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St. Eloi shoeing a possessed horse, Slapton, Northamptonshire (‡Peterborough) C.14

Photo:T.Marshall S. Eloi & the possessed horse/S. Anne teaching the Virgin to read, Slapton [43KB]
St. Eloi’s encounter with the possessed horse is described in detail on the page for the subject at Wensley in North Yorkshire. Briefly, the intractable horse was brought to Eloi for shoeing, all previous attempts to do so having failed. Eloi removed the animal’s leg, shod it, and fixed it back in place. The horse itself stands (on three legs), before what seems to be a doorway, probably intended for the entrance to Eloi’s smithy. Eloi himself, in mitre and chasuble (he became bishop of Noyon in France), is at the far left, holding the horse’s leg in his left hand. He is otherwise working with a hammer at an anvil, painted in gold. Further left stands a figure in a short robe who may be an assistant, displaying an unidentifiable V-shaped object, also shown in gold. This may be some blacksmithing tool, or it may allude, along with the golden anvil, to Eloi’s earlier career as a goldsmith at the courts of King Clotar 11 and Dagobert 1. Although there is no certain attribution, some pieces of goldsmith’s work said to have been made by the saint, particularly a chalice which disappeared during the French Revolution, are known from drawings.

At the upper right is an entirely separate subject, St. Anne teaching the Virgin to read, with the young Virgin standing or kneeling beside her seated mother. This will have a page of its own in due course, since examples of it are few and far between, but there is another one on this site now, at Corby Glen in Lincolnshire.

Most of the many other paintings at Slapton are now on the site. They are the Annunciation, the Suicide of Judas, the Mass of St. Gregory, St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata, the Weighing of Souls, St. Christopher and the Warning Against Idle Gossip. There are a few more still to come.

St. Andrew Martyred, Stoke Dry, Rutland St. Anne teaching the Virgin to read-Corby Glen, Lincolnshire St. Antony and the Pig, Barton, Cambridgeshire St. Barbara : Hessett, Suffolk St. Bartholomew : Selling, Kent St.Catherine of Alexandria, life of : Castor, Cambs St.Catherine of Alexandria : Hardley Street, Norfolk
St.Catherine of Alexandria : Old Weston, Northants St.Catherine of Alexandria : Pickering, N. Yorks St.Catherine of Alexandria, life of : Sporle, Norfolk St. Clement : South Leigh, Oxon. St. Dunstan holding the Devil by the nose : Barton, Cambs St.Edmund : Boxford, Suffolk St. Edmund : Lakenheath, Suffolk
St. Edmund, Martyrdom of : Bishopsbourne, Kent St.Edmund, Martyrdom of : Fritton, Norfolk St. Edmund (or St. Walstan) : Gisleham, Norfolk St. Edmund, Martyrdom of : Pickering, N.Yorks St. Edmund, Martyrdom of : Stoke Dry, Rutland St. Edmund, Martyrdom of : Troston, Suffolk St. Edmund, Martyrdom of : Weare Giffard, Devon
St.Eloi, Broughton, Bucks St. Eloi and the possessed horse, Slapton, Northants St. Eloi, as bishop & blacksmith, Wensley, N.Yorks St.Erasmus, Martyrdom of : Chippenham, Cambs St. Etheldreda : Willingham, Cambs St.Francis Preaching to the Birds : Wissington, Suffolk St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata, Slapton, Northants
St. George & Dragon : Banningham, Norfolk St. George & Dragon : Broughton, Bucks St. George & Dragon : Earl Stonham, Suffolk St. George & Dragon : Fritton, Norfolk St. George & Dragon : Hornton, Oxon St. George dedicating himself to the Virgin : Astbury, Cheshire St. George, with the princess : Little Kimble, Bucks
St.Helena, Broughton, Bucks St. Hubert, Miracle of : Idsworth, Hants St.James the Great : Hales, Norfolk Life of St. James, Stoke Orchard, Gloucestershire St. James the Great, meeting pilgrims : Wisborough Green, Sussex St. John the Baptist, Martyrdom of : Chalfont St. Giles, Bucks St. John the Baptist, Martyrdom of : Heydon, Norfolk
St. John the Baptist, Martyrdom of : Idsworth, Hampshire St. John the Baptist, Martyrdom of : Old Weston, Northants Life of St. John the Baptist : Cerne Abbas, Dorset NEW St. John the Evangelist, Selling, Kent St. John the Evangelist, Weston Longville, Norfolk St. Margaret of Antioch : Old Weston, Northants St. Margaret and the dragon : South Newington, Oxfordshire NEW
St. Margaret of Antioch Martyred, Stoke Dry, Rutland St. Margaret of Antioch, Life of : Charlwood, Surrey Life of St. Margaret, Wendens Ambo, Essex St. Martin dividing his cloak, Chalgrave, Beds St. Martin dividing his cloak, Wareham, Dorset St.Nicholas of Myra, life of : Little Horwood, Bucks St. Nicholas of Myra, two miracles of : Wissington, Suffolk
St.Paul : Black Bourton, Oxon St. Paul : Beckley, Oxon St. Peter : Beckley, Oxon St.Peter : Black Bourton, Oxon St. Peter, Martyrdom of : Chacombe, Northants St. Roch : Pinvin, Worcs St. Sexburga? : Willingham, Cambs
St. Stephen, Stoning of: Black Bourton, Oxon St. Stephen, Stoning of: Catfield, Norfolk St.Swithun (?) enthroned : Old Weston, Northants Scenes from the life of St. Swithun : Corhampton, Hampshire NEW St. Thomas Becket, blessing, Hauxton, Cambs. St. Thomas Becket, Murder of, Marston Magna, Somerset St.Thomas Becket, Murder of : South Burlingham, Norfolk
St. Thomas Becket, Murder of : South Newington, Oxfordshire St. Walstan of Bawburgh? or St. Edmund : Gisleham, Norfolk St. Zita : Horley, Oxon St. Zita : Shorthampton, Oxon Unidentified female saint : Heydon

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8/12/2001