British Flags: Their Early History, and Their Development at Sea: With an Account of the Origin of the Flag as a National DevicePerrin, William Gordon
History
British Flags: Their Early History, and Their Development at Sea: With an Account of the Origin of the Flag as a National Device
Perrin, William Gordon
Flags -- Great Britain
We may suppose that the cross of St George, the simplest and most
conspicuous of all the saintly devices, was chosen as the distinctive
badge of all those not entitled to armorial bearings and not clothed in
the livery of the feudal lords. Indeed, from the expression "for the
King's footsoldiers" (_pro peditibus regis_), which occurs in more than
one of the rolls, it would seem that the St George's cross was used
instead of the royal arms for the soldiery raised directly by the king
and not brought into the field under the banner of any of the nobles.
It is not until the reign of Richard II that we meet with an order for
the whole of the army to be ensigned with the St George's cross.
Among the greater banners that of St George was not as yet supreme; it
was indeed only one of four, for when the Castle of Carlaverock was
taken in the year 1300:
Puis fist le roy porter amont
Sa baniere et la Seint Eymont
La Seint George et la Seint Edwart
Et o celes par droit eswart
La Segrave et la Herefort
Et cele au Seignour de Clifford
A ki li chasteaus fut donnes[102].
Then the king caused his banner
and that of St Edmund, St George,
and St Edward to be displayed on
high, and with them, by established
right, those of Segrave and Hereford
and that of the Lord of Clifford
to whom the castle was entrusted.
The first step towards the promotion of St George to a position of
predominance seems to be due to Edward III, who in gratitude for his
supposed help at the Battle of Creçy founded the Chapel of St George
at Windsor in 1348. It is from this time that we may date the actual
dethronement of Edward the Confessor from the position of "patron
saint" of England and the definite substitution of St George in his
place. This process was completed under Henry V after the Battle of
Agincourt. A Convocation of the province of Canterbury held at St
Paul's towards the end of 1415 raised the festival of St George to
the position of a "double major feast" and ordered it to be observed
throughout the province (which includes England and Wales south of
Cheshire and Yorkshire) with as much solemnity as Christmas Day. The
Archbishop[103], in his formal communication to the Bishop of London of
the decision arrived at, refers to St George as being "as it were the
patron and special protector" of the nation, "For by his intervention,
as we unhesitatingly believe, not only is the armed force of the
English people directed in time of war against hostile incursions, but
by the help of such a patron the struggles of the unarmed clergy[104]
in time of peace are frequently strengthened[105]."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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