The Life of St Giles - a Living Text

The Mass of Saint Giles, by The Master of St Giles c1500 (The National Gallery)

My parish church is dedicated to St Giles whose feast day is September 1st. Surveying recent scholarship on surviving manuscripts shows how the ‘Life of St Giles’ is a living text - how his story has evolved as he inspired each new generation. How do we respond to the text today?

 

La Vita sancti Aegidii

 

La Vita sancti Aegidii (Aegidius being the Latin name for Giles) is the earliest surviving record of the Life of St Giles, written in Latin by an unknown author. Most scholars agree that the text was composed by a monk at the Abbey of St Giles (given the intimate knowledge the author displays about the building and the reverence given to the saint).

 

I have not yet been able to find an easily accessible English translation of the Vita. The latest critical scholarly edition is by Ethel Cecilia Jones (Saint Gilles: Essai d'histoire littéraire (Paris: H. Champion, 1914). In her comparison of different copies of the manuscript, Jones suggests that the original dedication of the Abbey was not to St Giles but to St Priscus of Capua, a locally venerated martyr bishop whose feast day was also 1 September, but whom Gilles surpassed in popularity in the eleventh century when his cult spread - thanks to the location of the Abbey on the pilgrimage route to Compostela.

 

Several copies of the Vita exist, the date of the earliest is a matter of debate. Some place it in the late ninth century, arguing it was composed to establish or maintain the independence of the monastery from the Bishop of Nimes and Counts of Toulouse. Others argue a later origin (late tenth or early eleventh century) corresponding to the the earliest documentary evidence associating the monastery with St Giles in 1014. Many see the purpose of the text as providing a historic basis for this link. 

 

Hagiographer Carmela Vircillo Franklin suggests the intent to root the Life of Giles in a particular place is evident in the content and focus of the Vita. Giles’ Greek origins closely resemble that of Saint Denis of Paris, the celebrated first bishop of nearby Arles. Giles’ arrival in France reflects a local legend that Mary Magdalene was washed ashore at Marseilles. 

 

Most significant for Franklin is that key events in the Vita (such as the brief account of the first miracle Giles performs as a young boy and his later trip to Rome) appear to be drawn from the life of Caesarius of Arles, another celebrated local bishop. Giles is even recorded in the Vita as meeting Caesarius (an event which would have been chronologically impossible). 

 

Comparing surviving copies of the Vita shows some degree of evolution. For instance, the earliest version has a brief description of the education Giles received, showing him to be a good student - later copies describe him as outshining all other scholars.  

 

Despite embellishing details about Giles as hermit, monk and founder of the monastery, little attention is given in the Vita to the miracles that he performed compared to later versions of The Life, which were composed after Saint Gilles became an important place of pilgrimage. 

 

 

The Anglo-Saxon Life of St Giles 

 

An Anglo-Saxon version of the Life of St Giles exists in one surviving manuscript held at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge which has been dated to the first half of the twelfth century. It is available in a modern English translation by Elaine Treharne (free to access but registration with Academia.Edu is required.)

 

The original (now lost) manuscript is thought to have been composed in the period after the Norman Conquest when the cult of St Giles was at its height, thanks to the growth in pilgrims due to the enterprise of the monks of Saint Gilles. Giles became one of the most widely venerated saints in England in the Middle Ages.

 

However, the earliest evidence for the translation of the Latin Vita into Anglo-Saxon appears in a liturgical source. It seems that The Life of St Giles was first known in this country through acts of worship.

 

The Missal of Bishop Leofric of Exeter includes details of a Mass for St Giles in its latest edition (which dates from Leofric’s time as Bishop from 1050 to 1072). The liturgy includes a Collect, Secreta (offertory prayer), preface to the Eucharistic prayer and a post communion prayer. A rubric placed before the text of the liturgy contains details about Giles derived from the Latin Vita. 

 

Carmela Vircillo Franklin has published a detailed comparison of the Latin Vita and surviving versions of the later Anglo-Saxon Life of St Giles. 

