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Saint George's Day

Posted: 23 Apr 2017, 16:03
by Arthur Radburn
Today, 23 April, is Saint George's Day. Images of Saint George, or his red cross, are well known in heraldry. Here are a few examples -- please feel free to add any others if you wish.

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From Russia : the saint and the dragon, in the arms of Moscow.

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The national arms of neighbouring Georgia.

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The arms of the Italian city of Genoa feature the cross alone. (The gold edging to the shield is an artistic detail and not part of the blazon).

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In England, with the addition of the sword of St Paul, the cross forms the arms of London.

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In South Africa, the cross can be found in the arms of the city of East London.

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Across the Atlantic, the Senate of North Carolina in the USA bears arms featuring the cross. There's another US state or legislature which has arms with escallops in the angles of the cross, but I cannot recall which it is.

Re: Saint George's Day

Posted: 23 Apr 2017, 19:39
by Chris Green
Saint-George, a commune in the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland:

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Re: Saint George's Day

Posted: 23 Apr 2017, 20:22
by Chris Green
Saint-Georges, Quebec, Canada:

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Arms : Argent a cross Gules in the first and fourth quarters a fer-de-moline Azure in the second and third quarters a flame Gules and over all an escutcheon Azure a cross Argent.
Crest: A demi horse Argent charged on the shoulder with a Latin cross Gules and issuant from a coronet composed of a circle Argent heightened with maple leaves Gules and fleurs-de-lis Azure set alternately.

Re: Saint George's Day

Posted: 24 Apr 2017, 08:53
by Chris Green
The Honourable East India Company:

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Surely THE most royal arms ever granted to a commercial enterprise.

Re: Saint George's Day

Posted: 24 Apr 2017, 10:30
by Torsten Laneryd
From the Black Forest (Schwarzwald in Baden-Würtenberg, Germany)
The city of Freiburg im Breisgau:
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And its district Freiburg-Sankt Georgen:
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Their soccer team also uses the cross of Saint George.
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Re: Saint George's Day

Posted: 25 Apr 2017, 14:58
by JMcMillan
The Colony and Dominion of Virginia, designed by Clarenceux Camden for the Virginia Company of London, 1619, but never granted before the company was dissolved; used by the colony itself until 1776; "devised" to the Commonwealth of Virginia by the English kings of arms, 1976.

Virginia Colony Color 564 px.jpg

Re: Saint George's Day

Posted: 25 Apr 2017, 15:08
by JMcMillan
Arms granted by Garter Dethick in early 1587 to the planned "Citie of Ralegh in Virginia," better known to history as the "Lost Colony" of Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina. The roebuck comes from Sir Walter Raleigh's crest.

The painting is from a surviving copy of the grant in the manuscript collection of Queen's College, Oxford.

Ralegh grant cropped.JPG

Re: Saint George's Day

Posted: 25 Apr 2017, 15:48
by Chris Green
Sadly the most spectacular rendition of St George (aka St Göran) and the Dragon to be found in Sweden depicts the saint without a shield or surcoat:

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The wooden statue is to be found in Stockholm's storkyrka (great church) and dates from 1489. It was commissioned as a thanksgiving offering for the victory at the battle of Brunkeberg, donated by Sten Sture the elder, victor over King Christian I. The sub-text to this monumental work is that St George is really Sten Sture, the maiden represents Stockholm (or Sweden), and the dragon is of course King Christian (or simply the Danes in general). In support of this theory, the only quasi-heraldic sybolism are the three water-lily petals to be found on the horse's harness. The arms of the Sture family featured three water-lily leaves:

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