Mary Magdalene: biography of a legend ebook

Greetings all. I have been a bit quiet on the historical front but there is some news. I have just published my first e-book, on Kindle. The title is Mary Magdalene: Biography of a Legend. (The myth and veneration of the saint, from Biblical antiquity to the era of the Crusades).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00D3MT7LA/ref=r_soa_w_d

The cover I chose features a detail of a painting by the Russian artist Alexander Ivanov, which I feel suits very nicely.

A review of my draft manuscript commissioned by Boydell and Brewer contained the following:

'In this book, Gordon Napier sets out to “tell the story of the Magdalene’s story,” in a way that transcends “conspiracy theory and mythology.” The author intends to examine and evaluate the historical evidence in order to piece together the history of Mary Magdalene’s image and cult through the “early Middle Ages” and into “the age of the crusades”. Particular strengths of the book are its examination of the saint and her cult in both orthodox and heterodox contexts and in both the Western and the Eastern church – cultural worlds which few scholars are willing or able to address jointly. The author considers that the age of the crusades was a pivotal moment in the cult, bringing an unprecedented degree of contact between different Christian (and non-Christian) traditions and leading to the cult’s promotion by a series of different groups for very different religious and political reasons. 
In a post-Dan-Brown world, in which much nonsense is written about Mary Magdalene in particular and early Christianity in general, and in which it is crucial for history rather than mythology to reach the general public, this book has much to recommend it. For the most part it is engagingly written, in an accessible but not elementary style. It is enlivened by many references to and quotations from primary sources. Its treatment of such large historical developments as the crusades and the history of the mendicant orders is largely accurate, though necessarily superficial. The book’s division into two parts, one chronicling the evolution of different understandings of Mary Magdalene’s place in the Christian story and the other exploring the cult in and beyond the crusading era, is sensible. Its thematic chapters likewise are sensible and create an engaging structure... The conclusion is particularly well-written and engaging, and the epilogue and appendices are useful.'

The Resurrection and Rehabilitation of Richard III.

Have been quite interested by the recent news of the reidiscovery of the body of Richard III, under a car park in Leicester, the site the old Greyfriars convent. The extraordinary circumstances of the discovery, which was the first thing found when the diggers tore up a section of the car park, under a painted letter 'R' was rather reminiscent of medieval accounts of miraculous discoveries of saintly relics- almost too good to be true, yet the evidence stacks up in favour of the identification. This evidence includes genetic, a match was found with a descendant of Richard's sister.

The body was found to have curvature of the spine, so the king was a hunchback after all. It seems fans of Richard III have egg on their faces in that regard, as they have long insisted that Richard was not a hunchback, and that this image was part of hostile Tudor propaganda. One suspects that the group, whose instinct has been to stick up for the underdog, has led to them somewhat idolising Richard, and assuming that he has been over-vilified and caricatured.

I am not so keen on the Wars of the Roses, which seem internecine and regrettable. However the wounds evidenced by the skeleton seem to confirm the impression that the king died bravely in battle. As one of the last real warrior kings, and one who gained battles in vain despite a physical handicap, he deserves a certain new respect. In this regard he may also be compared to Baldwin IV of Jerusalem. (This example also goes to show the presumptuousness of assuming that a medieval king had to be entirely able-bodied in order to be effective on the battlefield.) I hope Richard's reburial is with suitable pomp.