St GEORGE AND THE DRAGON AT LLANCARFAN
Cowbridge U3A History Group had the privilege in May of hosting Madeleine Gray, Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of South Wales, Newport. Among her areas of expertise are medieval and early modern Welsh History, church history and medieval Welsh tomb carvings; she is one of Wales’s foremost history scholars.
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Professor Gray’s illustrated talk was centred on the medieval wall painting of St George and the dragon at St Cadoc’s church at Llancarfan. This was the first picture revealed underneath the whitewash in 2008 and is notable for its size, completeness and the vividness of the colour. The huge figure of St George is depicted stabbing the dragon, whose head extends round the adjacent window frame, while the horse almost seems to be bursting out of the wall.
The scene has associated characters: a king and queen watching from a castle, the Virgin Mary bestowing her blessing on St George, and a princess with a lamb. Compared to the other figures, the princess is poorly-drawn; Professor Gray wondered if this was the work of the artist’s less-talented apprentice. There is even a man peeking out of a castle window, whose significance may never be known.
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As the dragon has long been the national emblem of Wales, it would appear to be strange to see it being subdued (if not slain) by a knight who is known as the patron saint of England (even if Llancarfan was an anglicised area), but Professor Gray gave examples of similar depictions in Wales, including one at the church in Llanmaes. There was even a shrine to St George near Abergele, which was a pilgrimage destination.
Also, St George was not adopted officially as England’s patron saint until the 16th Century.
The date of the wall paintings is based on the dress of some of the characters depicted and is broadly that of the late 15th Century, while experts consider the armour of the knight to be of an earlier design. The saddle of his charger may well be 14th Century style. It could be that the artist was attempting to show St George galloping out of history to save the present from danger.
Professor Gray argued that the painting was quite probably undertaken during the reign of Henry VII, a monarch with both Welsh and English ancestry, who was known to foster the cult of St George (the king owned a relic of the saint, reputedly a piece of his leg bone). The scene is an allegory showing his English supporters that the Welsh are under control, while confirming that his Welsh connections are still important to him. The single ostrich feather near the horse’s head may well be a reference to Henry’s eldest son, Arthur, Prince of Wales, whose tomb has a similar carving.
The story is well-known; Arthur died, aged only 15, and his brother, Henry (the future Henry VIII) married his widow, Catherine of Aragon. It was Henry’s failed attempt to have a divorce from Catherine ratified by the Pope that resulted in the Reformation. Protestant theology caused the “blotting out” of religious images in churches and so the wall paintings at Llancarfan were whitewashed over, to remain hidden for over 450 years.
To see the paintings, Llancarfan church is open every day until 22 June 2016, when the conservationists return and public access will be stopped to control the temperature and humidity during the on-going restoration work.
Steve Monaghan