41Consecrated.
And then Heracle commaunded hym all to god and to the hooly crosse wyth all the devocion that he myght. And thenne they fought longe / And at the last our lord gaf the vyctory to Heracle and subdued hym to his empyre / The hoost that was contrary / and alle the peple of Cosdroe obeyed them to the Crysten faythe / and receyved the hooly baptysme / And Cosdroe knew not the end of the batayll / For he was adoured and worshiped of alle the peple as a god / so that no man durst say nay to him / And thenne Heracle came to hym / and fonde hym syttinge in his syege34 of golde / and sayd to hym / For as moche as after the manere thou hast honoured the Tree of the Crosse / yf thou wyld receyve baptym and the faythe of Ihesu Cryst / I shal gete it to the / and yet shalt thow holde thy crowne and Royamme with lytel hostages / And I shall lete the have thy lyf / and yf thou wylt not / I shall flee the wyth my swerde / and shalle smyte of thyne heed / and whanne he wold not accorde therto / he did anon do smyte of his hede / and commaunded that he shold be buryed / by cause he had be(en) a Kynge /. And he fonde with hym one his sone of the age of ten yere / whome he dyd doo baptyse and lyft hym fro the fonte / and left to hym the Royaume of his fader / and then he dyd doo breke that Toure / And gaf the sylver to them of his hooste / and gaf the gold and precious stones for to repayre the chirches that the tyraunt had destroyed / and tooke the hoole crosse / and brought it ageyne to Ierusalem / and as he descended from the mount of Olyvete / and wold have entryd by the gate by whiche our savyour wente to his passyon on horsbacke adourned as a Kynge / sodenly the stones of the gates descended / and ioyned them togyder in the gate like a wall & all the peple was abashed35 / and thenne the Aungel of oure lord appyeryd upon the gate holdyng the signe of the signe (sic) of the Crosse in his honde / and sayd / Whanne the Kynge of heven went to his passion by this gate / he was not arayed like a Kynge / ne on horsbake / but cam humbly upon an asse / in shewynge thexample of humylite which he left to them that honoure hym. And when this was sayd / he departed and vanysshed aweye / Thenne th’emperour took of his hosen and shone36 himself in wepynge / and despollyed hymselfe of alle his clothes in to his sherte / and tooke the crosse of oure lord / and bare it moche humbly into the gate / and anone the hardnes of the stones felte the celestyalle commaundement / and remeved anone / and opened and gaf entree unto them that entred / Thenne the sweete odour that was felt that day whanne the hooly Crosse was taken fro the Toure of Cosdroe / and was brought ageyne to Iherusalem fro so ferre countre / and so grete space of londe retourned in to Iherusalem in that moment / and replenysshed it with al swetnes / Thenne the ryght devoute Kyng beganne to saye the praysynges of the Crosse in this wyse / O Crux splendydior / et cetera / O Crosse more shynynge than alle the Sterres / honoured of the world / right holy / and moche amyable to alle men / whiche only were worthy to bere the raunson of the world Swete tree / Swete nayles / Swete yron / Swete spere berynge the swete burthens / Save thou this present company / that is this daye assembled in thy lawe and praysynges /. And thus was the precious tree of the Crosse re establysshed in his place / and the auncient myracles renewed /. For a dede man was reysed to lyf / and foure men taken with the palsey were cured and heled /
lepres were made clene / and fyften blynde receyved theyr syghte ageyn / Devylles were put out of men / and moche peple / and many / were delyvered of dyverse sekenes and maladyes /. Thenne themperour dyd doo repayre the Chirches / and gaf to them grete geftes / And after retorned home to his Empyre / And hit is said in the Cronycles that this was done otherwise / For they say that whanne Cosdroe hadde taken many Royammes / he took Iherusalem / and Zacharye the patriarke / and bare aweye the tree of the Crosse / And as Heracle wold make pees with hym / the Kyng Cosdroe swore a grete othe / that he wold never make pees with Crysten men and Romayns / yf they denyed not hym that was crucyfyed / and adoured the sonne /. And thenne Heracle / whiche was armed wythe faythe / brought his hooste ageynst hym / and destroyed and wasted the Persyens with many batayles that he made to them / and made Cosdroe to flee unto the Cyte of thelyfonte /. And atte the laste Cosdroe hadde the flyxe in his bely / And wolde therefore crowne his sone Kynge / which was named Mendasa /. And whenne Syroys his oldest sone herde thereof he made alyance with Heracle / And pursewed his fader with his noble peple / and set hym in bondes / And susteyned him with breede of trybulacion / and with water of anguysshe / And atte last he made to shote arowes at him bycause he wold not