Dragonslayers

by Joseph McCullough

  OTHER NORSE DRAGONSLAYERS

  Ragnar Lodbrok

  Ragnar ‘Hairy-Breeks’ or ‘Hairy Britches’ was a famous Viking who terrorized Europe in the ninth century and briefly claimed the throne of both Sweden and Denmark. In one famous tale, repeated in numerous folkloric and pseudo-historical sources, Ragnar fell in love with a young princess who lived in a tower completely encircled by a giant, two-legged serpent with a poisonous bite known as a lindworm. In order to battle the dragon, Ragnar dressed in some form of novel armour. In some versions it is a tunic covered in tar and sand, in others he wears a shaggy dress, which he soaks in water and allows to freeze, forming thick, icy plates. Either way, the extra protection allowed Ragnar to get close enough to pierce the worm with his spear and then cut off its head.

  In some versions of the story, the rescued princess is named Thora. In others she is Aslaug, the daughter of Sigurd Völsung and Brynhildr, making Sigurd and Ragnar a rare father/son-in-law dragonslaying pair. Ragnar met his end in Northumbria, where he was captured after a shipwreck and thrown into a pit of poisonous vipers, or stabbed by an assassin wanting to frame the king of Northumbria, depending on which story you read.

  Frotho I

  According to the Danish historian and mythologist, Saxo Grammaticus, Frotho ruled Denmark after the death of his father King Hadingus. Through near constant military campaigning, Frotho emptied his treasury until nothing remained to pay his men. One day, while out riding and contemplating this problem, he overheard a farmer singing a song about a dragon that guarded a vast hoard of treasure. After questioning the farmer further about the beast, Frotho sailed out to a remote island, searching for the monster. He brought with him a special shield covered in the hide of a bull.

  When he reached the island, Frotho soon discovered the dragon’s tracks and decided to wait in ambush. It wasn’t long before the scaly beast came slithering by. Frotho threw spears at the dragon, but saw them bounce of its armoured body. Then, as it reared up, he remembered the farmer’s parting comment. He looked carefully at the creature’s lower body and saw a single spot, uncovered by scales. Frotho charged forward and plunged his sword into this unarmoured spot, mortally wounding the dragon. Later, Frotho recovered the dragon’s treasure and sailed home, more than able to fund his horde with the hoard.

  Fridleif

  Saxo Grammaticus tells a similar story about another legendary king of Denmark named Fridleif (or King Fridlevus II). In this tale, the Viking’s ship was driven onto a deserted island, where Fridleif had a dream in which an old man (probably Odin) told him to dig up a treasure and fight a dragon. When he awoke, he was attacked by the dragon as it came out of the ocean. It uprooted trees with its long tail, while Fridleif’s spears bounced off its scales. Then Fridleif attacked the creature at the point where its body touched the ground, and plunged his sword deep into its groin, killing it. He then recovered the treasure from an underground chamber and sailed home.

  Ragnar Lodbrok is thrown into the pit of adders in this drawing by Richard Henry Brock. (The Stapleton Collection / The Bridgeman Art Library)

  Wiglaf receives Beowulf’s helmet in this drawing by Hans W. Schmidt. (INTERFOTO / Alamy)

  Just as important as Beowulf’s contribution to the understanding of Old English literature is its place as arguably the single most important narrative in the history of the dragonslayer. With its flying, fire-breathing, treasure-hoarding dragon, the poem contains the most complete vision of a modern, Western European dragon. This description became even more strongly established when J.R.R. Tolkien used it as the basis for the dragon Smaug in The Hobbit. Not only that, but the poem also contains one of the few descriptions of an actual battle between a man and a dragon. In most stories, the battle itself is glossed over in a couple of words, while Beowulf carries the fight on for many gripping lines.

  Despite being so instrumental in our modern conception of dragons and dragonslayers, the story is also unique in that it is perhaps the only dragonslayer story that features two warriors combining to kill the beast, as Wiglaf deserves just as much credit for the ultimate victory as does Beowulf. Also, it is a rare story in that the dragonslayer himself is also mortally wounded during the fight, perhaps displaying Anglo-Saxon leanings towards fatalism.

  In the present day, the legend of Beowulf is mostly widely recognized due to a pair of movies, neither of which follow the plot of the story particularly closely. The first is The 13th Warrior, released in 1999, and based on the book The Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton. In this movie, the tenth-century historical figure Ahmad ibn Fadlan joins a group of Vikings who sail to Denmark in order to fight an unknown evil. The movie tries to put a ‘realistic’ take on the Beowulf story, making Grendel a member of the last surviving tribe of Neanderthals, his mother the tribe’s shaman, and the dragon or ‘fire-wyrm’ a long line of torches carried by the tribe as they go to battle. The film proved to be both a critical and box office failure, although it remains popular with fans of bloody, medieval action adventure movies.

