He is George, England’s hero and a symbol of pride and patriotism as the nation’s patron saint. In reality he was born in what is now Turkey, died in modern-day Israel and never even considered stepping foot in England.
English Heritage, which normally marks St George’s Day on 23 April with activities at its properties, is instead asking how well we really know St George.
“Ordinarily we’d be having lots of events and having dragon slaying and all that sort of thing at various sites.” said English Heritage’s curatorial director, Anna Eavis.
“We can’t do that this year but we thought it was interesting to reflect on what is known about the real man which is, of course, not very much.”
Eavis said our ancestors repeatedly turned to St George during times of shared trauma and crisis, “including war, conflict and infectious diseases”.
“How was it that he became a figure which resonated very strongly with all sorts of values of courage and valour and virtue associated with the identity of England?”
George is hailed as an English hero but was in fact born, in the 3rd century AD, more than 2,000 miles away in Cappadocia, in modern-day Turkey. He is thought to have died in the Roman province of Palestine, in modern-day Israel, in AD303.
He is often depicted as a courtly knight but is likely to have been an officer in the Roman army and it is here that his legend, as a Christian martyr, originated.
During the persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian in the early 4th century, the story goes that St George was executed for refusing to make a sacrifice in honour of the pagan gods.
As many schoolchildren know, George also rescued a princess and slew a dragon. That chapter was, though, added about 500 years after his death, becoming particularly popular in the 13th century.
The story goes that St George rode into a city in Libya, said to be Silene, which was tormented by a tyrannical dragon. George wounds the dragon, rescues the maiden, throws her girdle round its neck and marches it in to the city where he offers a deal: he’ll kill the dragon if the people convert to Christianity, which they do.
It’s not difficult to see how the story became so popular, said Eavis. “It is a very compelling story. It is a very compelling image of good triumphing over evil and it also works in a military context, it is someone who is tremendously brave vanquishing what seems like an impossible enemy.”
There is even a site in English Heritage’s portfolio which lays claim to being the place where George slew the dragon, a 10 metre high mound called Dragon Hill. “Clearly if he did it anywhere it was Libya, not Oxfordshire,” Eavis admitted.
George became popular with English warrior kings in the middle ages, men such as Edward I, Edward III and of course Henry V, with Shakespeare having him call on the saint during his battle cry at the Battle of Harfleur: “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more … Cry ‘God for Harry, England, and Saint George’!”
England has been turning to St George ever since. For example during the first world war there were soldiers who swore blind they saw his protective figure during their retreat from Mons; and the naval commander who cited the saint as inspiration during the Zeebrugge raid.
If English Heritage properties were open, visitors might travel to Farleigh Hungerford castle in Somerset and see a 15th century wall painting of St George in the chapel. Wrest Park in Bedfordshire would normally be hosting an action-packed weekend St George’s festival full of jousting and dragon slaying.
None of that is possible, which is why English Heritage is instead using its ever-expanding History at Home hub to put out information on the real St George, a place where people can also learn how to apply make-up like a Roman or make soup like a Victorian.
“We’re interested in exploring that things are not always being what they seem and the root of a story is not always what you expect,” said Eavis. “George – whether it’s the man or the saint – is a fascinating character.”
• This article was amended on 23 April 2020. The past tense of slay is slew, not slayed, as we originally had.
