OK - discover.com's article is: "Jesus' Great Grandmother Identified: Medieval legends suggest that Ismeria, a descendent of the tribe of King David, was the grandmother of the Virgin Mary."
First of all, may heaps of academic shame fall on Discovery News for publishing this, which no scholar will believe, but which will influence the very few unscholared people who actually read it.
Secondly, a big clue to the inanity of it all is" "Medieval legends suggest." "The great grandmother of Jesus was a woman named Ismeria, according to Florentine medieval manuscripts analyzed by a historian."
Thirdly: "The legend of St. Ismeria, presented in the current Journal of Medieval History, sheds light on both the Biblical Virgin Mary's family and also on religious and cultural values of 14th-century Florence."
In the fourth place (as I debated whether to write "Fourthly"): No "light is shed on the Biblical Virgin Mary's family" since "Lawless studied the St. Ismeria story, which she said has been "ignored by scholars." Well, it's a medieval legend, that's why! Jesus-culture-scholars agree that, the more recent the story-legend is, the less accurate it is. We're talking 14th and 15th century manuscripts here!
Fifthly - "According to the legend, Ismeria is the daughter of Nabon of the people of Judea, and of the tribe of King David," wrote Lawless. She married "Santo Liseo," who is described as "a patriarch of the people of God." The legend continues that the couple had a daughter named Anne who married Joachim. After 12 years, Liseo died. Relatives then left Ismeria penniless." Joachim?
