Jacobus de Voragine drew on all the sources available to him to compose his own collection of lives of saints. But this was a collection like no other; it was a new and original work, which soon earned itself the prestigious title of Legenda aurea, or “the Golden Legend.” The Latin text was translated into all Western languages. The Legenda Aurea was not only one of the most copied texts during the Middle Ages but from the fifteenth century onward, the most printed in France, often outstripping the Bible. The work had achieved its goal: it had become a people’s favorite.
