The Golden Legend is a collection of the lives of saints that was compiled in the thirteenth century by Jacobus de Voragine, a Dominican friar and bishop of Genoa. It was a very popular text in the Middle Ages, seeing that more than a thousand copies survive from the period. It is sometimes referred to as Historia Lombardica (History of the Lombards) because the section telling about the life of Pope Pelagius I (d.561) also includes a history of the Lombards up to the seventh century, which also mentions Prophet Muhammad and the origins of Islam.  

Binding description
Contemporary German binding of brown calf over wooden (beech or oak) boards, blind-tooled in ‘Koberger binding’ style, from the workshop of the Münzer-meister (‘Master of Münzer’, active 1472–1490) at Nuremberg; sewn on three double cords; rebacked. On the upper cover, a frame design delineated by triple-fillet rolls (thin-thick-thin), the central panel containing fleurs-de-lys in lozenges; head of outer frame lettered ‘Lombardica’ with overlapping arches above and bouquets of flowers below, the others with rosettes and folate staffs. On the lower cover, a different frame design delineated by blind quadruple fillet rolls, the central panel divided in a X-shape with griffins stamped in the angles; outer border of rosettes and foliate staffs. Board edges undecorated. Spine with three raised bands, tooled with rosettes in the compartment and outlined by blind fillets; original headband possibly retained. Brass furniture on both boards with central boss. Two foliate clasps present, hooked to upper board (the leather straps repaired). Textblock trimmed and undecorated; titling at head of fore-edge ‘Legenda sanctor[um]’. Original endpapers retained during rebacking, comprising a pastedown of plain paper with hook, and a stub of manuscript waste (vellum, twelfth century liturgical text with 4-line musical notation).

For the Münzer-meister binder and their tools, see Einbanddatenbank (EBDB), workshop citation Blumenstock I. The tools used on this binding are EBDB s013966 (fleur-de-lys), s013971 and s013972 (forming the lozenges), s013973 (arch), s013961 (bouquet), s013968 (foliate staff), s013982 (rosette), and s013993 (griffin).