Golden Legend

The Legenda aurea ( Latin for Golden Legend ' ) is one of the Dominican Jacobus de Voragine ( 1228/29-1298 ) probably in the years around 1264, written in Latin collection of originally 182 tracts to the church festivals and especially life stories saint and legends of the saints. Jacobus, who was Archbishop of Genoa from 1298 until his death in 1292, thus creating the best-known and most widespread popular religious book of the Middle Ages.

Work

Jacobus de Voragine arranged his work following the course of the liturgical year. The great feasts (Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost), he devoted his own detailed illustrations and explained to the importance of the embossed times, the liturgy and traditions. So could also serve as a guide for reflection on feast days such as a daily devotional reading this book.

The epoch- making innovation of this book was felt from the beginning; as Nova legenda or novelty passionale it came just after his show at a unique triumph through the whole West. Already 1282 is a manuscript in Germany detectable; in 1470 the Legenda aurea was printed. Jacobus ' collection has been translated into many languages ​​and often extended by local legends, which she grew to almost twice their original scope. The information gathered from many sources miracles, sufferings and adventures of the saints of the church year were shown common course and gained great influence on art and popular piety.

Consequentially the work was also supported by the novelty of his style, which was characterized by compressed brevity and simplicity of Sprachgebung. This style of speech was so decisive that he was later often kept almost self-evident for the legend style par excellence.

Historical criticism

For his collection Jacobus has collected a wealth of material. In many parts of his work he calls his sources, such as the Church Fathers Augustine and Jerome and others. Sometimes different versions of the same events be disclosed; sometimes, the author also to realize that he does not keep his sources for credible. He is also trying to clean up inconsistencies and contradictions, or has doubts about the veracity of his own account.

Reception

The legends of Jacobus were in addition to the martyrologies over many centuries one of the main source of the veneration of saints; Prayers and also all forms of devotion go back on it. Also important for the iconography of saints attributes are derived primarily from from the Golden Legend; numerous individual designs as well as many issues of the visual arts are without this work is not to understand.

Text output

• Jacobus de Voragine - Legenda aurea, German by Richard Benz, Pave with Eugen Diederichs in Jena, popular edition 1925, Volume One, 1078 Gr. heavy, printed in the officina E. Haberland in Leipzig, printing arrangement, initials, titles and cover by Richard Benz
• The Legenda Aurea of Jacobus de Voragine, from the Lat. transl. by Richard Benz, Gütersloh publishing house, 14th edition, 2004, ISBN 3-579-02560-0 ( book not set in Gothic! )
• Jacobus de Voragine: Legenda Aurea. Latin - German. Edited and translated by Rainer Nickel. 2nd edition, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-15-008464-4 (very abbreviated selection)
• Jacobus de Voragine: Legenda Aurea - The legends of the saints of the Middle Ages, ed, from the Lat. transl. and with various attachments provided by Matthias hoe man, Köln 2008, ISBN 3-86647-284-6.
• Iacopo da Varazze: Legenda aurea, ed. by Giovanni Paolo Maggioni, Firenze 1998.
• Jacobus de Voragine: Legenda aurea, ed.. of Johann Georg Theodor seizes, Leipzig 1890, reprint Osnabrück 1969 ( digitized: Internet Archive Internet Archive )