Editing Golden Legend (section)

==Lives of the saints==
The book sought to compile traditional lore about saints [[veneration|venerated]] at the time of its compilation, ordered according to their [[feast day]]s. Jacobus de Voragine for the most part follows a template for each chapter: etymology of the saint's name, a narrative about their life, a list of miracles performed, and finally a list of citations where the information was found.<ref>{{harvcolnb|Hamer|1998|p=x}}</ref>

Each chapter typically begins with an [[etymology]] for the saint's name, "often entirely fanciful".<ref>{{harvcolnb|Hamer|1998|p=xi}}</ref> An example (in Caxton's translation) shows his method:

{{quote|[[Pope Silvester I|Silvester]] is said of ''sile'' or ''sol'' which is light, and of ''terra'' the earth, as who saith the light of the earth, that is of the church. Or Silvester is said of ''silvas'' and of ''trahens'', that is to say he was drawing wild men and hard unto the faith. Or as it is said ''in glossario'', Silvester is to say green, that is to wit, green in contemplation of heavenly things, and a toiler in labouring himself; he was umbrous or shadowous. That is to say he was cold and refrigate from all concupiscence of the flesh, full of boughs among the trees of heaven.<ref>[http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/goldenLegend/silvester "The Life of St. Sylvester."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925020341/http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/goldenLegend/silvester |date=25 September 2012 }} ''The Golden Legend'' or ''Lives of the Saints.'' Compiled by Jacobus de Voragine. Trans. William Caxton. Ed. F. S. Ellis. Reproduced at ''www.Aug.edu/augusta/iconography/goldenLegend'', Augusta State University.</ref>}}

As a Latin author, Jacobus de Voragine must have known that ''Silvester'', a relatively common Latin name, simply meant "from the forest". The correct derivation is alluded to in the text, but set out in parallel to fanciful ones that [[lexicography|lexicographers]] would consider quite wide of the mark. Even the "correct" explanations (''silvas'', "forest", and the mention of green boughs) are used as the basis for an [[allegory|allegorical]] interpretation. Jacobus de Voragine's etymologies had different goals from modern etymologies, and cannot be judged by the same standards. Jacobus' etymologies have parallels in [[Isidore of Seville]]'s ''[[Etymologiae]]'', in which linguistically accurate derivations are set out beside allegorical and figurative explanations.

Jacobus de Voragine then moves on to the saint's life, compiled with reference to the readings from the [[Roman Catholic Church]]'s [[liturgy]] commemorating that saint; then embellishes the biography with [[supernatural]] tales of incidents involving the saint's life.

===Medieval view of Muhammad===
The chapter "St Pelagius, Pope and the History of the Lombards" begins with the story of St Pelagius, then proceeds to touch upon events surrounding the origin and history of the [[Lombards]] in Europe leading up to the 7th century when the story of [[Muhammad]] begins.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GNWZgIL5ZCoC&pg=PA753|title=The Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints|first=Jacobus De|last=Voragine|date=11 April 2018|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0691154077|access-date=11 April 2018|via=Google Books}}</ref> The story then goes on to describe "Magumeth (Mahomet, Muhammad)" as "a [[false prophet]] and sorcerer", detailing his early life and travels as a merchant through his marriage to the widow [[Khadija]], and goes on to suggest that his religious visions came as a result of epileptic seizures and the interventions of a renegade [[Nestorianism|Nestorian]] monk named [[Bahira|Sergius]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GNWZgIL5ZCoC&pg=PA754|title=The Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints|first=Jacobus De|last=Voragine|date=11 April 2018|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0691154077|access-date=11 April 2018|via=Google Books}}</ref> The chapter conveys the medieval Christian understanding of the beliefs of [[Saracens]] and other [[Muslims]]. It may be because of this long history that early copies of the entire work were sometimes referred to as '''''Historia Lombardica'''''.<ref>{{harvcolnb|Hamer|1998|p=x}}</ref>
[[File:Archive-ugent-be-EC7485D0-16F8-11E2-A8D9-5A520D0ED9C1 DS-615 (cropped).jpg|thumb|263x263px|Excerpt from the manuscript "Heiliglevens in het Middelnederlands". A 15th-century copy from the second part of the ''Legenda Aurea''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Heiligenlevens in het Middelnederlands[manuscript]|url=https://lib.ugent.be/viewer/archive.ugent.be:EC7485D0-16F8-11E2-A8D9-5A520D0ED9C1#?c=&m=&s=&cv=11&xywh=-889,-1,8166,4560|access-date=2020-08-26|website=lib.ugent.be}}</ref> ]]

===Miracle tales of relics===
Many of the stories also conclude with [[miracle]] tales and similar wonderlore from accounts of those who called upon that saint for aid or used the saint's [[relic]]s. Such a tale is told of Saint [[Agatha of Sicily|Agatha]]; Jacobus da Varagine has [[paganism|pagans]] in [[Catania]] repairing to the relics of St. Agatha to [[magic (paranormal)|supernaturally]] repel an [[volcano|eruption]] of [[Mount Etna]]:

<blockquote>And for to prove that she had prayed for the salvation of the country, at the beginning of February, the year after her martyrdom, there arose a great fire, and came from the mountain toward the city of Catania and burnt the earth and stones, it was so fervent. Then ran the paynims to the sepulchre of S. Agatha and took the cloth that lay upon her tomb, and held it abroad against the fire, and anon on the ninth day after, which was the day of her feast, ceased the fire as soon as it came to the cloth that they brought from her tomb, showing that our Lord kept the city from the said fire by the merits of S. Agatha.<ref>[http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/goldenLegend/agatha "The Life of St. Agatha."] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120801050601/http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/goldenLegend/agatha |date=1 August 2012 }} ''The Golden Legend'' or ''Lives of the Saints.'' Compiled by Jacobus de Voragine. Trans. William Caxton. Ed. F. S. Ellis. London: Temple Classics, 1900. Reproduced at ''www.Aug.edu/augusta/iconography/goldenLegend'', Augusta State University.</ref></blockquote>

===Mary Magdalene's sea voyage===
{{main|Mary Magdalene#The Golden Legend}}