Unique Named Dragons

        Did you know that according to a 13th century monk, you had to watch out and repel the dragons that liked to be abroad in the eve of Midsummer?  So let's look at some dragons today.

         Modern fantasy generally considers dragons to be a species (or lots of related species), but during the early days of dragon folklore, it was more common that each dragon was its own individual monstrous thing.  I introduced a number of these one-of-a-kind dragons in my prior post O is for One-and-Only, where you can find Yamata no Orochi, Azi Sruvara, Tarasque, and a number of unique non-dragonoid monsters.  (Sometimes it’s pretty hard to tell whether something should be classed as a dragon or not.  What about the Velue and the Oillepheist, for example?)  Today I present you with a few more unique, named dragons to add to the list.

        France has been remarkably prone to unique monsters over the centuries.  Luckily it was also remarkably prone to saints.

        In Metz, France it was the Graoully, a dragon who took up residence along with a huge swarm of snakes in the Roman amphitheater.  (This was in the 3rd century when the Roman Empire was still a thing.)  They poisoned the whole area.  The Graoully was driven away by St Clement, or possibly drowned by him in the River Seille.

        In Rouen, France the Gargouille was a bat-winged, long-necked dragon who lived in a cave by the Seine and could breathe fire or spout water, and who flattened crops with the flapping of his wings.  Despite his size and ferocity, he was easily tamed by St Romanus and the sign of the cross.  Despite his new tameness, he was then burned, except for his unburnable head.  This was hung on the cathedral, where it inspired some medieval architect to invent the gargoyle.

        In Vaucluse, France it was the Coulobre.  Her name comes from Latin coluber, meaning simply “snake,” and today the colubridae are a family of snakes that are mostly harmless and non-venomous (except the boomslang).  But this one was different: huge, with spiny wings, and so ugly that even other dragons despised her.  She lived in a deep spring, where she gave birth to poisonous salamanders.  It was St Veranus who hunted her down and forced her to fly away into the wilderness in the Alps.  (I should note that the Coulobre might not actually be unique.  Another attacked Petrarch when he was staying in the area, and another was defeated in Dordogne by St Front.  It’s unclear whether these are all the same species, or different unique individuals with the same name.)

        In Poitiers, France the dragon to beware was the Grand’Goule, with a gaping mouth and a tail with a scorpion sting.  It lived in the tunnels that ran under the Gallo-Roman walls near the Sainte-Croix Abbey, and it devoured the occasional nun.  St Radégonde killed it with a weaponized prayer that shot the beast like a crossbow bolt.

        Moving lastly to Italy, the Tarantasio was a pestilential dragon that lived in Lake Gerundo, and particularly enjoyed eating children.  It had large horns and webbed feet, and was killed by someone, although there is a great deal of disagreement over who did the deed.  It is said to be the origin of the coat of arms of the Visconti family, even though that’s simply a large anthropophagus snake called the “biscione.”  Another image said to depict the Tarantasio is a carving on the facade of the Duomo in Milan, even though it’s hornless and looks like a cross between a dinosaur and a puppy.

        These stories all have a pretty similar plot, which also appears with any number of unnamed run-of-the-mill dragons all across Europe.  Another common element of the story is that after the offending monster is destroyed, some relic or effigy of the beast gets paraded around town on an annual basis, and/or displayed in the local church/castle/town hall.  Although this plot may not seem terribly interesting to us today, it’s important to consider how vital it is always to remember that oppression can be resisted, cruelty can be defeated, and virtue can triumph.

[Pictures: Procession of the Graoully, engraving(?) from Dembour et Gangel, 1840/1852 (Image from limédia galeries);

La Gargouille de Rouen, engraving by Guillaume Cabasson, 1885 (Image from New York Public Library);

St-Romain with the Gargouille, stained glass at the church of Saint-Romain in Wy-dit-Joli-Village, neo-Gothic (Image from Wikimedia Commons);

Saint-Véran and the Coulobre, sculpture - can’t find any info about artist or date (Image from The Wyrm’s Lair);

La Grand’Goule, wooden sculpture by Jean Gargot, 1677 (Image from Alienor.org);

Biscione, coat of arms of the House of Visconti on the Archbishop’s Palace, Milan, mid-14th c. (Image from Wikimedia Commons);

Tarantasio?, sculpture on facade of  Duomo di Milano, by Carlo Pellicani, early 19th c. (Image from Yes Milano).]