The Golden LegendJacobus de Voraigne wrote the Golden Legend around 1260, in which he described the lives of the saints and the life of Christ, arranged by the day on which it is celebrated in the church calendar. The book achieved dominance in later western hagiographical literature (books on saints)--about 900 manuscripts of his Golden Legend survive. From 1470 to 1530 it was also the most often printed book i Europe. Art historians use this book to learn what painters and viewers knew about the lives of the saints.