INTRODUCTION

From the early middle ages onwards, the cult of Margaret of Antioch – the dragon-slaying patron saint of childbirth – was enormously popular across Norfolk. For example, St Margaret is the fifth most frequently found dedication among parish churches in the Norwich diocese, and her name is particularly associated with ancient round-towered foundations. Moreover, the medieval new town of Bishop's (later King's) Lynn took her for its patron saint and her cross-defeated dragon still figures on its coat of arms. Currently, the diocese of Norwich retains forty-eight parish churches or ruins of churches dedicated to her. Because of all of this, Margaret's name is still distributed across the Norfolk landscape, marking ancient locations where sanctity and femininity were – and still are – closely associated. Yet, as this essay argues, by the later middle ages, there was a marked cultural shift: the cult of St Margaret began to wane. Especially in Norwich, her presence in the urban topography became subordinated to that of St George and with this came a subtle but important shift in the meaning of that landscape.