Christchurch Dragon

Last updated November 20, 2023

The Christchurch Dragon is a legend associated with the town of Christchurch, Dorset, on the south coast of England. The legend has its origin in a mid-12th century French manuscript written by Hermann de Tournai, which tells how a party of canons from the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Laon, France, witnessed a five-headed dragon destroy the church and much of the town. Although well-documented, the legend is little-known in the town of its origin.

Legend synopsis

In Hermann de Tournai's account, a party of nine canons on a fund-raising tour from Laon Cathedral arrive at the town of Christchurch during a torrential rainstorm. They seek shelter at the local minster church but are rejected by the dean, who claims that the doors of the newly built church are not yet secure. In truth, the dean is concerned that their shrine and holy relics of the Virgin Mary would collect more offerings than his own altars.

Being the Saturday after Pentecost, the canons have arrived on the eve of the town's annual fair, so all the inns and lodging houses are full with merchants. However, one group of merchants kindly vacate their rooms in a newly built lodging house. The merchants then attend mass held at the house by the canons and agree to shun the church.

That night the canons tend to a poor herdsman's daughter who had been born with a deformed foot. The girl spends the night in prayer before the canons’ portable altar and the following morning her foot is found to be miraculously healed.

Later that morning the merchants all go to the fair. The canons depart from the town, but before they have travelled very far they are overtaken by two horsemen who tell them that the town is being set ablaze by a terrible dragon that had flown in from the sea. Eager to see this incredible spectacle, the canons race back to Christchurch.

The dragon is seen to be incredibly long and have five heads from which it breathes sulphurous flames. It is setting houses alight one by one, but the canons are astonished to find that the lodging house and herdsman's shelter are both completely unscathed and their occupants are safe inside. The kindly merchants have also all escaped unharmed, having departed from the fair early, before the dragon had appeared. However, the church where the canons had been denied shelter has been entirely destroyed.

The uncharitable dean is seen trying to save all his most valuable possessions by loading them on board a boat on the nearby river, but the dragon then swoops down and reduces the boat and everything on board to ashes. The repentant dean subsequently prostrates himself before the canon's shrine and prays to be forgiven for all the wrong he had done.

History

The background story to the canons’ visit is described in Monodies (Book 3), a contemporary document written by Guibert de Nogent.^[1] This mentions the fund-raising journeys undertaken by the canons of Laon after the cathedral of Notre-Dame was badly damaged by fire during a civil uprising at Easter in 1112. In Chapter XIII Guibert refers to the burning of an unnamed English town visited by the canons, but he ascribes this to lightning heaven-sent as a punishment for the ungodly behaviour of the inhabitants and makes no mention of a dragon.

In the mid-12th century, Herman de Laon, otherwise Hermann de Tournai, a retired Flemish Abbot, elaborated on the canons’ English journey in De Miraculis Sanctae Mariae Laudunensis (Of the Miracles of St Mary of Laon). Two short chapters describe the events that took place in "a town called Christikerca", though Hermann replaces Guibert de Nogent's lightning with a five-headed dragon. Hermann's account was reproduced in the Patrologia Latina (Vol 156, Col 979–982) published by Jacques-Paul Migne in the 19th century.

In the early 13th century the story was retold in rhyming couplets by Prior Gautier de Coincy, a French poet-composer. An illustrated manuscript of this work, Miracles de Notre-Dame et Autres Poésies de Gautier de Coinci, which features depictions of the dragon flying over the town and river (Folio 210v), is held in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

In the early 14th century the story appeared in the Nikolaus Saga written by Bergr Sokkason, an Icelandic monk and scholar. He probably had access to earlier Latin and Icelandic versions of the story. It was subsequently reproduced in other Icelandic sagas.^[2]

Some key details of Hermann de Tournai's account are confirmed by the Christchurch Priory cartulary,^[3] the bulk of which was compiled by 1372. It records that the Holy Trinity minster church was undergoing major reconstruction instigated in about 1094 by Ranulf Flambard. It also confirms that an annual fair was held a week after Pentecost on the feast day of the church, which only later became known as Trinity Sunday. It indicates that the dean in 1113 was the self-serving Peter de Oglander, who "imbued with evil intent, took away for himself all things set aside by ancient custom for the work of the church". However, the cartulary makes no mention of the church being badly damaged during construction.

Modern era

In 1933 John Strong Perry Tatlock, a specialist on medieval literature at the University of California, examined Hermann de Tournai's text and asserted that he could find nothing that contradicted the presumed date of 1113 for the canons’ journey.^[4]

In 1985 much of Hermann de Tournai's account was translated by English folklorist Jeremy Harte.^[5] This is thought to be the earliest translation of Hermann de Tournai's text into English.

