Middleton, History transcription

Middleton parish:

Middleton, History transcription:

Saint Giles was one of the most popular saints of West Europe in the later Middle Ages and about whom little is known. The centre of his cultus was at St Giles near Arles. He may have been a hermit in that neighbourhood before the 9th century. A life of him for the pilgrims to his shrine was composed in the 10th century : it includes some startling wonders and anachronisms and one celebrated incident.

The hermit had a pet hind which one day was hunted in the woods by the Visigoth King Wamba. An arrow was loosed into the undergrowth and when the king rode into the clearing there was Giles, himself wounded by the arrow protecting the hind in his arms and the hounds rooted motionless by an invisible power. Variations of this tale are told of several other Saints. St Giles was looked on as a patron saint of cripples and the indigent and in Britain alone over 150 churches are dedicated in his honour.
Penguin Dictionary of Saints