bileve in god & so deyde / & after this thynge he sente to Heracle the patriarke the tree of the Crosse and all the prysoners / And Heracle bare into Iherusalem the precious tree of the Crosse /. And thus it is redde in many Cronycles also/. Sybyle sayth thus of the tre of the Crosse / that the blessyd tree of the Crosse was thre tymes with the paynyms / as it is sayd in thystorie trypertyte O thryse blessyd tree on whiche god was stratched / This peradventure is sayd for the lyf of Nature / of grace / and of glorye / which cam of the crosse /. At Constantynople a Iewe entyred in to the chirche of seynt sophye / and consydered that he was there allone / and sawe an ymage of Ihesu cryste / and tooke his swerde and smote thymage in the throte / and anone the bloode guysshed oute / and sprange in the face and on the hide of the Iewe / And he thenne was aferd and took thymage / and cast it into a pytte / and anone fledde awey /. And it happed that a Crysten man mett hym / and sawe hym al blody / and sayd to hym / fro whens comest thou / thou hast slayne soume man / And he sayd I have not / the crysten man sayd Veryly thou has commysed somme homycyde / for thou art all besprongen37 with the blood. And the Jewe said / Veryly the god of Crysten men is grete and the faythe of hym is ferme and approved in all thynges / I have smyten no man / but I have smyten thymage of Ihesu Cryste / and anone yssued blood of his throte /. And thenne the Jewe brought the Crysten man to the pytte / and then they drewe oute that hooly ymage /. And yet is sene on this daye the wounde in the throte of thymage / And the Iewe anone bycam a good Crysten man, & was baptysed / In Syre in the cyte of baruth there was a cristen man / which had hyred an hous for a yere / & he had set thymage of the crucifixe by his bedde to whiche he made dayly his prayers and said his devocions / & at the yeres ende he remeved and tooke another hous / & forgate & lefte thymage behynde hym / and it happed that a Iewe hyred that same hows / & on a daye he had another Iewe one of his neyghbours to dyne / & as they were at mete it happed hym that was boden38 in lookyng on the walle to espye this ymage whiche was fyxed to the walle and beganne to grenne at it for despyte / and ageynst hym that bad hym / & also thretned & menaced hym bycause he durst kepe in his hous thymage of Ihesu of nazareth / & that other Iewe sware as moche as he myght / that he had never sene it / ne knewe not that it was there / & thenne the Iewe fayned as he had been peasyd39. / & after went strayt to the prynce of the Iewes / & accused that Iewe of that whiche he hadde sene in his hous / thenne the Iewes assembleden & cam to the hous of hym / & sawe thymage of Ihesu Cryst / and they took that Iewe and bete hym / & did to hym many iniuryes / & caste hym out half dede of their synagoge / & anone they defowled thymage with their feet / & renewed in it all the tormentes of the passion of oure lorde / & and when they perced his syde with the spere / blood and water yssued haboundauntly / in so moche that they fylled a vessel / whiche they set therunder / And thenne the Iewes were abasshhed & bare this blood in to theyr synagoge & and alle the seke men and malades that were enoynted therwyth / were anone guarysshed & made hool / & thenne the Iewes told & recounted al this thynge by ordre to the bishop of the countre / & alle they with one wyll receyved baptysm in the faythe of Ihesu Cryst / & the bisshop putt the blood in ampulles40 of Crystalle & of glas for to be kepte / & thenne he called / the Crysten man that had lefte it in the hows / & enquyred of hym / who had made so fayr an ymage / & he said that Nychodemus had made it / And when he deyde / he lefte it to gamalyel / And Gamalyel to Zachee and Zachee to Iaques / and Iaques to Symon / and hadde ben thus in Ierusalem unto the destruction of the Cyte / and fro thennes hit was borne in to the Royamme of Agryppe of Crysten men / and fro thennes hit was brought ageyne into my countreye / & it was left to me by my parentes by rightful herytage / & this was done in ye yere of our lord seven honderd and fifty / and thenne alle the Iewes halowed41 their synagogues in to chirches and therof cometh the custoume that Chirches ben hallowed / For tofore that tyme the aultres were but halowed only / and for this myracle the chirche hath ordeyned / that the fyfte Kalendar of december / or as it is redde in another place / the fyfthe ydus of Novembre shold be the memorye of the passyon of oure lord / wherfor at Rome the chirche is halowed in thonoure of our savyour whereas is kepte an ampulla with the same blood / And there a solempne feste is kepte and done / and there is proved the ryght grete vertue of the crosse unto the paynyms and to the mysbylevyd men in alle thynges /.
42Fiend.
43Power.
44Each or every one.
45Attendants.
46Drew.
47Jest.