A more recent translation (in French) of Hermann de Tournai's account appears in Les Miracles de Sainte Marie de Laon by Alain Saint-Denis (2008).^[6] Saint-Denis calculates the date of the dragon's appearance to be Sunday 1 June 1113.

In May 2013 the 900th anniversary of the dragon's appearance in Christchurch was commemorated by a locally organised Christchurch Dragon Festival with contributions by local schools, the Christchurch Chamber of Trade & Commerce, Christchurch Library, and the Red House Museum. On 1 June 2013, the five-headed dragon was mentioned in Search for Christchurch, a poem especially written by performance poet Elvis McGonagall and read by him at the official reopening of the newly refurbished Christchurch Library and Learning Centre.

Explanation

There is no accepted explanation for the Christchurch Dragon. However, the references to an abnormally violent rainstorm accompanied by lightning bears a resemblance to the Great Thunderstorm on Dartmoor in 1638. This has led to the speculation, supported by Christopher Chatfield, deputy director of the Ball Lightning Research Division of TORRO (Tornado & Storm Research Organisation), that the canons of Laon may have witnessed a rare example of prolonged ball lightning.

Related Research Articles

Noyon is a commune in the Oise department, northern France.

Tournai or Tournay is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies 89 km (55 mi) by road southwest of the centre of Brussels on the river Scheldt, and is part of Eurometropolis Lille–Kortrijk–Tournai, In 2022, the municipality of Tournai had an estimated population of 68,518 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Madonna</span> Artistic depiction of the Virgin Mary and Jesus

The term Black Madonna or Black Virgin tends to refer to statues or paintings in Western Christendom of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus, where both figures are depicted with dark skin. Examples of the Black Madonna can be found both in Catholic and Orthodox countries.

Ulysse Chevalier was a French bibliographer and historian.

Norbert of Xanten, O. Praem (Xanten-Magdeburg), also known as Norbert Gennep, was a bishop of the Catholic Church, founder of the Premonstratensian order of canons regular, and is venerated as a saint. Norbert was canonized by Pope Gregory XIII in the year 1582, and his statue appears above the Piazza colonnade of St. Peter's Square in Rome.

Laon Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church located in Laon, Aisne, Hauts-de-France, France. Built in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, it is one of the most important and stylistically unified examples of early Gothic architecture. The church served as the cathedral of the Diocese of Laon until 1802, and has been recognized as a monument historique since 1840.

The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons, is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church founded in Prémontré near Laon in 1120 by Norbert of Xanten, who later became Archbishop of Magdeburg. Premonstratensians are designated by OPraem following their name.

Rocamadour is a commune in the Lot department in southwestern France. It lies in the former province of Quercy.

Christchurch Priory is an ecclesiastical parish and former priory church in Christchurch in the English county of Dorset. It is one of the longest parish churches in the country and is as large as many of the Church of England Cathedrals.

Chauny is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.

Peter Cantor, also known as Peter the Chanter or by his Latin name Petrus Cantor, was a French Roman Catholic theologian. He received his education at Rheims, and later moved on to Paris, where, in 1183, he became Chanter at Notre Dame. Charters show Petrus Cantor as a man active in hearing cases, witnessing documents and participating in the business of the chapter of Notre Dame. Petrus was elected dean at Reims in 1196, but died in the following year in the Longpont Abbey, some time after 29 January 1197. He commented on Old Testament and New Testament books. His work on the sacrament of penance is especially noteworthy. His work reflects Scholastic perspectives.

The Diocese of Soissons, Laon, and Saint-Quentin is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in France. The diocese is suffragan to the Archdiocese of Reims and corresponds, with the exception of two hamlets, to the entire Department of Aisne. The current bishop is Renauld Marie François Dupont de Dinechin, appointed on 30 October 2015. In the Diocese of Soissons there is one priest for every 4,648 Catholics.

Thomas of Marle, Lord of Coucy and Boves, was a medieval French nobleman. He was born in 1073 to Enguerrand I of Boves, the Lord of Coucy, and his wife Adele of Marle. After the death of his father, Thomas became the Lord of Coucy and of his family's other holdings. As the best-known of the Lords of Coucy, Thomas of Marle became infamous for his aggressive and brutal tactics in war and his continued rebellion against the authority of King Louis VI.

The Abbey of Saint Genevieve was a monastery in Paris. Reportedly built by Clovis, King of the Franks in 502, it became a centre of religious scholarship in the Middle Ages. It was suppressed at the time of the French Revolution.

