George was a 3rd-century soldier in the Roman army martyred for refusing to give up his Christian faith. The legend of Saint George slaying a dragon to save a town and rescue a princess originated in the 11th century. He became associated with the Crusades and is the patron saint for England, Georgia, Ethiopia and many other states and institutions. George slaying the dragon became a popular subject in art and literature in the following centuries.
The Golden Legend, a late 13th-century collection of saints’ lives, described his victory over the dragon. This popular work was consulted by artists as well as the faithful.
“When she was there S. George passed by, and when he saw the lady he demanded the lady what she made there and she said: Go ye your way fair young man, that ye perish not also. Then said he: Tell to me what have ye and why weep ye, and doubt ye of nothing. When she saw that he would know, she said to him how she was delivered to the dragon. Then said S. George: Fair daughter, doubt ye no thing hereof for I shall help thee in the name of Jesu Christ. She said: For God’s sake, good knight, go your way, and abide not with me, for ye may not deliver me. Thus as they spake together the dragon appeared and came running to them, and S. George was upon his horse, and drew out his sword and garnished him with the sign of the cross, and rode hardily against the dragon which came towards him, and smote him with his spear and hurt him sore and threw him to the ground. And after said to the maid: Deliver to me your girdle, and bind it about the neck of the dragon and be not afeard. When she had done so the dragon followed her as it had been a meek beast and debonair (mannerly, well-behaved). Then she led him into the city, and the people fled by mountains and valleys, and said: Alas! alas! we shall be all dead. Then S. George said to them: Ne doubt ye no thing, without more, believe ye in God, Jesu Christ, and do ye to be baptized and I shall slay the dragon. Then the king was baptized and all his people, and S. George slew the dragon and smote off his head, and commanded that he should be thrown in the fields, and they took four carts with oxen that drew him out of the city. Then were there well fifteen thousand men baptized, without women and children.” The Golden Legend, Vol. III. Compiled by Jacobus de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, 1275 First Edition Published 1470. English by William Caston, 1483.
A more recent translation . . .
“While they were talking, the dragon reared his head out of the lake. Trembling, the maiden cried: “Away, sweet lord, away with all speed!” But George, mounting his horse and arming himself with the sign of the cross, set bravely upon the approaching dragon and, commending himself to God, brandished his lance, dealt the beast a grievous wound, and forced him to the ground. Then he called to the maiden: “Have no fear, child! Throw your girdle around the dragon’s neck! Don’t hesitate!” When she had done this, the dragon rose and followed her like a little dog on a leash. She led him toward the city; but the people, seeing this, ran for the mountains and the hills, crying out: “Now we will all be eaten alive!” But blessed George waved them back and said to them: “You have nothing to fear! The Lord has sent me to deliver you from the trouble this dragon has caused you. Believe in Christ and be baptized, every one of you, and I shall slay the dragon!” Then the king and all the people were baptized, and George, drawing his sword, put an end to the beast and ordered him to be moved out of the city, whereupon four yoke of oxen hauled him away into a broad field outside the walls. On that day twenty thousand were baptized, not counting the women and children.” Ryan, William Granger, and Eamon Duffy. “Saint George.” In The Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints, 238-42. Princeton University Press, 2012. www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7stkm.63.
To learn more about the history of dragons, see The Evil, Medieval Ancestors of Modern Dragons
Image: early 15th century French Book of Hours; Courtesy of the British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts.