or a building and its occupants, they also had their faults, and were particularly prone to greed, a reminder of the temptation of the devil to sin. The popular lion carving also served to represent the sin of pride. The wolf, although a feared creature in that period, represented a leader of the pack, protecting its members, much as a priest would spiritually protect their flock. Eagles were admired for their ability to see things which were very far away, and were used as a metaphor for foresight. The serpent, representing the sin of envy and the struggle of good and evil from the story of Adam and Eve, thought to be immortal, they promoted the idea that the fight against the temptation of the devil would go on for all eternity. Goats were also commonly used, although they had two very different viewpoints in medieval times, on one side the goat represented the ability to survive in the hardest of situations, on the other it represented the sin of lust, and is the animal most associated with the devil. Finally the monkey, representing the sin of sloth, the use of the monkey was to remind the people of what a human would become if they went awry, they were viewed a stupid creatures whose intelligence was misrepresented as cunning. The idea behind the use of these creatures and their meanings was to enforce the need to come to church, to remind the people that the day of judgement is ever near, and they would find safety and sanctuary inside these holy buildings.
The use of gargoyles also extended to medieval castles, using carvings of frightening, ugly faces, and mythical creatures to intimidate and have a terrifying psychological effect on the populations surrounding these elaborate fortresses. For this reason there were carvings added to buildings without the function as a waterspout, technically these are not gargoyles since
they do not have a throat from which to spout water, they are referred to as Grotesques, and were also used inside buildings as ornamentation. There was also another more peculiar type of gargoyle known as the “defecating” or “mooning gargoyle”, although rare, there are examples still in existence today. A nude, defecating man dating from the late thirteenth century appears on the side of Cathedral of Saint-Lazare in Autun, France. Whether he is intended to drive evil from the church, or is simply a little piece of mischief thought up by a medieval mind we don’t know, he does not have a prominent place on the rooftop, and is tucked away high on the south side of the cathedral. There are other examples of these somewhat naughty gargoyles in Germany, England and more in France.
The use of gargoyles as waterspouts was common up until the 18th century, when downpipes and guttering became a more popular method of water drainage. In 1724 an act of parliament made the use of downpipes compulsory on all new constructions. Gargoyles were no longer needed for their practical purpose. Although technically Grotesques and not Gargoyles due to the lack of waterspout, they were still widely used as decoration on 19th and early 20th century buildings.