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Post by King Edward on Apr 17, 2007 12:47:08 GMT
St George's day will soon be upon us, a day when the more patriotic citizens of England will celebrate their patron saint and their country's culture generally. It has therefore come to my attention that Bosworth doesn't have a patron saint, but should we? We are a religious nation as this board suggests, but the number of saints makes choosing one which represents our nation difficult.
We could of course follow our traditionally English theme and go for St George, or perhaps the pre-Norman saint of England: St Edmund. The possibilities are endless and i would therefore like to know what you the citizens think before i make any decisions on this matter.
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Post by Countess Elizabeth on Apr 17, 2007 13:17:36 GMT
I prefer good old Saint George myself. But can you tell me more about this Saint Edmund? I haven't heard of him before.
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Post by King Edward on Apr 17, 2007 13:23:47 GMT
He was a King of East Anglia and i believe wikipedia describes his history better than i can:
"According to legend, Edmund was killed by being tied to a tree, shot to death with arrows and finally decapitated and his head thrown into a nearby forest so that his entire body could not be buried; a form of mockery towards his people.
When his body was found, but without a head, eyewitnesses reported to the villagers that the head was lost in the forest. For several days they searched for the head in the brambles and bushes, calling out "Where are you, friend?" to which the head would answer, "Here, here, here." After almost a week of searching, they found Edmund's head in the possession of a great grey wolf, clasped between its paws. The wolf, sent by God to protect the head from the dangers of the forest, was starving but did not eat the head for all the days it was lost. After recovering the head the villagers marched back to the kingdom, praising God and the wolf that served him. The wolf walked beside them as if tame all the way to the kingdom, after which it turned around and vanished into the forest.
After giving the head and body a speedy burial, the kingdom rebuilt itself for several years before finally erecting a church worthy of Edmund's burial. The wolf from before, now very old, returned to witness the reburial of Edmund's body. Upun unburying the body, a miracle was discovered - all the arrow wounds upon Edmund's corpse were healed and his head reattached to his body; the only evidence of his previous decapitation was a thin, red line around his neck. Despite being buried for many years in a flimsy coffin, his skin was soft and fresh as if he were merely sleeping the entire time."
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Post by Countess Elizabeth on Apr 17, 2007 13:25:31 GMT
Wow, very interesting, and inspiring too. I think that perhaps we should celebrate St Edmund's life and death also.
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Post by King Edward on Apr 17, 2007 13:27:11 GMT
Yes, it is perhaps more original than St George. I too have only known about St Edmund for a short time. Do you know of any other saints that could be good patron saints before we decide for sure?
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Post by Countess Elizabeth on Apr 17, 2007 13:39:51 GMT
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Post by King Edward on Apr 17, 2007 13:45:05 GMT
St Alban too seems to be a good choice. Now we have a difficult choice, which of the three which have been mentioned here should we choose? I'm inclined towards St Edmund for the simple fact that he is neglected in England today and should be celebrated for his contribution to English history.
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Post by Countess Elizabeth on Apr 17, 2007 13:46:35 GMT
I agree with that. Preservation of his memory and his importance in British history is important. I say we choose Saint Edmund!
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Post by King Edward on Apr 17, 2007 13:52:25 GMT
There we have it, St Edmund shall be our patron saint. November 20th is now our official patron saints day! Perhaps then, we should consider using the symbol of St Edmund (the white dragon) on some of our nation symbols, regiment badges perhaps?
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Post by Countess Elizabeth on Apr 17, 2007 14:00:38 GMT
Good idea. If we have some elite troops, they could use his White Dragon as their Regimental symbol or something. And we could use it for the national coat of arms or something.
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Post by King Edward on Apr 17, 2007 14:03:49 GMT
The Royal Guard/national army's flag could feature the white dragon, but i think the English rose should be dominant in the coat of arms.
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Post by Countess Elizabeth on Apr 17, 2007 14:07:55 GMT
Yeah, I didn't mean just the white Dragon. I'll throw together a little something on paint to show you what I mean.
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Post by King Edward on Apr 17, 2007 14:20:25 GMT
Thank you Elizabeth
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Post by Countess Elizabeth on Apr 17, 2007 14:26:44 GMT
I couldn't fit all three of those Heraldic Flowers on. But I could squash them down if you want...
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Post by King Edward on Apr 17, 2007 14:36:19 GMT
No need,that is excellent Elizabeth. With your permission i would like to adopt that as the national arms of Bosworth.
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