The Mother of all St. Georges & Dragons
Askari
Posts: 3,713 ✭
The legend of St. George and the dragon is an ancient one and fairly common among Germanic-speaking peoples (which includes the English), although it appears to have been Christianized in the Dark Ages. The original dragon was originally a peculiar legless and wingless dragon called a "lindworm" or "lindorm." That has changed over the centuries as the popular perception of a dragon has become uniformly one of legged, winged varieties. (Here are some legends of the lindworm.) My latest newp is a "Lindwurm-Pfennig" of Breisgau, an administrative area of Baden (where some of my ancestors came from). I believe it dates from the latter half of the 12th century and it is one of the more nicely struck examples I've ever seen. If anyone has references with more info on it, please don't hesitate to add it!
Askari
Come on over ... to The Dark Side!
Come on over ... to The Dark Side!
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09/07/2006
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The lindworm is part of old Norse mythology - something that should have disappeard gradually as Christianity was introduced. This coin is a good example that the old habits and beliefs lived for a long time afterwards. They did in most of Northern Europe, actually. In ancient Iceland a law was made that although Christianity was the main religion from the year 1000 AD it was still allowed to worship the old gods as long as it was kept within the four walls of the home. Out of eye, out of mind
Marcel
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Tom, formerly in Albuquerque, NM.
I was always under the impressing that the first English coin to feature that design was the George Noble of the 1530s. (Which is probably one of the most beautiful English coins ever produced... behind of course the Hammered gold sovereigns and perhaps in my view as the most beautiful of all time the Edward III Florins [or Double Leopards] they were beautiful!)
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