LONDON -- It sounds like the opening of a Dan Brown novel: A scholar finds rare medieval manuscripts chronicling the life of Jesus' great-grandmother. The documents name the previously unidentified matriarch as Ismeria and laud her as a charitable and devout woman who -- like her great-grandson -- ultimately sacrificed herself for the good of others.
The story of Ismeria was discovered by Catherine Lawless, a history lecturer at Ireland's University of Limerick, in two manuscripts from 14th- and 15th-century Florence, Italy. But while it's tempting to believe that these recently unearthed papers shed new light on the Virgin Mary's family, Lawless told AOL News that, just like "The Da Vinci Code," the tale is almost certainly a work of fiction.
There is no biblical-era evidence to support the manuscripts' assertion that Ismeria was the mother of St. Anne, who later gave birth to Mary. (Other medieval sources suggest Ismeria may have been Anne's sister). Instead, Lawless suspects that the story may have been created by a religious order as a "morality tale" intended to teach Florentine women how to be good wives, and later, widows.
The center panel of the Ortenberg Altarpiece, circa 1410-20, shows the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus surrounded by several saints. St. Ismeria, identified in legend as Mary's grandmother and Jesus' great-grandmother, is shown in the top row, second from the right.The manuscripts, analyzed by Lawless in the latest issue of the Journal of Medieval History, tell how the lovely Ismeria -- "the daughter of Nabon of the people of Judaea, and of the tribe of King David" -- married St. Liseo, who is described as "a patriarch of the people of God."
As a sign of her piety, Ismeria asked Liseo to only call her to the matrimonial bed one night a month. (During the month of holy fasting, they'd avoid each other entirely). "They lived together for 12 years in great joy and in penitence," writes Lawless, "and then had a beautiful daughter whom they named Anne." Twelve years later, Liseo died and Ismeria willingly allowed her relatives to walk off with all of her riches.
Reduced to poverty, Ismeria sought sanctuary in a hospital, where she carried out two Jesus-esque miracles. First, she restored a deaf-mute man's hearing and speech, and then she filled a shell with enough fish to feed all of the clinic's patients. Satisfied with this act of spontaneous seafood generation, she returned to her room and prayed for God to release her from the "vainglory of this world." Angels promptly whisked her soul off to heaven. The story concludes with Mary, Jesus, Mary Magdalene, the 12 apostles and others heading to the hospital and honoring her body.
So why would Florentine society want its women to behave like Ismeria? Well, marriage was a serious business for the city-state's patrician families. Potential partners weren't selected for their looks or lovability. What mattered was the potential to boost a family's wealth and power through new blood ties. A moaning, reluctant bride could hinder important nuptial negotiations.
"The manuscripts place a lot of emphasis on the fact that Ismeria really didn't want to marry in the first place," Lawless notes. "But she does so in obedience to God's will."
The tale also contains important lessons for women whose husbands predecease them.
"According to Florentine law, women who were widowed were entitled to a return of their dowry," Lawless says. "Dowries were often very large -- fathers would start investing in a fund as soon as their daughters were born -- so their withdrawal could cause financial hardship for the husband's family."
As the perfect woman, Ismeria opted not to remarry and deprive the family of their treasure. Instead she happily retired to a hospital and allowed her relations to plunder her riches.
Committing this morality tale to parchment was the perfect way to ensure that its message spread throughout Florence.
"The city had very high literacy rates, and we know these types of manuscripts circulated from house to house," Lawless says. "The main audience was what we'd today call the middle classes -- spice traders, notaries and doctors. We know that quite a lot of women read these papers too, as we have inscriptions by women saying that they either copied manuscripts themselves or had them copied."
The story of St. Ismeria may not tell us much about Jesus' family tree, but it does provide a rare insight into the lives of Italian women -- and the tactics used to keep them in line -- a millennium and a half later.
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