Tuesday, September 13, 2005

The Legend of St Eustachius - French Illuminations

It is refreshingly illuminated of 'the french' to have an english language version available for Le Moyen Âge en Lumière but I'm not so sure how illuminated it is to boil angelic children in a bovine pot.

[Don't get me wrong, I love all things french and have some sympathy for their stoic resistance to anglicizing the world, but until a really competent translator is available (yes, google I'm looking at you - you promised!) we generally miss out on a lot of information -- for those of us, like me, who must rely upon our distant schoolboy french.] But this is a wonderful site!

The Legend of St. Eustachius

In the 2nd century A.D. Roman general Placidius saw a vision of Jesus between a stag's horns and converted to christianity, changing his name at baptism. Thereafter he and his family were subjected to faith-testing calamities. Ultimately when he refused to engage in a pagan sacrifice, the emperor Hadrian condemned Eustace and his family to die by roasting inside the iron bull. Or so the oft'-depicted-in-the-middle-ages story goes.
{The image is from the late 15th century}

3 comments :

Anonymous said...

This might be useful.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazen_bull

peacay said...

Thanks Stephen. That post seems aeons ago. I've actually come across the image a few times since but your link clears it right up. Phalaris of Agrigentum sure was a cruel and twisted tyrant.

Anonymous said...

I''ll be back. Later :)

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