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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Sara McDougall wrote: > > I've been sitting on my hands throughout this delightfully > interesting thread, but can resist no longer. In my opinion the most > entertaining Saint Anne story of all was that she had three husbands > (in succession) who with her gave birth to three Marys (in > succession) who all gave birth to seven holy grandchildren, Jesus and > six apostles. This tradition is usually dated to min-ninth century, > and derived from some efforts to explain the passages referring to > Jesus' brethren in the Bible and make sure that Saint Anne, Mary's > mother, would give birth to Mary Salome and Mary Cleophas would would > then give birth to Jesus' "brethren" (here cousins pace Jerome). This > tradition, and the gospel that endorsed it, the protoevangelium of > Matthew, were dinged at the Council of Trent, alas, and Anne was > reduced to one husband and one daughter. Even Martin Luther allowed > that Mary had a mother and we might as well call her Anne, but that > was as far as he'd go. There is a series of late medieval wall paintings on the south chancel wall of the chapel of Haddon Hall, Derbyshire depicting the "Holy Kinship". The seven panels are: 1. Anne, Salome & Mary Salome 2. Anne, Cleophas & Mary Cleophas 3. Anne, Joachim & the Virgin 4. Anne with her parents (?) 5. Virgin & Child with Joseph 6. Mary Cleophas, Alpheus & sons [James the Less, Joseph the Just, Simon, Jude] 7. Mary Salome, Zebedee & sons [James the Great, John the Evangelist] See: M. Naydenova, 'Public and Private: The Late Medieval Wall Paintings of Haddon Hall Chapel, Derbyshire', Antiquaries Journal, Vol. 86 (2006) pp. 179-205. John Briggs ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html