3-084-806 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

St Leonard Freeing Prisoners, c1490. Leonard of Noblac, a Frankish saint, was granted the prerogative to visit prisons and free anyone held there. Although there is no previous mention of Leonard either in literature, liturgy or in church dedications, in the 12th century his cult rapidly spread, at first through Frankish lands, following the release of Bohemond I of Antioch in 1103 from a Danishmend (Turkish) prison, which he attributed to the intercession of St. Leonard. Bohemond (c1054-1111), prince of Taranto and prince of Antioch, was leader of the First Crusade.