Golden Legend - Legenda Aurea (Latin)

Japanese: 黄金伝説 - おうごんでんせつ(英語表記)Legenda Aurea ラテン語
Golden Legend - Legenda Aurea (Latin)

Consisting of legends of saints and church events, it was one of the most widely circulated books in medieval Europe. It was compiled between 1255 and 1266 by Jacobus de Voragine (1230?-98?), an Italian Dominican priest and Archbishop of Genoa.

The Bible's descriptions are simple, lacking in legends, and far inferior to Greek and Roman mythology in terms of imagination and imagination. It was especially overwhelmed by the splendor of Ovid's Metamorphoses. In response to the Bible, the Golden Legend embellished, fantasized, and legendary stories of the lives and miracles of many saints who died for Christianity, as well as stories related to various events. It is noteworthy that these two works had a great influence on the imagination of people in the Middle Ages. The Golden Legend begins with the birth and second coming of the Lord, and was compiled as a kind of sequel to both the Old and New Testaments. It formed the basis of medieval Catholic saint legends, and when the printing press was invented in the 15th century, it was printed by William Caxton and others after the Bible, which shows the importance of this book. Its influence is so great that Akutagawa Ryunosuke's "The Legend of Saint Kirishitohoro" is based on Chapter 79.

[Hideo Funato]

"Golden Legend" translated by Keisaku Maeda, Takashi Imamura, et al., 4 volumes (1979-87, Jinbun Shoin)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

聖人の伝説と教会行事からなり、中世ヨーロッパにおいてもっとも流布(るふ)した本の一つ。イタリアのドミニコ会士で、ジェノバの大司教ヤコブス・デ・ウォラギネJacobus de Voragine(1230?―98?)によって1255年から66年の間に集成されたという。

 もとより聖書の記述は素朴で、伝説に乏しく、ギリシア・ローマ神話に比べると、空想力、想像力において甚だ見劣りがし、とりわけオウィディウスの『変身物語』の絢爛(けんらん)さに圧倒されていた。それに対抗するものとして、キリスト教に殉じた多くの聖人たちの生涯や奇跡を、また数々の行事にまつわる物語を潤色し、空想化し、伝説化したのがこの『黄金伝説』である。この両著が中世の人々の想像力に大きくかかわったことは特筆される。『黄金伝説』は主の降誕と再臨に始まり、いわば旧約、新約両聖書の続編のように編纂(へんさん)され、中世カトリックの聖人伝説の根幹をなし、15世紀に印刷機が発明された際、ウィリアム・キャクストンなどによって、聖書に次いでこれが印刷されたことは、この書の重要性を物語っている。芥川龍之介(あくたがわりゅうのすけ)の『きりしとほろ上人(しょうにん)伝』が79章に基づいているように、その影響は大きい。

[船戸英夫]

『前田敬作・今村孝他訳『黄金伝説』全4巻(1979~87・人文書院)』

出典 小学館 日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について 情報 | 凡例

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