St. George gets all the credit for slaying that dragon but let’s face it. The horse did it. The horse did all the trampling and St. George just administered the coup de grace. I have always associated St. George with Britain but it seems he also had large following in the Russian Orthodox church and has frequently been depicted in religious icons. This is a photo of a 16th Century Russian painting now in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.
In real life St. George is thought to have lived in the 4th Century and died in in what is now Lod Israel. His slaying of a dragon is a story that gained great popularity in the Middle Ages. The photo below is one I took at the Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers in London. This exquisite miniature is a medieval sculpture done by one of the members of the Armourers.
In my humble opinion it is clear in both of these depictions that it is the horse that is responsible for getting the better of the dragon and trampling him to death. I rest my case!
We saw a giant statue of St George in Tblisi! It is dedicated to the freedom and independence of the Georgian nation! Quite a sight that can be spotted from many places in the capital xx
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Wow! He seems to have travelled far. Thanks for adding this information to my post.
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He must have indeed! I will have a look when I finally get around to our last few days in Tbilisi if I have decent photo of the statue! Jerome liked it very much, Must have been the 🐉 !
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I’m sure it was the dragon. 🙂
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I quite agree. It was the horse that was heroic. There is a surprisingly long list of countries that have St George as their patron saint.
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I did not know St George was so widely honored. And yes the horse must have been very brave!
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The real credit often never gets assigned correctly.
Is the miniature based on real armour? How heavy would that be for the horse? And the neck armour doesn’t look articulated – how uncomfortable would that be?
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I was at the Armourers and Brasiers as part og an Arms and Armouriea tour with an expert from the Royal Armouries . We saw several full size horse armour in the Wallace collection and the Tower of London. They were all padded on the inside for comfort and were made of steel but were not that heavy. The horses in those days were small and fast not big Shire horses so the armour could not be too heavy. The neck in real armour would have been articulated. If you have time I wrote some posts about the horse armour at the end of October and beginning of November. Horse armour came to an end with the advent of guns and bullets in battle. Thanks for commenting.
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What a terrific miniature! I’m not sure St. George is even aware of the dragon, with his visor down. He might have just thought “What was that bump? Did we hit something?” 🙂
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Haha! Yes. You have observed that well Robert!
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An once again the real work is not valued. Good on you for setting the record straight. However it is too bad for the dragons in any event!
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Yes it is bad for dragons. They get a bad rap most of the time apart from their role in some fairytales. Thanks for your supportive comment for the horses role however!
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We had a lively discussion about the horse’s role in this legend not that long ago. Obviously, I was in the “the horse did all the hard work” camp. The artwork is beautiful and thank you for sharing!
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You are most welcome Jane
The delightful miniature at the Armoures inspired me.
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It’s a bit like horse racing when the jockey gets all the plaudits ~ George
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Exactly! Thank you for this comment
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Agreed!
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