The king's evil.

  • Crawfurd, Raymond Henry Payne, Sir, 1865-1938.
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The king's evil. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    logian, and Chaucer extols his learning in the Nun's Priest's Tale. Such is the man who writes as follows : Quicumque negas miracula, Christiane, veni et vide ad oculum, adhuc istis temporibus in locis sanctorum per vices miracula gloriosa. Veni in Angliam ad regem Anglicum praesentem, due tecum Christianum quemcun- que habentem morbum Regium, quamtumcunque invete- ratum, profundatum et turpem, et oratione iusa, manu imposita, ac benedictione, sub signo crucis data, ipsum curabit in nomine Jesu Christi. Hoc enim facit continue, et fecit saepissime viris et mulieribus immundissimis, et catervatim ad eum ruentibus, in Anglia, in Alemania, et in Francia circumquaque: sicut facta quotidiana, sicut qui curati sunt, sicut qui interfuerunt et viderunt, sicut populi Nationum, et fama quam Celebris certissime con- testantur. Quod et omnes Reges Christiani Anglorum solent divinitus facere, et Francorum, sicut libri anti- quitatum et fama regnorum concors testantur: unde et morbus Regius nomen sumpsit.1 [Christian, whoever thou art that dost discredit miracles, come and see with thine own eyes glorious miracles still wrought in these very times in the places of worship, now in one, now in another. Come into England to the present English king, bring with you any Christian that has the King's Evil, no matter how inveterate, how deep- seated and loathsome, and he will cure him in the name of Jesus Christ, with prayer poured out, with laying on of hands, and with a blessing given along with the sign of the Cross. For this he does continually, and very often did it to the foulest of men and women, who flocked to him in crowds, in England, in Germany, and in all parts of France: witness thereunto beyond all doubt the occurrences of every day, the testimony of those that have been healed and of those that have been present and seen it, the people of these Nations, and widespread report. And this is a thing that all Christian kings of the English have been accustomed to do by gift of God, and French kings too, as the books of ancient records and the unanimous tradition of these kingdoms testify: for which reason it has acquired the name, the King's Evil.] Edward III then bestowed his touch broadcast, not 1 De Causa Dei, lib. i. c. 1. Corol. pars 32. p. 39.