The All-purpose Saint: The Evolution Of The Cult Of St George In England

At once it is acknowledged that `evolution` may imply a purposive continuity which is far from the way in which the tradition of St George has been continually re-shaped for different purposes since Adomnan gave a first passing mention of this Palestinian cult in the late 7th century. It is also acknowledged that there was little by way of a cult of St George in England until Edward III founded the Order of the Garter and made a collection of the saint's relics at St George's Chapel, Windsor.

Although St George in English History is as complete a book as possible been able to make, this article is not a `tour d'horizon`. Instead it focuses on five periods - pre-Conquest, the Crusading era, the late middle ages, the post-Reformation cult and, briefly, the Redcrosse liturgy, based on Spenser's Fairy Queene, which has just been produced. The article does not discuss the Golden Legend but instead focus on the South English Legendary. The author is a general historian, not a liturgiologist, and apologizes should that become only too evident.

In summary the findings are these: contrary to the myth-making that went on from the Tudors until well into the 20th century, there was no significant pre-Conquest cult, no evidence that St George knew the emperor Constantine as alleged by popular authors, far less that St George visited England and founded a chapel at Glastonbury. So much may be taken for granted here, but not in the books that are still being reprinted telling the traditional patriotic myth of St George. The story and symbolism of the saint has, as we shall see, played many different roles in English history. What the pre-Conquest cult amounted to was this:

1. A scattering of relics, such as those described as '[some] of the bones of St George, the great champion and martyr of Christ' in a list on the fly-leaf of an 11th-century Gospel book at Exeter Cathedral, and some at the New Minster, Winchester.

2. Adomnan's report in De situ terrae sanctis of the travels in the Holy Land of the Gaulish bishop Arculf (or Arnulf) which gives no prominence to Arculf's visit to St George's tomb at Lydda and uses his anecdotes about the saint to commend penitence.

3. We know only the bare fact that St Willibald visited St George's tomb in the 8th century.

4. Acts of St George, first written in Latin, which were localized to include visits by the saint to Caerleon and Glastonbury while on service in England as a member of Constantine`s staff appeared around this time. These, though, translated into Anglo-Saxon, formed the basis of the English tradition of St George. The most important is the metrical homily by Aelfric the 10th -century abbot of Eynsham (of which more later).

5. The first `official` mention of St George`s Day in England was the listing of the Feast of St George on 23 April by the Venerable Bede (c. 673-735) in his Calendar, which probably drew on Adomnan. Neither Bede nor Adomnan comment on or explain their references to St George, but it cannot thereby be assumed that these were familiar to their readers. Although Bede knew Adomnan`s book well, he and his contemporary Aldhelm are silent about George, perhaps because it was not until the transfer of St George's supposed head to the church of St George in Velabro, by Pope Zacharias that the saint began to be culted in Rome and his feast found a permanent place in the Roman service books and their northern offspring.

6. St George then appears briefly in a ninth-century Anglo-Saxon Passion by Ecgberht, bishop of York which subsequently entered the ritual of Durham church, later to be rebuilt by 11th-century Normans as Durham Cathedral.

7. Aelfric `the Grammarian`, Abbot of Eynsham (c.955-1020) wrote an alliterative metrical homily on the passion of St George in his Lives of the Saints (990-992). Aelfric largely began the creation of an English tradition of St George, turning him into `a rich earldormann from the shire of Cappadocia`, of whom the Emperor [Diocletian] asks from what borough he comes.

Aelfric made use of a significantly reduced version of the Latin form of the legend. This recension recounts only three tortures and George's final beheading. Retained, however, are the saint`s victories over the magician Athanasius and the god Apollo and his worshippers, as examples of George`s favour with God. The final intercessory prayer, for those who remember him and his feast day, is also preserved, but in shortened form. After the Conquest this version continued to be used to provide lessons to be read in churches on the saint`s feast day, as well as for devotional reading among monastics.

8. St George is later recorded in an 11th-century Old English martyrology given by Bishop Leofric (bp 1050-1072) to Exeter Cathedral and now at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. This was a unique compilation of Old English prose summaries of or extracts from Latin saints` legends, which contains entries for George (April 23) and for the Empress Alexandra (April 27) and includes part of the martyr`s elaborate final prayer for his devotees. The author made use of the longer and probably older version of the Latin tradition which had been known in England from the ninth century.

9. A number of churches were dedicated to his memory, including one at Fordington in Dorset mentioned in the will of Alfred the Great (849-99). A fresco of St George as a Crusader, dating from the time of the Conquest, has been discovered there. In addition, the tympanum, dating from about the same period shows the saint is fighting human enemies, not a dragon. Mounted on horseback, he is thrusting a spear into the mouth of one while another lies prostrate, and a third appears truncated with arms raised in fear or surrender. Other churches of St George were built at Doncaster and at Southwark. The Doncaster church, however, is now believed to be post-Conquest. Monasteries of St George were established, including one at Thetford in the reign of Canute (1017-35). (Whether Canute was a Christian and possibly interested in St George is debatable.)

10. Research into church dedications has reduced the list of churches in England supposedly dedicated to St George before the Conquest from the 120 claimed by Victorian scholar Frances Arnold-Forster. Jonathan Good has found that only 27 of these can be confirmed by contemporary documentation, although at least another 26 can be added to the list. 2. The Crusading era

St George`s Chapel, Oxford, was founded c. 1074, although it may been in some form of existence earlier and may have replaced an Anglo-Saxon church whose dedication is unknown. St George's began as a collegiate church for secular canons, founded and endowed jointly by Robert d`Oilly and Roger d`Ivry. D`Oilly accompanied William on the Conquest, and the cult of the saint was held in high regard in the Conqueror's circle.

St George, thus, was certainly known in England by the time of the Conquest, although apparently not the focus of a major cult. According to Orderic Vitalis in c. 1200, one of William the Conqueror`s companions, Hugh, earl of Chester, had a clerk (chaplain) named Gerold who would recite edifying stories about George and other martial saints to the household during the 1070s. Gerold's activities are often seen as indicative of the role played by the clergy in constructing the militant knightly piety that emerged on the eve of the First Crusade. A critical analysis of Gerold's career, however, demonstrates that he himself was not an advocate of this aggressive new piety, promoted by St Bernard of Clairvaux. Rather, Gerold used the warrior-saints as models of humility in order to convince contemporary warriors to renounce the world and become monks.