100 Great Black Britons -George of Lydda Page 1 of 2

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Born in Turkey of "Black" Palestinian parentage, AKA
the patron saint of England

St George is the Patron Saint of England and

one of the most famous of Christian figures. But
of the man himself, nothing is certainly known.
The earliest possible source, Eusebius of
Caesarea, writing around 322 AD, tells of a
'man of the greatest distinction' who was put to
death under the Roman Emperor Diocletian at
Nicomedia (present-day Palestine) on April
23rd, 303 AD, but makes no mention of his
name, his country, his place of trial or his place
of burial.

George is believed to have come from

Cappadocia (in modern Turkey) and was raised
in Palestine, and held the important rank of
tribune in the Roman army. He was beheaded
by Diocletian for protesting against the
Emperor's persecution of Christians. In some
versions, George is identified as the soldier who
tore down the posted proclamation suppressing
the Christian religion and confronted the
Emperor to condemn him for requiring soldiers
to sacrifice to the pagan gods. Diocletian first
had George tortured to make him sacrifice but
when he still refused, sentenced him to death
by beheading. The early sources give graphic
descriptions of George's imprisonment and his
successful endurance of a series of horrific
tortures. He so impressed the Emperor's wife,
Alexandria that she converted to Christianity,
and was duly executed too. George's body was

http://www.100greatblackbritons.com/bios/george_of_lydda.html 3/22/2007
100 Great Black Britons -George of Lydda Page 2 of 2

taken from Nicomedia to Lydda by his mother,

who had estates there. Miracles of healing soon
began to be claimed by many who had visited
his tomb, and early pilgrims would take dust
away to bring blessings on their families, flocks,
herds and houses.

George rapidly became a saint in Palestine and

was held on equal footing with Moses, Elijah
and St. Michael. His cult was adopted as a
martyr of exceptional bravery, defender of the
poor and the defenceless and of the Christian
faith. St George on his white horse came to be
regarded as the quintessential Christian soldier,
whose protection was increasingly invoked in
the Near East as the Christian communities
were attacked by the Saracens. George thus
became the patron saint of the Crusades.
Armies reported visions of St. George before
victorious battles and he became more and
more popular.

The first thing anybody thinks about in

connection with St. George is dragons.
Everybody has heard of "St. George and the
dragon" and there are countless "George and
Dragon" pubs, but when pushed, people are
less certain about the actual details of the
story.

The story, which first gained popularity in the

14th century, is set in Lybia (or Lydda,
depending on which translation you read),
where a dragon was terrorising the local
populace who tried to appease it by feeding it
all their flocks of sheep. When all the sheep had
been eaten, they turned to human sacrifices but
even so the beast continued to destroy the
countryside. Finally, it was decided to sacrifice
the princess in a last-ditch attempt to buy off
the dragon. Fortunately for her, along came St.
George on his trusty white charger and duly
slew the offending dragon, freeing the princess
in the process. It is said that the story is
allegorical, with the dragon representing Satan
and the princess representing the Christian
church. It does not, however, take a major leap
to connect the story of George and the Dragon
with the equally well-known myth of Perseus
and Andromeda, and so it could be another
case of the Church adapting a good pagan story
and using it for its own purposes.

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