and

yere / In another place it is redde that the aungel broughte hym a braunche / and commaunded hym to plante it in the mounte of lybanye Yet fynde we in another place / that he gafe to hym of the tree that Adam ete of / And sayd to hym that whan that bare fruyte he should be guarisshed8 and alle hoole9 /. whan seth came ageyn he founde his fader deed / and planted this tree upon his grave / And it endured there un to the tyme of Salomon / and bycause he sawe that it was fayre, he dyd10 doo hewe it doun / and sette it in his hows named saltus / and whan the quene of saba came to vysyte Salamon / She worshypped this tre bycause she sayd the savyour of alle the world shold be hanged there on / by whome the royame11 of the Iewes that be defaced and seace.12 Salomon for this cause made hit to be taken up / & dolven13 depe in the grounde. Now it happed after that they of Ierusalem (dyd do make a grete pytte for a pyscyne14 / where at the mynysters of the temple sholde wesshe theyre bestys / that they shold sacrefyse / and there founde thys tre / and thys pyscyne had suche vertue, that the aungels descended and mevyd the water / and the first seke man that descendyd in to the water after the mevyng / was made hole of what somever sekenesse he was seek of. And whan the tyme approched of the passyon of our lord / thys tree aroos out of the water and floted above the water / And of this pyece of tymbre made the Iewes the crosse of our lord / Thenne after this hystorye / the crosse by which we been saved / came of the tree by whiche we were dampned. And the water of that pyscyne had not his vertue onely of the aungel / but of the tre/. With this tre wherof the crosse was maad / there was a tree that went over thwarte / on whiche the armes of our lord were nayled/. And another pyece above which was the table / wherin the tytle was wryten / and another pyece wherein the sokette or mortys was maad that the body of the crosse stood in soo that there were foure manere of trees / That is of palme of cypres / of cedre and of olyve. So eche of thyse foure pyeces was of one of those trees/. This blessed crosse was put in the erthe and hyd by the space of on hondred yere and more / But the moder of themperour which was named helayne[F] which founde it in thys manere / For Constantyn came wyth a grete multytude of barbaryns nygh unto the ryver of the dunoe / whyche wold have goon over for to have destroyed alle the contree / And whan constantyn had assembled his hoost / He went and sette them ageynst that other partye / But as sone as he began to passe the ryver / he was moche aferde / by cause he shold on the morne have batayle / and in the nyght as he slepte in his bedde / an aungel awoke hym / and shewed to hym the sygne of the crosse in heven / and sayd to hym / Beholde on hye on heven/. Thanne sawe he the crosse made of ryght clere lyght / & was wryten there upon wyth lettres of golde / In this sygne thou shalte over come the batayle/ Thenne was he alle comforted of thys vysion / And on the morne / he put in his banere the Crosse15 / and made it to be borne tofore hym and his hoost / And after smote in the hoost of his enemyes / and slewe and chaced grete plente / After thys he dyd doo16 calle the bysshoppes of the ydolles / and demaunded them to what god the sygne of the crosse apperteyned. And whan they coude not answere / some cristen men that were there tolde to hym the mysterye of the crosse / and enformed hym in the faythe of the trynyte / Thenne anone he bylevyd parfytly (in) god / and dyd do baptyse hym / and after, it happed that constantyn his sone remembred the vyctorye of his fader / Sente to helayn his modre for to fynde the holy crosse / Thenne helayne wente in to Iherusalem / and dyd doo assemble all the wyse men of the contre / and whan they were assembled / they wold fayn knowe wherfore they were called / Thenne one Iudas sayd to them / I wote17 wel that she wyl knowe of us where the crosse of Ihesu criste was leyed / but beware you al that none of you tell hyr / for I wote wel then shall our lawe be destroyed / For zacheus my olde18 fader sayde to symon my fader / And my fader sayde to me at his dethe / be wel ware / that for no tormente that ye may suffre / telle not where the crosse of Ihesu criste was leyde / for after that hit shal be founden / the Iewes shal reygne no mour / But the cristen men that worshypped the crosse shal then reygne / And verayly this Ihesus was the sone of god.

Then demaunded I my fader / wherfore had they hanged hym on the crosse sythe it was knowen that he was the sone of god / thenne he sayd to me fayre sone I never accorded thereto / But gayn said it alwaye / But the Pharisees dyd it bycause he repreyvd theyr vyces / but he aroos on the thyrd day / and his dysciples seeing / he ascended in to heven / Thenne by cause that Stephen thy broder belevyd in him / the Iewes stoned hym to dethe.

19Inform.

20Burn.

Then when Iudas had sayd theyse wordes to his selawes / they answerd we never herde of suche thynges / never the lesse kepe the wel if the quene demaunde the therof / that thou say no thynge to hyr / Whan the quene had called them / and demaunded them the place where our lord Ihesu criste had been crucefyed/ they wold never tell her nor ensygne19 her /. Then commaunded she to brenne20 them alle/. But then they doubted and were aferde / & delyvered Iudas to hyr and sayd / lady thys man is the sone of a prophete and of a juste man / and knoweth right wel the lawe / & can telle to you al thynge that ye shal demaunde hym/.

21More ado.

Thenne the quene lete al the other goo, and reteyned Iudas without moo21/. Thenne she shewed to hym his life & dethe & bade hym chese whyche he wold. Shewe to me sayd she the place named golgota where our lord was crucefyed / by cause and to the end that we may fynde the crosse/. Thenne sayd Iudas, it is two hondred yere passed & more / & I was not thenne yet borne. Thenne sayd to hym the lady / by him that was crucyfyed / I shal make the perisse for hungre/ yf thou telle not to me the trouthe.