The Martyrdom of St Maurice (1580-81) is a oil on canvas painting by the Spanish Renaissance painter, sculptor and architect El Greco. The story of St Maurice (a legendary warrior saint, the commander of the 'Theban Legion', Roman troops from Thebes in Egypt, who served at Agaunum in Gaul (St-Maurice en Valais) in the 3rd century) relates that the soldiers, at the instigation of Maurice, refused to participate in certain pagan rites. They were punished by the Emperor Maximian Herculeus first by decimation and finally by the wholesale massacre of the legion. Maurice and his fellow officers were executed in A.D. 287. The authenticity ot the story is debated. The subject of the martyrdom of the soldier Saint with his legions, for his refusal to worship the pagan gods. was appropriate for the Escorial, the real centre of the crusade for the Faith. This subject expresses the conviction of faith that inspired the crusade; the Allegory of the Holy League, the militant spirit of the crusade itself. The painting (448 x 301 cm) is in the collection of the Chapter House, Monasterio de San Lorenzo, El Escorial.