Rare Monsters

  The coulobre of Fontaine de Vaucluse was a hideous salamander like dragon who lived in the town she was named after. She made her home in a mountain spring just outside of town, which formed a large pool by a cliff side and fed the Sorgue River. The coulobre was so horrible looking that her dragon mates would immediately leaver her. All of her children became small black salamanders rather than dragons. The coulobre was a menace to the land and people around her, devouring humans and live stock alike. Saint Véran took up the calling to kill the dragon. He watched the coulobre for many days to learn her behaviours. Then when she emerged from the pool one night he ambushed the coulobre and made the sign of the cross, injuring and subduing the beast. She few away into the Alps in fear of the saint. The coulobre then died high in the mountains. A village named Saint Véran was built on the location where the coulobre died. For several centuries people thought the coulobre was...

  The guivre or vouivre is a confusing dragon with many different descriptions. Both names came from the Latin vipera, and both are mythologized versions of the snake. It’s unclear if the two versions are two different dragons or interpretations of one. They’re both certainly regional variations of each other. And both have a wide range of regional variations within the use of the same name. It’s even unclear if the legends about this creature are meant to refer to a species of dragon, or one individual. Most often guivre is used like a species of monster, while vouivre is treated as an individual, yet sources still use them interchangeably. The appearance of this beast also varies widely, from a winged serpentine dragon, to a wingless serpentine dragon, to even things like a giant bird, will-o-wisp like fire balls and streaks of fire flying across the sky. The most detailed description, which is usually applied to the vouivre, is that of a wyvern like dragon, with a single ey...

  Graoully is a dragon from Metz, France. It is most often depicted as a rather standard wyvern, although in the castle Haut-Koenigsbourg there’s a Graoully statue with four legs. I’ve based my art on the effigy that hangs over Taison Street. The name Graoully comes from the old Germanic word graulich, which means horrible or monstrous, and is the origins of the English word gruesome. Legend has it that back in the 3 rd century Saint Cl é ment was travelling around Gaul Christianizing the population. When he came to Metz he found everyone hiding in their homes, afraid to come out. One of the locals told Saint Cl é ment that a dragon named Graoully lived in the local Roman amphitheatre, along side a horde of serpents, and would routinely come out to terrorize the townsfolk. The townsfolk warned Saint Cl é ment that the serpents in the amphitheatre were so venomous they made the air toxic so nothing could survive near them, but Saint Cl é ment was not deterred. He went to the...

  The Bete Ro was a dragon from La Rochelle in France. It was said to live specifically at Pointe de Raux, hillside jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by cliffs. The actual appearance of the dragon is left vague. It’s said to have wings, and a long reptilian tail, and live in the water, occasionally venturing onto land to attack the nearby settlements. An old worn down image of a beast carved into Church Sainte-Radegonde of Talmont was pointed to as the beast of Ro, however this is actually the lion of Ezekiel. It was said that the bete Ro would attack ships and villages up and down the coast. It was as smart as a humans and possessing a cruel cunning that allowed it to set ambushes for ships and shepherds alike. Eventually seven heroes travelled from across the sea to slay the dragon. They shot the bete Ro with seven arrows, two in its ears, two in its eyes, two in its nostrils and one in its throat. Once the beast was cut off from all its senses the seven heroes...