 

She finds that whilst the translation is almost word for word in many places, there are key differences between the two. The Anglo-Saxon ‘Life’ focusses less on the historic Giles and his connection to the area around Arles and gives more attention to the miracles he performed - adding extra detail for dramatic effect. 

 

The most obvious example that Franklin highlights is in the way both versions treat the healing of Teocrita’s daughter. The Anglo-Saxon version is expanded with details that clearly reflect Jesus’ raising of Jairus’s daughter - for instance Giles, as Jesus, sends away the crowds gathered in the house before the miracle is performed - a detail that does not appear in the Vita.

 

The reference to Giles meeting Caesarius in the Vita becomes a meeting with Eusebius in the Anglo-Saxon edition - possibly a mistake or an attempt to be more historically accurate. It is likely that few in England would have known about Caesarius at that time, nor would his local importance in Arles have been relevant here - so perhaps the alteration is deliberate?

 

According to Franklin, while in the Latin Vita, Caesarius appears to be a model for Giles, in the Anglo-Saxon edition it is Jesus who becomes the main reference point. The focus on Giles as a miracle worker more important to the needs of the increasing number of people devoted to the saint in this country and around Europe at that time.

 

 

La Vie de Saint Gilles 

 

Based on the Latin Vita, this long rhymed- verse by Anglo-Norman writer Guillaume de Berneville from 1150-1179 has been described by the eminent scholar Gaston Paris as one of the masterpieces of French medieval literature. I have been unable so far to find a copy in English - the translations set out below are taken from a fascinating unpublished thesis by medieval scholar Dr Monica Ehrlich, to whom I am indebted for the information below.

 

One complete manuscript copy of ‘La Vie’ survives in Florence and dates from the latter thirteenth century, with a smaller fragment held in the British Museum. 

 

La Vie adds significant details to the Vita for dramatic effect, reflecting the concerns and hagiographic fashions of the time. The story becomes more romanticized and, Ehrlich and others claim, more sexualised. More focus is given to power relationships between characters in the story and descriptions of them.

 

Neither the Vita nor the Anglo-Saxon Life contain any detail about Giles’ appearance as a young man. La Vie offers an extensive description:

 

“Gilles was a very beautiful child. He was the flower of all the other young men in the land where he was born. He had blond, curly hair. His skin was white like milk. His eyes were smiling. His nose was wellmade. He had white teeth and a beautiful mouth. He did not have any whiskers on his cheeks. He had beautiful hands and white fingers. He had a long torso, thin sides and large hips. Nature never made a creature more beautiful than he. He loves his father more than everything in the world and cherished his mother greatly. They dressed him very richly, but he gave the best of his clothes to the poor.”

 

One commentator notes that characteristics such as ‘large hips’ were particular associated in the twelfth century with celebrated knights - perhaps here Giles is being made in their image (or vice versa?)

 

It is not only Giles’ appearance which is dramatized in La Vie. His riches, his benevolence and his relationships are all enhanced with considerable detail. 

 

Livid that Giles has given away his wealth, the barons (who rely on the King for their income and status) give a sixty-line speech questioning his judgement and urging him to take a rich wife to maintain his authority. Something Giles refuses to do, choosing instead to live as a hermit. 

 

La Vie adds considerable detail to Giles’ relationship with the hind - a female deer. Whereas in the Anglo-Saxon Life we learn that the deer “fed God’s darling with her milk”, Guillaume de Berneville paints the relationship between man and beast almost as one of co-habiting equals; the hind feeding during the day and returning at night when Giles became hungry and offering him her milk.  

 

While the text is unclear as to how Giles extracts milk from the deer, Ehrlich and others read a close physical relationship - which is more apparent in the wording and rhythm of the poem in the original medieval French than the English translation:  “She has large teats full of milk. She lies down at Gilles’s feet and presents herself to serve him.” 

 

The humility of the deer - and Giles’ reciprocal humility shown in his care for her (and in the ultimate act of humility being wounded in her place by the King’s huntsmen), leads Ehrlich to see a close link to the Rule of Saint Benedict - particularly Chapter 7 (Humility). Benedict uses a number of metaphors to illustrate the concept - including breastfeeding. 

