The clue is when . . . . a LITTLE bit post 1066. People say "around the time of the crusades" - ie, a bit later, but in the same way that Durham had a large fort that was ostensibly a church put up "in honour" of the local saints - that the last regime had written out of the books ( different positions about the Whitby meetings results - ecumenical matters, yes, but with greater effects! ) . . . . the actual facts are a little more complex, but - with a little scepticism about power, new occupations, invaders ploys, etc - add up to lot of sense !

HE WASNT FROM AROUND HERE THOUGH, WAS HE ?
He wasnt from around here at all. A bit too "in your face" to the glorious new so-called bosses if he was. They had done rather a lot of "laying waste" . . . .new "tax collecting" was deteriorating into straightforward coercion, theft with menaces, hostage-taking etc . . . . a bit the way it was when that lot from Rome came here to show us the strengths of a classical education . . . .

HE WAS FROM . . . ?
Syria - ish. Except Syria didnt exist then. A soldier, quite a good soldier - top brass, despite having got pressed into the legion as a kid, around the third century.

SO, WHY. . . .
He stood up for the people that were getting coerced by a couple of the Emperors henchmen - in fact, taking his protest to the Emperor himself - several times - despite the fact that his interruptions led to his torture - he didnt stop.
The Emperor moved to a little isle off the coast. But George refused to stop . . . . the Emperor resigned. Those "persecutions" were, it is said, the last persecutions of the jewish/christian communities under the Empire of Rome . . . . a good thing . . . . in fact, the next Emperor said that all the people in the Empire should accept the teachings of the church . . . . or a few of them . . . . but also worship the emperor as a god . . . . so a mixed result on that, then.
( hence Whitby "haircut plus" disagreements, post-Nicea, that academics all too often pretend was merely about the "tonsure" ( yes, I said haircuts ), the date of Eoster/ Easter - ie was it a mutual celebration simultaneous with the Jewish
Pasch/ Passover/ Exodus/ "Free from slavery!" commemoration, (around this time of year, too, thats also a clue ) or a different date . . . . but the social-political meanings of all this are SO often glossed by those that were more "in favour" of the new "modern" regime of centralism etc. )

MMMM. YAY.
BUT . . . . THE DRAGONS?
If George had met a Dragon, he'd probably have loved it. Whats not to love - bad press aside. It was a metaphor . . . .
. . . . if you look for the entire old early versions of it, the "dragon" was laying waste to entire neighbourhoods, threatening communities to extort treasure, hostages, etc . . . . much as the situation was a little bit post 1066, under the empire of those mad nutters from Rome, etc, but as so often, people found a way to talk about the "occupiers" ( to use the most polite term ) without accepting to the "friendly" legionary/french-speaking new ****s that you were talking about them.

"Naah,I wasnt talkin' politics, nice castle, big horse, sharp, sharp spear . . . . that was about religion, the new "mystery" play, I sneezed, it was a cough . . . . etc"
s o r t o f t h i n g.



but more useful, seeing as you could have more discussions about what to do about them. See also loads of bits of the new testament, Pauls "epistles", Acts, etc.
(a "by the way" for those of us who have written leaflets, those "epistles" were in actual fact, leaflets, smuggled out in multiple copies "to" people at certain places, "sent" with travellers to drop off at/ pass to x/y/z . . . . to look at with your old testament ( jewish diaspora- type cafes were as frequently found in the ports of the world as irish bars are these days - with the early adoption by the jews of universal education as useful for those resisting Rome as their good uppity attitude. Simultanaeity across the world had a lot of sense for those whose parents parents might have met when the "spartacus" bunch set free all the slaves in Italy . . . . if you look at the dates of say, the "boudica" era "druid"/"briga"/"celt" kick-offs, they were when things were also kicking off in israel/palestine

. . . . for fishers or seafarers the ore for metal objects (swords OR ploughshares! ) brought peoples into each others worlds ALMOST as much as the fact that the Empire always tried to use legionaries pressed into the army in places far from where they "served" to diminish peoples idea of the "worth" of those they were used against. The good attitude of the brits - then - is shown by the fact that the "walls" were as much to prevent desertions as "keep out" the free brits, or the fact the refuge shown to people left traces that couldnt disappear from the books - the fact that the Irish patron saints parents (from the same religion) were from Dumbarton shows that support was there for peoples of quite different backgrounds, spiritual traditions, etc. They always had few key overlapping good attitudes . . . . with a mutually strengthening observation that the emperors new clothes were . . . . **** !