Editing Mary Magdalene (section)

====Fictional biographies====
Starting in early [[High Middle Ages]], writers in western Europe began developing elaborate fictional biographies of Mary Magdalene's life, in which they heavily embellished upon the vague details given in the gospels.{{sfn|Maisch|1998|page=46}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|pages=183–184}} Stories about [[nobility|noble]] saints were popular during this time period;{{sfn|Maisch|1998|page=46}} accordingly, tales of Mary Magdalene's wealth and social status became heavily exaggerated.{{sfn|Maisch|1998|pages=46–47}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2006|pages=183–184}} In the tenth century, [[Odo of Cluny]] ({{circa}} 880 – 942) wrote a sermon in which he described Mary as an extraordinarily wealthy noblewoman of royal descent.{{sfn|Maisch|1998|pages=46–49}} Some manuscripts of the sermon record that Mary's parents were named Syrus and Eucharia{{sfn|Maisch|1998|page=47}} and one manuscript goes into great detail describing her family's purported land holdings in Bethany, Jerusalem, and Magdala.{{sfn|Maisch|1998|page=47}}

The theologian [[Honorius Augustodunensis]] ({{circa}} 1080 – {{circa}} 1151) embellished this tale even further, reporting that Mary was a wealthy noblewoman who was married in "Magdalum",{{sfn|Maisch|1998|page=47}} but that she committed adultery, so she fled to Jerusalem and became a "public sinner" (''vulgaris meretrix'').{{sfn|Maisch|1998|page=47}} Honorius mentions that, out of love for Jesus, Mary repented and withdrew into a life of quiet isolation.{{sfn|Maisch|1998|page=47}} Under the influence of stories about other female saints, such as [[Mary of Egypt]] and [[Pelagia]],{{sfn|Maisch|1998|page=47}} painters in Italy during the ninth and tenth centuries gradually began to develop the image of Mary Magdalene living alone in the desert as a penitent [[Asceticism|ascetic]].{{sfn|Maisch|1998|page=47}}{{sfn|Mormando|1999|p=257–274}} This portrayal became so popular that it quickly spread to Germany and England.{{sfn|Maisch|1998|page=47}} From the twelfth century, Abbot Hugh of Semur (died 1109), Peter Abelard (died 1142), and Geoffrey of Vendôme (died 1132) all referred to Mary Magdalene as the sinner who merited the title ''apostolorum apostola'' (Apostle to the Apostles), with the title becoming commonplace during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.{{sfn|Schaberg|2004|p=88}}