 

After his huntsmen wound Giles, the King, who appears aware of Giles’ fame as a healer, offers him all manner of gifts, stating “If you do not want to keep them for yourself, have them distributed to the poor.” The nobility finally seem to be willing to reflect the ethics of Giles. The King persuades Giles to become abbot of a new monastery which he finances. 

 

La Vie uses the Vita to create a highly romanticized account of the Life of St Giles in which characters and their inter-personal relationships are significantly developed, reflecting the trends in hagiographic writing of the time. 

 

 

The Golden Legend 

 

The Life of St Giles is included in a collection of 153 hagiographies (stories of the lives of the saints) by Jacobus de Voraigne which dates from 1259-1266 with later additions. Known colloquially as The Golden Legend , each chapter includes an explanation of the origins of the saints name, information about their life, miracles they performed and sources of further information. 

 

Each saint is afforded a separate chapter which are arranged in chronological order according to their feast day. This arrangement and the abridged details about the life of each saint suggests the purpose of the text is as an aid for preaching rather than for popular entertainment. However the book became one of the most widely printed in the Middle Ages and was one of the first texts in English to be printed by William Caxton, in 1483. His translation can be found online at this link. 

 

The Legend does not include details of all the miracles in other versions of the Life of St Giles (such as the raising of the rich widow’s daughter) but it does feature all three events in the Life most widely depicted in art (including the south portal of Chartres Cathedral). The first is the miracle associated with the young Giles giving away his cloak, the second being the relationship between Giles and the doe and the third being the Mass of St Giles. In the latter, King Charles is said to have committed a sin so great he would not tell anyone about it. While celebrating mass, an angel dropped a note on the altar disclosing the sin to Giles - with the advice that the sin will be forgiven through Giles intercession if the King desists from it. 

 

In Guillaume de Berneville’s “Vie” the King is associated with Charlemagne - the first Holy Roman Emperor - (the sin is implied to be incest). 

 

The miracle of the “Mass of St Giles” was not only depicted widely in art (such as by the Master of St Giles in part of an altarpiece on display at the National Gallery) but became central to the cult associated with Giles - more so than the healing miracles. By the thirteenth century pilgrims flocked to Saint Gilles in great numbers to publicly confess their sins, which could explain why the Mass is given such extensive treatment at the expense of other miracles in The Golden Legend. 

 

The Legend adds details about the death of Giles, which it dates to around 700AD.

 

 

The Life of St Giles today?

 

Surveying scholarship on the surviving accounts of the Life of St Giles shows how the earliest Latin account rooted Giles physically, spiritually and mythologically to the monastery and the area around it. 

 

The first experience of his Life in Anglo-Saxon England would be through worship - participating in the Mass for St Giles. Later Anglo-Saxon editions of the ‘Life’ focussed less on specific geographical detail and more on the miracles Giles performed - expanding on these based on the miracles of Jesus from the gospels. Healing miracles proved important to pilgrims at first. But later, perhaps thanks to Guillaume de Berneville’s La Vie de Saint Gilles, his power to absolve sins drew most to his shrine. Guillaume’s poem adding tantalizing detail about the key characters in the Life of St Giles and their interrelationships. 

 

Themes discussed by current commentators on the Life of St Giles’ include his ecological ethics and his ability to negotiate power dynamics in society to encourage a more sustainable way of living (his monastery being the outworking of which). 

 

What stands out to you from your reading of any of the “Lives” of St Giles?  How might St Giles come alive for us today? 

 

 

Notes:

 

I am indebted to the writings of distinguished Medieval Latin Scholar Carmela Vircillo Franklin for the information presented above regarding the Vita Saint Aegidii and the Anglo-Saxon life of St Giles. Those wishing to explore detailed comparisons between the two will find her published work invaluable. 

 

Dr Monica Antoinette Ehrlich’s PhD thesis ‘Saints, Sex and Species’ is the source of the translation and commentary on Guillaume de Berneville’s La Vie de saint Gilles.