St. Edmund was the First Patron Saint of England

Yes, that’s correct. St. George has been the patron saint of England since 1350, but before that the martyr king of East Anglia was the country’s patron saint.

Edmund was born on Christmas Day 841 A.D. He became king of East Anglia in 856 and fought alongside Alfred of Wessex against the Vikings. In 869 he was captured. On November 20th he was executed when he refused to renounce his Christian faith.

In 902 his remains were moved to Boedricsworth, (modern-day Bury St. Edmunds). In 1020 King Canute built a stone abbey to house the saint’s shrine. St. Edmund’s patronage of England was established and from then on he was regarded as such a powerful saint that in 1214 English barons met in secret in the abbey to draw up the document that became the forerunner to the Magna Carta.