context.
However, as wall paintings are intrinsically linked to their context within a building and therefore cannot be separated from their environment and put in a museum, they are the most vulnerable form of painting.
Wall paintings are susceptible to many of the same causes of structural and environmental damage and deterioration as the building in which they are located, followed by well-intentioned but disfiguring restorations.
The precious wall paintings to be found in St Leonard's chapel in the outer court of Farleigh Hungerford castle are no exception. Here the interior contains a palimpsest of decorative schemes ranging in date from the 15th to the 19th century.
The earliest is the imposing figure of St George in the south-east corner, commissioned by Sir Walter Hungerford in the 15th century. It may celebrate Sir Walter's pride in his membership of the Order of the Garter. St George remains patron saint of this Order today.
St George, although a frequent subject in English medieval wall painting, was rarely shown standing. This painting is one of only four known examples in this country. Next to St George, but now only just barely visible on the south wall is a representation of a knight.
Regrettably, the original appearance of the St George scheme has been irrevocably distorted due to extensive heavy-handed restorations, including misguided retouchings.
Nevertheless these previous clumsy interventions belie the true quality of these extraordinary paintings. Analysis has shown that they were originally constructed using materials and techniques of the highest quality.
The wall painting of St George inside the Chapel at Farleigh Hungerford castle
The wall painting of St George inside the Chapel at Farleigh Hungerford castle
For example, rare and expensive pigments were employed such as vermilion, orpiment, verdigris, and lead tin yellow using oil as the medium for the paint. Pigments were also frequently mixed and subtly layered. Delicate relief ornament was applied in a thick paste and modelled in situ. Gold and silver leaf was also extensively used, as well as luxurious translucent glazes.
The results of such materials and their application would have produced sumptuous effects. St George and the knight would originally have been shown in shining silver chain mail and rich armour embellished with gold, all set against a grey and white brocade background.
The paintings are technically extremely sophisticated and it is clear that no expense was spared in their construction. Indeed they are even more complex than the late 15th-century scheme of Eton College Chapel which is generally recognised as the finest surviving wall painting of this period. The latter contains no orpiment, which is an unusual pigment in English medieval wall paintings.
Reversing these heavy-handed restorations is sadly not possible. But at least by investigating their original technique through scientific examination, we can understand how these extraordinary paintings were made and as a consequence how they might have originally appeared.
- Book to visit Farleigh Hungerford and see the unique St George wall painting in the chapel today
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