Gargoyles are mostly grotesque figures.
A local legend that sprang up around the
name of St. Romanus, the former chancellor
of the Merovingian king Clotaire II who
was made bishop of Rouen, relates how
he delivered the country around Rouen
from a monster called Gargouille, having
had the creature captured by a liberated
prisoner. The gargoyle's grotesque form
was said to scare off evil spirits so
they were used for protection.
|