And She Was Daughter Of King Coel, Born In Colchester,
That Was King Of England, That Was Clept Then Britain The More; The
Which The Emperor Constance Wedded To His Wife, For Her Beauty, And
Gat Upon Her Constantine, That Was After Emperor Of Rome, And King
Of England.
And ye shall understand, that the cross of our Lord was eight
cubits long, and the overthwart piece was of length three cubits
and a half.
And one part of the crown of our Lord, wherewith he
was crowned, and one of the nails, and the spear head, and many
other relics be in France, in the king's chapel. And the crown
lieth in a vessel of crystal richly dight. For a king of France
bought these relics some time of the Jews, to whom the emperor had
laid them in wed for a great sum of silver.
And if all it be so, that men say, that this crown is of thorns, ye
shall understand, that it was of jonkes of the sea, that is to say,
rushes of the sea, that prick as sharply as thorns. For I have
seen and beholden many times that of Paris and that of
Constantinople; for they were both one, made of rushes of the sea.
But men have departed them in two parts: of the which, one part is
at Paris, and the other part is at Constantinople. And I have one
of those precious thorns, that seemeth like a white thorn; and that
was given to me for great specially. For there are many of them
broken and fallen into the vessel that the crown lieth in; for they
break for dryness when men move them to show them to great lords
that come thither.
And ye shall understand, that our Lord Jesu, in that night that he
was taken, he was led into a garden; and there he was first
examined right sharply; and there the Jews scorned him, and made
him a crown of the branches of albespine, that is white thorn, that
grew in that same garden, and set it on his head, so fast and so
sore, that the blood ran down by many places of his visage, and of
his neck, and of his shoulders. And therefore hath the white thorn
many virtues, for he that beareth a branch on him thereof, no
thunder ne no manner of tempest may dere him; nor in the house,
that it is in, may no evil ghost enter nor come unto the place that
it is in. And in that same garden, Saint Peter denied our Lord
thrice.
Afterward was our Lord led forth before the bishops and the masters
of the law, into another garden of Annas; and there also he was
examined, reproved, and scorned, and crowned eft with a sweet
thorn, that men clepeth barbarines, that grew in that garden, and
that hath also many virtues.
And afterward he was led into a garden of Caiphas, and there he was
crowned with eglantine.
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