  In 2007, director Robert Zemeckis used motion-capture to create a computer-animated version of Beowulf. Despite the cutting-edge effects, the movie plays fast and loose with the original story, presenting Grendel as a misunderstood child, and his mother as an evil seductress who sleeps with Beowulf and, by him, gives birth to the dragon. The film received mixed reviews, but did well at the box office.

  Today, the story of Beowulf is still best enjoyed in its original poetic form, and a number of translations are available. The best-received translation of the last twenty years is probably the 1999 version by the Irish Nobel Laureate, Seamus Heaney.

  Beowulf and the Fire Drake. The Beowulf dragon is the first example in European mythology of a fire-breathing dragon. Previously, most dragons had poisonous breath. This might be an early indication of Christianity creeping into the tale, using fire to connect the dragon to Satan, or, just as likely, it highlights the danger of fire at a time when nearly everything was constructed of wood.

  HOLY DRAGONSLAYERS

  The Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.’ Genesis 3:14–15

  From the earliest days of Christianity, serpents, and, by extension dragons, have been viewed as the great evil, and as living embodiments of sin. Indeed, it was Satan, the devil himself, in the guise of the serpent that tricked Adam and Eve into eating the forbidden fruit for which they were expelled from the Garden of Eden. This act prompted God to make the pronouncement above, forever placing man and serpents as enemies.

  The association between the devil and dragons is made even clearer in the twelfth book of Revelation:

  St. John the Evangelist, author of the Book of Revelation. In one of the stories of John, he is forced to drink from a poison cup but survives thanks to his faith in God. The poison is represented in this painting by the small dragon sitting on the edge of the cup.

  And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angel
s fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world— he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Revelation 12: 1–9

  In this passage, the Archangel, St. Michael, becomes the prototype for warrior saints and especially for dragonslayers such as St. George. In fact, St. Michael and St. George are often seen depicted together in manuscripts and on stained glass windows.

  Stained glass depiction of St. Michael slaying the Dragon of the Apocalypse from St. Michael’s Church in Brampton, Cumbria, England. (Peter J. Hatcher / Alamy)

  Although the connection between dragons, Satan, sin and evil dates back to the earliest days of Christianity (and possibly even earlier), and many of the dragonslaying saints come from these early days of the Church, most of their dragon stories appear to be later medieval inventions. It may be that it wasn’t until the Middle Ages that the rise in literacy rates allowed many of these stories to be written down. More likely, however, is that the stories developed with the spread of Christianity across Europe. The dragon, representing all things non-Christian, is often used as a metaphor for paganism. As Christianity spread into new regions, its preachers, the saints, pushed out the pagan dragons, and later medieval writers used this metaphor to explain the transition. This idea is most often associated with St. Patrick driving all of the snakes out of Ireland, but can easily be applied to many saintly dragonslaying stories.

  Today, it is impossible to say exactly how many stories exist of saints who slew, or in some fashion defeated, a dragon. Many are local tales that only survive in obscure collections, while, in other cases, saints are identified as dragonslayers, but the actual story has been lost. Western Christianity probably recognizes about fifty different saints who battled dragons; other branches of the religion could easily contain just as many, if not more.

  Collected here are three legends of holy dragonslayers: St. George, the holy warrior; St. Sylvester, pope of the early Church; and St. Carantoc, an early Celtic saint who lived in the days of King Arthur.

  St. George and the Dragon

  St. George was born in Cappadocia, in the year 270 AD. His father was a city governor, while his mother was the daughter of a count and a descendant of Joseph of Arimathea, the bearer of the Holy Grail. While still a young man, George joined the legions of the Emperor Diocletian as a cavalry officer and fought in many battles. He served alongside the future emperor Constantine in both the Egyptian campaign of 295 AD and the Persian War from 297–299. During those days, both the Army and the Roman Empire were accepting of Christianity so, despite his faith, George rose steadily through the ranks, becoming one of Constantine’s most trusted advisors.

  After the battle of Satala in 298 AD once again brought peace to the Empire, Constantine, now a Tribune, despatched George as a courier to Libya. When George arrived, he heard stories about a fearsome dragon that plagued the kingdom, destroying crops and killing livestock with its pestilential breath. In order to appease the dragon, the Libyans had offered it two sheep a day. As the sheep began to run out, the people sent their children instead, drawing lots to decide which child would go to sate the dragon’s hunger. The week before George’s arrival, the king’s only daughter had drawn the cursed lot. The king begged his people to spare the princess, but they threatened to burn down his palace if he would not give the girl up. He then asked if the people would grant him one more week with his daughter before she was sent to the dragon, and to this they agreed.

  And so it was that when George rode by the city of Silene, he found the young princess, dressed in her royal finery, tied to a lonely stake near a lake. He immediately dismounted and cut the girl free of her bonds, but she refused to leave. She told George the story of the dragon and of her father and how, if she did not die, the people would burn down the palace. Struck by the young girl’s courage, George vowed that he would defeat the dragon and save both her and her father. Despite the protests of the princess, George remounted his horse, readied his lance, and waited for the dragon’s arrival.

