Note 30: — CAP: I.

A part of the crowne of our Lord Jesu wherewith he was crowned & one of the nayles, and the speare head and many other reliques are in France at Paris in the chapell of the King, and the crowne lyeth in a vessell of cristall wel dight and richly, for ye French King bought these reliques sometime of the Jewes, to whome the Emperour had laid them to pledge for a great sume of golde. And although men say that this Crowne was of thornes—ye shall understand that it was of Jonkes30 of the sea, which be white and pricketh as sharp as thornes, for I have seene and beheld many times that at Paris, and that at Constantinople, for they were both of one, and made of Jonkis of the sea. But men have departed him in two partes, of the which one parte is at Paris, and the other part at Constantinople, and I haue a point thereof that seemeth a white thorne, and that was given me for a great friendeship—for there are many of them broken and fallen into the vessell, when they shew the Crowne to great men or lordes that come theither. And ye shall understande that our Lord in that night that he was taken, he was led into a garden, and there he was examined sharply, & there the Jewes crowned him with a crown of abbespine31 braunches that grew in the same garden & set it on his head so fast, that the blood came downe by many places of his visage, necke, and shoulders, and therefore hath the abbespine many vertues, for he that beareth a braunche of it about him, no thunder, nor any maner of tempest may hurt him, nor the house that it is in may no evill ghost come, nor in no place where it is. And in that same garden Sainct Peter denied our Lord thrise. And afterward was our Lord led before the Bishop and ministers of the lawe into another gardein of Anne32 and there was he examined, scorned & crowned efte33 with a swete thorn that men called barbareus34 that grew in the same gardein and that hath many vertues. And afterward he was led to a gardein of Caiphas, and there he was crowned again with eglentine,35 and after that he was led to a chamber of Pilate & there he was crowned, and the Jewes set him in a chaire and clad him in a mantell of purpure36 and then made they a crowne of Jonkes of the sea and there they kneled to him & scorned him saying Ave rex Judeorum. That is to say, haile King of Jewes. And of this crowne, halfe is in Paris and the other halfe at Constantinople, the which our Saviour Jesu Christ hadde on his head, when he was nayled on the crosse, and therefore shall men honour and worship it, and holde it more worthy then any of the other. And the speare shaft hath the Emperour of Almaine, but the head which was put in his side is at Paris they say, in the holy chappell, and oft tymes sayth the Emperour of Constantinople, that he hath the speare head & I have often seen it, but it is greater than that at Paris. Also at Constantinople lyeth Sainct Anne our ladie's mother, whom Saint Elene caused to be brought from Hierusalem, and there lieth also the body of Saint John Chrisostome that was bishop of Constantinople. There lyeth also sainct Luke the Evangelist, for his bones were brought from Bethany where he was buried: and many other relyques are there, and there is of the vessell of stone as it were marble, which men call Idryus, that evermore droppeth water & fylleth himselfe every yeare once. And ye shall wete that Constantinople is a fayre citie and well walled & it is three cornered, and there is an arme of the sea that men call Hellespon, and some men call it the bunch37 of Constantinople and some call it the brace38 of sainct George, and this water encloseth two partes of the citie, and upward to the sea upon that water was wont to be the great citie of Troy in a fayre plaine, but that citie was destroyed by the Grekes.