Bob of Speakers' Corner

So the two patron saints who were the biggest contenders before St.

George became our patron saint, because it was Edward III that made St.

George the patron saint of England.

He's the one that gave us the English flag or rather the cross of St.

George.

which became associated with St.

George because of the Crusades.

But before that, there were other patron saints like St.

Edmund the Martyr, who was martyred in the English war for England or to create England during the Danish invasion, the great heathen army, you know.

And he was martyred.

He refused to confess.

He refused to deny Christ.

He refused to pay tribute to the Viking pagans.

And he refused to share rule with them.

It's like, no, I'm not sharing.

He wouldn't become unevenly yoked with them.

And they shot him through with arrows for it.

Another great saint who became a patron, a near patron saint of England, was Edward the Confessor, who started rebuilding Westminster Abbey, which is our...

you know, the royal peculiar that's at the heart of English spirituality.

He was a holy man, you know, had an unsuccessful marriage, but didn't divorce his wife.