  Within moments, the creature appeared, crawling up out of the water. It walked low to the ground on stubby legs, trailing a long, scaly tail behind it. The smell of death and decay rolled over George as the monster opened its fanged mouth and roared. It gazed at George with pure malice in its large, yellow eyes. His horse shied away, but George kept it from bolting. Then, kicking the warhorse in the flanks, he charged straight toward the dragon. The princess screamed as the two combatants came together. George ducked to one side as the dragon snapped its jaws at his legs, then he drove his lance into the monster’s long snout, piercing it from top to bottom, and pinning its mouth shut. George leapt down from his horse, and climbed onto the monster’s back. Grabbing hold of the lance, he held down the dragon’s head to keep it from thrashing from side to side. Then he shouted to the princess, telling her to take off her long girdle and tie it around the dragon’s neck. When the princess had done this, the dragon became calm, and George stepped off its back.

  George then led the way to the gates of the town, followed by the princess, leading the dragon by her girdle. The townsfolk refused to open the gates in fear of the dragon, but George proclaimed that he would kill the dragon if they would convert to Christianity. The people agreed, so George drew his sword and beheaded the creature with one, clean stroke. Later that day, the whole town was baptized in the river, which once again flowed clear.

  After the ceremony, the king offered George any reward he wished, including his daughter’s hand in marriage. George turned down all his offers, and asked only that the king build a church, and remember the Lord in all things. Then George departed to complete his mission for Tribune Constantine.

  The Historical St. George. This artwork is an attempt to depict a ‘historical’ encounter between St. George and the dragon. St. George is shown fighting in a manner appropriate to a Roman cavalryman of the 3rd or 4th century. The ‘dragon’ is a very large crocodile.

  In all, it took nearly five years for George to complete his task and return to Nicomedia, but the Empire had changed greatly while he had been gone. A group of Christians had been accused of subverting the Empire and been executed. The Praetorian Guard had burned down the Cathedral of Nicomedia, and Christianity had been outlawed, at the insistence of Diocletian’s general, and Constantine’s rival, Galerius. Enraged by what he found, George went to the temple of Bacchus and threw down the statue of the Roman god, smashing it to pieces. He did the same at a temple of Hercules, and probably would have continued his rampage had not the Praetorian Guard wrestled him to the ground and thrown him in prison.

  Painting of St. George entitled Eternal Victory by Frank O. Salisbury. This painting was completed and displayed in Britain during World War II to symbolize the triumph of truth and justice over Hitler. (Peter Nahum at The Leicester Galleries, London / Bridgeman Art Library)

  Even held in a dark, dank prison, George refused to renounce his Christianity, and so the Romans tortured him repeatedly. They made him walk in shoes of iron spikes. They hung him on a wheel with metal hooks that pierced his flesh. They burned him with torches and scourged him with whips. For three weeks the torturers delighted in their cruelty, but at the end of each week, when George lay alone in his cell, the Archangel Michael came down from heaven to heal George of his wounds and renewed his faith. When the people of Rome heard the stories of George’s courage and his miraculous healing, more and more of them secretly turned to Christianity.

  Saint George and the Dragon by Raphael.

  Emperor Diocletian’s man Galerius, enraged at the failure of his torturers, instead turned to dark magic, and sent a magician named Athanasius to convert or kill George. Athanasius prepared a dark, poisonous brew, filled with serpent’s venom, that he knew would either kill George, or turn him into his mindless zombie slave. When George drank the evil mixture, however, it
had no effect upon him. Stunned, Athanasius fell to his knees and admitted the power of the Lord.

  As more and more Romans began to turn from the old ways, Emperor Diocletian offered George his freedom if he would leave the Empire, never to return. George refused, knowing he had one last task to perform for the Lord. Consequently, Diocletian ordered George beheaded in a public execution. So, on 23 April 303 AD, the Romans led George to a public square in Nicomedia, read the Emperor’s order of execution, and struck off his head.

  The death of George, soon to be called St. George, was a spark that ignited a change of heart in many Romans. One man who was particularly struck by the tragedy was Tribune Constantine, who, when he became Emperor three years later, would convert the whole Empire to Christianity.

  According to popular mythology, the legend of St. George was brought to England from the Holy Land by the Crusaders. This is, however, untrue. The story of St. George’s martyrdom spread slowly across the whole of the Christianized world during the fourth century, through both written accounts and the dispersal of the saint’s numerous relics. He was canonized as a saint in 494 AD. His first appearance in an English source comes from 679 AD, when the Abbot of Iona wrote a tale concerning a traveller who called upon St. George for protection, a story that is repeated by the Venerable Bede. The first full account of St. George’s martyrdom in English was Aelfric’s Passion of Saint George, written in the first half of the eleventh century. However, none of the accounts mentioned above contain a dragon, nor do any of the earliest versions of the St. George story.