St. Mark tells us (3") that Jesus sumamed the two brothers Boanerges (Sons of Thun<ler), alludin", perhaps, to the vehemence shown in their duinand that their Master should call down tire from heaven to consume the Samaritans, who refused to receive him because he was going up to Jerusalem (Lk D'") ; and again in their request that they might sit on his right hand and on his left hand in his kingdom (Mk 10*'), to which our Lord replied by the prophecy that they should drink of his ciip and be baptized with his haptism.
The \vife of Zebedee was Salome, as we learn from acomparison of Mt 27°" and Mk 15*, who aiijiears to have been a sister of the Lord's mother (see Jn 19^ and the article on Brethren of the Lord). James and John would thus be first cousins of Jesus, which may have been one reason why their mother urged their claim to the highest position in his kingdom. We learn from Mk 15" (cf. Lk 8') that Salome was one of the women who followed Jesus in Galilee, and ministered to him of their substance. Combined with the mention of hired servants, and with St. John's intimacy with Caiaphas the high priest, this fact makes it probable that the family of Zebedee were com- paratively well oti'.
We hear nothing of James, as distinguished from the other apostles, for some 14 years after the Crucifixion. The fact, however, tiiat he was the first of the Twelve to sull'er martyrdom, shows that he must have attracted the attention of the Jews and of Herod Agrippa hy his bold uncompromising chaiacter. This llerod was son of Anstobulus, «rni grandson of Herod the Great and Mariamne. Uerodias, who was the cause of the murder of John the Baptist, was his sister. After reigning in Bplendourfor three years over a kingdom larger tlian that of his <;randl':ither, Agrimia sought to increii-se bis popularity still further by putting down the new Christian heresy. Shortly before the Passover of 44, he killed James with the sword, and threw Peter into pri.son (Ac 12"-). The 8acre<l writer records in the same chapter the punishment which followed (v.""-, cf. Jos. Ant. XIX. viii. 2).
EusebiuH (UK ii. 9) gives a quotation from the
7th book of the lost Bwotyposea of Clemens Alexandrinus, in which the latter mentions a tradition that the accuser of St. James was su much moved by his confession, that he declared himself to be a Christian, and was carried off with him to execution. On the way thither he asked forgiveness of the apostle, who, after a moment's hesitation, kissed him, saying, ' Peace be unto thee.' The same story is given in tlie Apvstolun J/istoria of pseudo-Aodias {ap. Fabr. Cod. Ap«r. AY'), who also narrates the conversion of the magicians Herraogenes and Philetus by St. James.
The legend of Saint laffo, the patron saint of Spain, U given in Mrs. Junieson'a Sacrtd and Lnjcndary Art, vol. i. pp. 2^;"- 241. Accordinj^ to tliis, tiie ^fospel was flrtit prt-aohed in Spam by .St. James the Great, who attcrwards retunie<l to Judisa, ajitl, atler perlomiing many miracles there, was linally put to death by llerod. His body wa:^ placed on board ship at Joppa an<l transported to Ii-ia in the north-west of Spain under angelic t,Miidance. The surrounding heathen were converted by the l>ro*liKiea whidi witnessed to the power of the saint, and a churc-)i was built over his tomb. During the larbahan invasions all memory of the hallowed spot was lost till it was revealed by \ i.sioii in tlie year 800. The body was then moved by order of vVlphonso II. to the place now called Compostella (abbreviated from Jacomo Postolo), which became famous as a place of pilu'rimaije throu^rhout Europe. The saint was believed to have a]tpeare<l on many occasions mounted on a white horse, leading the Spanish armies to victory against their inAilel foes.
The impossibilities of Uie storj' have been i)ointed out by Roman Catholic scholars. (1) It was a tradition of the early Church that the apostles, in accordance with a command of our Lonl, did not leave Jerus. for twelve years after the Ascension (cf. tile Kr,pvyuM riiT^uinCleiQ. .\1. Strom, vi. p. 7(J2 ; Apollonius in Euseb. liE V. lb ad Jin.). This is supported by what \i-e read in Ac 81, that the apostles were still at Jems, durinjr the per- secution in which Stephen was martyred. (2) St. Paul mentions his desire to visit t'pain (Ko li>'.M) just after he had siwken of his rule not to preach the irospel on another man's founaation. The probable date of Ro is 5s lTurner,.V.-5(i], long after the martjTdom of St. James. (3) There is no certain mention of St. James in connexion with Spain till the 9th cent-, when Notker, a monk of St. Gall, wrote ; ' hujus Apostoli sacratissima ossa ad llispanias translata in ultimis eanim flnibus condita celeberrima illarum gentium veneratione coluntur. Nee iramerito, quia ejus corporali pnesentia et doctrina at4)ue eignorum elticacia eidem populi ad Christi tidem conversi referuntur' (J/arf^^rof. ad diem 2o Jul.). Uti the other hand, Innocent 1. (d. 417) states that the Churches of Italy, Gaul, and Spain had all been founded by those who owed their authority to St. Peter (Ep. 2.i ad Decantium) ; and Vincentius Fortunatus (tl. a.d. 600), speaking of the saints of ditferent countries, makes Vincentius the chief glory of Spain (' Vincenti Hispana surgit ab arce decus,' Cam. \ii. 3), as Alban of Britain, Hilary and Martin of Gaul, while the Jacobi are a.-isiL'ned to the 'Holv Land. (See the art. on Jaubs by F. Meyrick in Smith, Dlfi. and by R. Sinker in the Diet, of Chr. Anliq.; the Acta Sanctorum tor July 25 ; Natalis .Mexander. Hvit. Ecct. s»cL L § 16 ; Forbes, Banditook o/ Spain, cb. oo Santiago).