By Jonathan Good
Lately, St George has loved a modest revival as a in particular English nationwide image. yet how turned the consumer saint of britain within the first position has continually been a secret. He used to be now not English, nor used to be his imperative shrine there - the standard standards for nationwide patronage; but his prestige and repute have eclipsed all others. as an alternative, it was once Edward III's use of the saint in his wars opposed to the French that actually verified him as a purchaser and protector of the king. not like different such saints, notwithstanding, George used to be enthusiastically followed by way of different English humans to indicate their club within the "community of the realm". This booklet strains the origins and development of his cult, arguing that, particularly after Edward's loss of life, George got here to symbolize a "good" politics (in this example, the shared prosecution of a battle with spoils for everybody) and will be used to rebuke next kings for his or her bad governance. so much kings got here to gain this truth, and honored St George in an effort to end up their worthiness to carry their workplace. This political measurement of the cult by no means thoroughly displaced the devotional one, however it used to be so robust that St George survived the Reformation as a countrywide image - person who grows ever extra vital within the wake of devolution and the restoration of a in particular English id.
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Example text
When the army finally reaches Jerusalem St. George appears again, this time dressed in white armor with a shining or snow-white (“nivea”) cross on it. 59 Just as the crusades captured the imagination of all Europe, these new additions to the George legend found an audience in England, and George’s popularity continued to grow there in the twelfth century. A church at Fordington, Dorset, has a bas-relief over the doorway depicting George appearing to the crusaders at Antioch (figure 3), while another tympanum at Damerham in Hampshire shows a mounted warrior subduing a human foe; this scene is commonly thought to represent St.
A word may be interjected here, however, on attitudes towards the whole subject. It comes as no surprise that nationalists have tended to look on the existence of nations, particularly their own nations, in a favorable light, while modernist theorists of nationalism tend to be deeply skeptical of the phenomenon. The former might point to the pride, dignity, and sense of purpose that someone might have by virtue of his or her membership in a nation, while the latter point to the exclusion, violence and even genocide visited upon people who are deemed not to be members, or insufficiently enthusiastic members.
Ethel Carleton Williams, “Mural Paintings of St. George in England,” Journal of the British Archaeological Association 3rd series 12 (1949): 22–23, 32, 35, 37. Simon de Freine, “Vie de Saint Georges,” in Les Œuvres de Simund de Freine, ed. John E. Matzke (Paris: Firmin-Didot, 1909), 61–117. Julia Barrow, “Athelstan to Aigublanche, 1056–1268,” in Hereford Cathedral: A History, eds. Gerald Aylmer and John Tiller (London and Rio Grande: Hambledon Press, 2000), 40. Olivier de Laborderie, “Richard the Lionheart and the birth of a national cult of St George in England: origins and development of a legend,” Nottingham Medieval Studies 39 (1995): 37–53.