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St. George
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The cult of St. George was known in England in the eighth century. By the 14th century, the cross of St. George had become a part of the English flag. In 1347 Edward III founded the Order of the Garter, with St. George as principal patron. In 1415 his feast day, April 23, was raised to the rank of a solemn feast, and he was declared the patron of England.
Beyond the fact of martyrdom, there is little about him that is certain. His cult is ancient, however, mention being made of him by Pope Gelasius in De Libris recipiendis (495), and although it is probable that the apocryphal Acts of St. George borrowed from pagan legends, the antiquity of the cult and its association with a definite locale weigh heavily against the contention that the hero is merely a baptized Perseus.
The episode of St. George and the dragon is a 12th-century accretion, popularized by the Legenda Aurea (The Golden Legend) of Jacobus de Voragine. In this legend, George, a knight of Cappadocia, visited Selena in Libya, where he found the populace living in terror of a dragon to which they were obliged to supply human victims. The victim at this time was to be the king's daughter. George rode forth, met the dragon, and transfixed it with his lance. He tied the princess' girdle around the dragon's neck and, leading the dragon, returned to the city with the princess. There he slew the dragon, urged the people to accept baptism, and rode off, refusing to accept any reward.
