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Glossary

St Giles

Saint Giles is an 8th-century saint who was particularly popular in the Middle Ages. He was the abbot of a Benedictine monastery near Arles in France, which became the focus for his cult.

His attributes are a stag and an arrow because he protected a wounded hind and miraculously defended it from the hounds of the king's hunt; see the depiction of the aftermath of this event by the Master of Saint Giles in the Collection ('Saint Giles and the Hind').