Saint George's Cross

George became associated as patron saint of England in the fourteenth century, replacing St Edmund the Martyr.

Across the rest of Northern Italy as the symbol of Bologna, Genoa, Padua, Reggio Emilia, Mantua, Vercelli and Alessandria, the form has only received a cult of Saint George bolstering and simplification to the cross of Saint Ambrose, the origin of the cross in their civic designs, as the latter was adopted by the Commune of Milan in 1045, Ambrose having been a late 4th-century bishop of that city.

A crusader-era fresco in the crypt of Trani cathedral shows Saint George wearing a white cross on a red surcoat.

A vexillum beati Georgii is mentioned in the Genovese annals for the year 1198, referring to a red flag with a depiction of St George and the dragon.

There was a historiographical tradition claiming that Richard the Lionheart himself adopted both the flag and the patron saint from Genoa at some point during his crusade.

This idea can be traced to the Victorian era, Perrin (1922) refers to it as a "common belief", and it is still popularly repeated today even though it cannot be substantiated as historical.

[8]The red cross was introduced to England by the late 13th century, but not as a flag, and not at the time associated with Saint George.

It was worn by English soldiers as an identification from the early years of the reign of Edward I (1270s),[9][10] and perhaps originated a few years earlier, in the Second Barons' War (specifically in the Battle of Evesham of 1265, during which, according to chronicler William Rishanger, Simon de Montfort observed that the king had taken from him the idea of having his soldiers marked with a cross).

From 1348 and throughout the 15th century, the Saint George's Cross was shown in the hoist of the Royal Standards of the Plantagenet kings of England.

The correct way for the church to fly the Saint George's cross (since an order from the Earl Marshal in 1938) is with the arms of the diocese in the upper left-hand corner of the flag.

[12] The flag of St George has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity since the late 20th century, partly due to football-inspired nationalism, and also in response to the devolution movements in Scotland and Wales.

[13] During the 2010 World Cup, UK Prime Minister David Cameron told Parliament that the flag would fly above his official residence at "no extra cost to the tax payer" while England played in the contest.

[15][dubious – discuss] In the 13th century, Queen Tamar of Georgia used the Saint George flag during her campaign against Seljuk Turks.