*Ø* Blogmanac July 29 | Feast day of St Martha, dragon charmer
Many cultures have dragonslaying heroes and heroines, and Martha is a European one with a good lineage, as she first appears in the Bible.
Martha was sister to St Lazarus and St Mary Magdalen and is matron saint of good housewives. According to one legend, she left Palestine after Jesus's death, around 48, and went to Provence with her sister Mary (possibly Mary Magdalene) and her brother Lazarus. Martha first settled in Avignon (now in France), then went to Tarascon, France. In art she is depicted in homely costume, often with a bunch of keys on a girdle, and holding a ladle of water. She is accompanied by a bound dragon, as she destroyed Tarasque, the dragon that ravaged the region around Marseilles, which she did by praising the monster for its goodness. She is Matron of Tarascon which was named after the dragon, as was the herb tarragon. After the townsfolk killed Tarasque, Martha wept for the dragon but forgave the people for they had suffered so long. Or, so it is said.
The Golden Legend: The Life of Saint Martha
Saint Martha and the Dragon
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“In the thirteenth century, Friar Roger Bacon complained that ‘it is certain’ that Ethiopian sages were coming to Europe – to ‘those Christian lands where there are good flying dragons’ – luring dragons from their caves, saddling them, and then riding them back to Ethiopa where they would be butchered and eaten. A century later, European merchants, having belatedly grasped the commercial possibilities of the dragon trade, had established their own agents locally to acquire dragons for export to Ethiopia. It can be assumed that they advertised European dragons as a superior breed, and charged accordingly. And thus the systematic slaughter of dragons began, and decimated their numbers in both Europe and Africa.”
This quote comes from an essay at the boingdragon website which designed the free dragon hits counter, which I have added (with gratitude) to the right-hand column of this page because I think it's great.
Many cultures have dragonslaying heroes and heroines, and Martha is a European one with a good lineage, as she first appears in the Bible.
Martha was sister to St Lazarus and St Mary Magdalen and is matron saint of good housewives. According to one legend, she left Palestine after Jesus's death, around 48, and went to Provence with her sister Mary (possibly Mary Magdalene) and her brother Lazarus. Martha first settled in Avignon (now in France), then went to Tarascon, France. In art she is depicted in homely costume, often with a bunch of keys on a girdle, and holding a ladle of water. She is accompanied by a bound dragon, as she destroyed Tarasque, the dragon that ravaged the region around Marseilles, which she did by praising the monster for its goodness. She is Matron of Tarascon which was named after the dragon, as was the herb tarragon. After the townsfolk killed Tarasque, Martha wept for the dragon but forgave the people for they had suffered so long. Or, so it is said.
The Golden Legend: The Life of Saint Martha
Saint Martha and the Dragon
“In the thirteenth century, Friar Roger Bacon complained that ‘it is certain’ that Ethiopian sages were coming to Europe – to ‘those Christian lands where there are good flying dragons’ – luring dragons from their caves, saddling them, and then riding them back to Ethiopa where they would be butchered and eaten. A century later, European merchants, having belatedly grasped the commercial possibilities of the dragon trade, had established their own agents locally to acquire dragons for export to Ethiopia. It can be assumed that they advertised European dragons as a superior breed, and charged accordingly. And thus the systematic slaughter of dragons began, and decimated their numbers in both Europe and Africa.”
This quote comes from an essay at the boingdragon website which designed the free dragon hits counter, which I have added (with gratitude) to the right-hand column of this page because I think it's great.
Pip Wilson posted item above at 6:51 PM | Permalink
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