Analyzation of Golden Legend by Jacobus de Varagine. Arts Essay

OBJECT ESSAY
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Object Essay
Analyzation of “Golden Legend”
‘Golden Legend’ is by far one of the most significant collections of hagiographies, compiled in 1260, by Jacobus de Varagine. The late medieval people widely read the book because of its significance in the history of the medieval culture. The collection was also significant because it was written in easily readable Latin and because of the stories that the book contained. Unlike other historical novels that recorded past events, ‘Golden Legend’ contained a chronological life of the saints of the medieval church. Through the collection, the medievalists generation and art historians acknowledged the prophets who existed through an analysis of their deeds and attributes. The positive reception and audience attributed to ‘Golden Legend’ are portrayed through the over 800 copies of the manuscript work that survived before the invention of printing. ‘Golden Legend’ is, therefore, a critical work of arts and craft in the medieval period which gained extraordinary popularity and managed to overtake earlier compilations of hagiographies.[Cullum, Phyllis H. "Gendering charity in medieval hagiography." Gender and Holiness: Men, Women and Saints in Late Medieval Europe (2002): 135-51.]
The collection gained massive popularity among historians because of the credibility and accuracy of events in the book. In his book, Jacobus began the analysis of the saint’s life by a critical evaluation of the meaning of the saint’s names. In the medieval period, an individual’s name played a vital role in determining the character and attributes of the individual. After the analysis of the nomenclature, the hagiography portrayed the activities that the saint practiced during their life. The events were accurate because Jacobus collected information about the saint’s lives from credible sources. Some of the primary sources of reliable information used by Jacobus included the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church which commemorated the prophets. The saint’s biographies and supernatural tales that surrounded a specific prophet’s life also provided relevant data.[De Voragine, Jacobus. The Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints. Princeton University Press, 2012.]
‘Golden Legend’ work of arts and craft was used by the people of the late medieval period in several ways. The most significant purpose of the collection of hagiographies was a source of the historical record of the life of the ancient prophets. The history of the saints was essential in understanding the history of the medieval church because the saints held the highest position in the church. The knowledge about the history of the saints was also critical in determining the false saints from the righteous saints. The people of the late medieval period, therefore, associated Muhammad with a false prophet and a sorcerer from the knowledge they attained from ‘Golden Legend’ collection. The book was consequently vital because it ...