Liège Cathedral, otherwise St. Paul's Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Liège, Belgium. Founded in the 10th century, it was rebuilt from the 13th to the 15th century and restored in the mid-19th century. It became a Catholic cathedral in the 19th century due to the destruction of Saint Lambert's Cathedral in 1795. It is the seat of the Diocese of Liège.

Herman of Tournai, Herman of Laon or Hériman of Tournai,, the third abbot of Saint Martin of Tournai, was a chronicler of his abbey and, in many anecdotal accounts connected with the abbey, a social historian of the world seen from its perspective. Forced from his abbacy in 1136 by a contingent within the monastic community that asserted he had been lax in his enforcement of the Benedictine rule, he had the leisure while at Rome to write his book, Restauratio sancti Martini Tornacensis, written in Latin about fifty years after a local plague of 1090. He was a pupil of Odoardus, later Bishop of Cambrai, whose example as a teacher he delineates at the start of his work, and who was the driving force behind the refounding of a neglected and undistinguished church dedicated to St Martin of Tours near Tournai. Herman's Restauratio has been edited and translated for the first time into English by Lynn Harry Nelson, who provided extended explanatory notes.

Barthélemy de Jur was a French bishop. He was bishop of Laon from 1113 to 1151. Some documents give his name as Barthélemy de Grandson or de Joux.

Philip II, called Philippe de Méréville or Philippe de Nemours, was the bishop of Châlons from 1228 until his death. He was a member of the nobility of the Île-de-France, and was a priest in Paris before coming to Châlons. As bishop, he was a consistent ally of Count Theobald IV of Champagne, in whose county his diocese lay.

De miraculis sanctae Mariae Laudunensis, generally ascribed to Herman of Tournai, is a Latin work written in the 1140s which describes two fundraising tours of northern France and southern England made by the canons of Laon Cathedral in 1112 and 1113, and presents a eulogy of Laon's bishop, Barthélemy de Jur. Its incidental mentions of Cornish folklore about King Arthur, including belief in his survival, have attracted great interest from Arthurian scholars, but it is also a valuable historical source on the state of English and French society in the early 12th century.

Helinand was the bishop of Laon from 1052 to 1098.

References

↑ Guibert of Nogent (2011). Monodies and On the Relics of Saints. Penguin Books Ltd. pp. 153–154. ISBN 978-0-14-310630-2.
↑ Turville-Petre, Gabriel (1972). Nine Norse Studies. London: University College London, for the Viking Society for Northern Research. pp. 64–78.
↑ Hanna, Katharine (2007). The Christchurch Priory Cartulary. The Castle, Winchester, SO23 8UJ: Hampshire County Council. ISBN 978-1-85975-761-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
↑ Tatlock, J S P (1933). Speculum, Vol. 8, No. 4: The English Journey of the Laon Canons. The Medieval Academy of America.
↑ Harte, Jeremy (1985). The Dragon of Christchurch and Other Wonders Seen on a Journey Through the West of England in 1113. South-Western Antiquarian Society.
↑ Saint-Denis, Alain (2008). Les Miracles de Sainte Marie de Laon. CNRS Éditions, Paris. pp. 175–180. ISBN 978-2-271-06567-4.

External links

Autobiography (Monodies), Guibert de Nogent at Fordham University
Patrologia Latina, Jacques-Paul Migne at Internet Archive
Miracles de Notre-Dame et Autres Poésies de Gautier de Coinci, Gautier de Coincy at Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica
Nine Norse Studies, Gabriel Turville-Petre at Viking Society Web Publications
The English Journey of the Laon Canons, J. S. P. Tatlock, Speculum, Vol. 8, No. 4 (Oct., 1933), pp. 454–465 at JSTOR

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Guibert of Nogent (2011). Monodies and On the Relics of Saints. Penguin Books Ltd. pp. 153–154. ISBN 978-0-14-310630-2.

[2] Turville-Petre, Gabriel (1972). Nine Norse Studies. London: University College London, for the Viking Society for Northern Research. pp. 64–78.

[3] Hanna, Katharine (2007). The Christchurch Priory Cartulary. The Castle, Winchester, SO23 8UJ: Hampshire County Council. ISBN 978-1-85975-761-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)

[4] Tatlock, J S P (1933). Speculum, Vol. 8, No. 4: The English Journey of the Laon Canons. The Medieval Academy of America.

[5] Harte, Jeremy (1985). The Dragon of Christchurch and Other Wonders Seen on a Journey Through the West of England in 1113. South-Western Antiquarian Society.

[6] Saint-Denis, Alain (2008). Les Miracles de Sainte Marie de Laon. CNRS Éditions, Paris. pp. 175–180. ISBN 978-2-271-06567-4.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]