Who is this Dragon?
The Tarasque is a fearsome legendary dragon-like mythological hybrid from Provence, in southern France, tamed in stories about Saint Martha, such as the one told in Jacobus de Voragine's Golden Legend (13th century).
The tarasque was described as having a lion-like head, a body protected by turtle-like carapace(s), six feet with bear-like claws, and a scaly tail like a serpent's tail in a text (pseudo-Marcelle or pseudo-Marcella) which is similar to and roughly coeval with the Golden Legend, and issued poison breath according to one hagiography (pseudo-Raban Maur) of perhaps somewhat later date.
Medieval iconography such as renditions in church sculpture did not necessarily conform to this description in the earlier Gothic period, and examples which seemed to were later assigned later, 14th century dates. The hexapedal carapaced tarasque was the form depicted on the city seal of Tarascon around the 15th century, and this held to be the norm in 16th-17th century paintings. As St. Martha purportedly encountered the beast in the act of swallowing a human victim, it has become a stock motif in art to portray the beast swallowing a human head first, with the victim's legs still dangling.
Where are they written?
The legend is recorded in several sources, but especially in the story of St. Martha in the Golden Legend (Legenda aurea), which was "the most influential".[8][a]
Legenda aurea
In Provence, France, the creature inhabited the forested banks of the Rhône between Arles and Avignon, around what is now the town Tarascon (then called Nerluc or 'black place'), but lurked in the river and attacked the men trying to cross it, sinking boats. The creature was described a dragon, half animal, half fish, thicker than an ox, longer than a horse, with "sword-like teeth as sharp as horns".
The Tarasque (Latin: Tarasconus) was said to have come from Galatia, a cross-breed between the biblical Leviathan and the legendary Onachus of Galatia, this onachus being a creature that retaliated against pursuers by flinging its dung (Latin: stercus) like an arrow, and causing burns.The people besought Saint Martha for help, and she found the creature in the act of devouring a man.[f] Merely by sprinkling holy water and holding up the cross, she caused the creature to become submissive and obedient.[g] She then tied her girdle (to its neck[h]), leading the beast to the villagers who cast rocks and spears at it until it died.
Can I find them in media?
The tarasque has it's own festival!
The festival of the tarasque was initiated on April 14, 1474 during Pentecost in Tarascon, at the behest of René of Anjou, in order to amuse his citizens with a reenactment of St. Martha's miracle. Later, a second festival was held on 29 July, the feast-day of Saint Martha.
In former days, the effigy of the tarasque was paraded through the streets twice a year, and a maiden portraying St. Martha escorting the tarasque held it by the leash (or a white ribbon) in one hand.
In the modern day (post-World War II), the festival came to be held annually on the last Sunday of June, to tell the tale of the Tarasque,[83][84] as well as Tartarin, the main character of Alphonse Daudet's Tartarin de Tarascon.