Last modified: 2006-03-11 by martin karner
Keywords: england | st. edward | st. edmund | st. george | saint | church of england | anglican | christian |
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Perrin (1922) wrote in "British Flags", page 40:
"When the Prayer Book was revised under Edward VI (1547-1553), the festival of
St. George was abolished, with many others. Under the influence of the
Reformation the banners of his former rivals,
St. Edward and St. Edmund, together with all
other religious flags in public use, except that of St. George, entirely
disappeared, and their place was taken by banners containing royal badges."
In connection with flags ordered for ships in the 15th century he mentions,
the gittons of Holy Trinity, Holy Ghost, St. Mary, St. Edward, St. George;
the streamers of Holy Ghost, St. Katherine, St. Nicholas;
banners of St. Peter, St. Katherine, St. George, St. Edward, St. Anne;
standards of St. Mary, St. George, Holy Ghost, St. Edward;
plus non-religious flags in various forms bearing,
royal arms, ostrich feather, swan, antelope, pomegranate and rose,
rose of white and green, dragon, lion, greyhound, portcullis and red lion.
David Prothero, 3 July 2002
by Vincent Morley
The St. George's flag is also the flag of England.
Although St.George was known
in England in the 5C and his legend was brought back to England by stories
from the 1st crusade, there is no mention of the "Cross of St. George" if as
I am led to believe that Richard the Lionheart saw a vision of St. George
with a red cross banner, I can only assume that Richard brought back the red
cross. But this seems to be at odds with the history of the Genoa flag where
one correspondant gives information that English ships bore the cross so as
to have safe passage into the port of Genoa, subsequently paying the King
for this safe passage, the correspondant gives the year 1190 some 9 years
before Richard returned, so if our Italian correspondant is correct then the
"Cross of St. George" would have been seen in England before the second
crusade.
Barry Hamblin, 1 July 2002
There is a chapter on this subject in British Flags by W.G.Perrin who was
Admiralty Librarian in the early 1900's. He wrote that although St. George
was popular among crusaders there was no particular connection with England
at that time. St. George was a foreign saint and it was many years before he
came to be regarded as similar in importance to the English saints Edward
and Edmund.
Briefly he wrote that:
Plate 6 from Perrin (1922)
Plate 7 from Perrin (1922)
See also: