St George and the Dragon are Dead

But how did they die? And where are the new heroes?

23^rd April is St George’s Day!

Let the pageantry begin. Let the joy be unconfined. Get the dragon down from the loft!

No. That’s not happening.

The English take little pride in St George. In fact, the English take great pride in how little pride we take in our national saint. To be fair to my kin, St George is not even English. He was a Roman soldier – ethnically Turkish – who became a Christian. Refusing to sacrifice to the pagan gods, he paid with his blood, which is the red of the cross of the English flag.

St George used to be celebrated with gusto in many parishes and cities during the medieval period going back to the ninth century. The Norman church in which I was baptised may have Saxon origins and is named after our Patron saint.

The stock of St George undoubtedly rose in the 13^th century. The crusading spirit was at its peak and the age of chivalry was also in full swing. The Synod of Oxford in 1222 is said to have placed Saint George’s day on a par with other feast days. This has been challenged since some records of that Synod don’t mention it.

But if you follow the money, you will see large sums being spent on St George’s Day celebrations in wealthy cities like Norwich along with Chester, York and Coventry.

Enter the Dragon

At some point, a dragon became St George’s nemesis. Perhaps St George the soldier was mingled with St Michael, the dragon-slaying archangel. For a celebration at Westminster Abbey, Henry III (1216-1272) ordered the construction of an elaborate silk dragon “the tongue of which should be made to resemble burning fire”.  These kinds of celebrations grew and continued until the reign of Henry VIII. St Margaret was also thrown into the pageantry for good measure. I’m not sure why.

Exit St George

When the Reformation came, George’s days were numbered. Being a saint, he was not to be venerated or worshipped any longer. But St George could not be scrubbed out of existence like St Thomas Becket, who represented a church defiantly standing up to a king called Henry. St George’s name and flag were everywhere. His cross was embedded all over the place. He was the special patron of the Order of the Garter.

Queen Elizabeth tried to revive St George’s fortunes without success, as did James I and his son Charles. But St George was, to all intents and purpose, dead. Again.

So if not George, then round whose banner can we rally? There is no appetite to return to the old saints like Cuthbert, Thomas Becket or Edward the Confessor. Today, our Patron saint might as well be Winston Churchill. He has the advantage of having real life foes to slay in the form of Nazis. George’s adversary is mythical if not downright fictional.

The death of that dragon is, I think, more significant than the death of St George. Allow me to explain after this strange picture - which will also make sense - and an invitation to subscribe to this Almanac for free if you don’t already:

Chasing the Dragon

In Merry Old England, dragons were, according to The Dictionary of English Folklore, believed to be “real but rare”. It is said that the Bishop of Wells killed a dragon in some nearby woods in the 14^th century. No-one is quite sure how, and details are sketchy. But the tale isn’t presented as an elaborate and embellished fantastical myth; more like a form of pest control. There is a village near the site called Wyrminster, a ‘wyrm’ being a word for a serpent-like creature.

There are quite a few local legends of dragons in England. But no one believes them anymore. Why not? Who killed the dragon?  If the Reformation killed St George, was it the Enlightenment that killed the dragon? Did rationalism kill the mysticism?

Or did the dragons go before they were pushed?

Perhaps the dragons just read the room. They’re not stupid. They aren’t just lizards like komodo dragons. They are spiritual creatures. Let us not forget that in the beginning Eve is deceived by a talking snake, whose head will be crushed. In Revelation, we see how the dragon is thrown down by the Archangel Michael. St Michael is not a metaphor. So why would the dragon be?

If dragons are real in some sense, intelligent and evil, and opposed to God’s purposes, why would they stick around and create fear, driving us back into the arms of Jesus? Better to slink away and allow the secular West to become ever more sceptical.

Satan knows well that they who deny his being will not be afraid of his power and influence; will not watch against his wiles and devices; will not pray to God for deliverance from the Evil one.¹

In a world of dormant and disappearing dragons, we have no need of dragon-slayers.

Instead of St George, or Jesus, who defeated sin, death and devil, we’ve got Winston Churchill. He is our patron saint because he defeated the only baddies we actually believe to be real: Nazis. Hence the endless documentaries about the Second World War and annual commemorations of Dunkirk, D-Day and anything else that happened between 1939 and 1945.

Come back, St George. Awake the dragons and slay them. We need to be reminded of a true hero who defeats what is truly evil, and praise our God in heaven.

Happy St George’s Day.

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Talking of dragons, the Reformed Mythologist and I talked about How to Train Your Dragon?and asked the question: if you can train it, is it even a dragon?

1. In Spiritualism, a Satanic Delusion, and a Sign of the Times (1856), William Ramsey quoting Dr A Clarke.