by Raymond Crawfurd
The origin of this ceremony of blessing rings, by the kings and queens
of England, for the cure of epilepsy and other spasmodic disorders,
appears to be well attested by the evidence of many contemporary
records. All alike refer it back to Edward the Confessor, or, to be
more exact, to the ring which was one of the sacred relics in the
shrine of the Confessor in his abbey of Westminster. Caxton, in the
_Golden Legend_,[220] tells the tale of this wonderful ring, as follows:
‘When the blessed King Edward had lived many years, and was fallen
into great age, it happened he came riding by a church in Essex
called Havering, which was at that time in hallowing, and should
be dedicated in the honour of our Lord and S. John the Evangelist;
wherefore the king for great devotion lighted down and tarried,
while the church was in hallowing. And in the time of procession,
a fair old man came to the king and demanded of him alms in the
worship of God and S. John the Evangelist. Then the king found
nothing ready to give, ne his almoner was not present, but he took
off the ring from his finger and gave it to the poor man, whom the
poor man thanked and departed. And within certain years after, two
pilgrims of England went into the holy land to visit holy places
there, and as they had lost their way and were gone from their
fellowship, and the night approached, and they sorrowed greatly as
they that wist not whither to go, and dreaded sore to be perished
among wild beasts; at the last they saw a fair company of men
arrayed in white clothing, with two lights borne afore them, and
behind them there came a fair ancient man with white hair for age.
Then these pilgrims thought to follow the light and drew nigh.
Then the old man asked them what they were, and of what region,
and they answered that they were pilgrims of England, and had
lost their fellowship and way also. Then this old man comforted
them goodly, and brought them into a fair city where was a fair
cenacle honestly arrayed with all manner of dainties, and when
they had well refreshed them and rested there all night, on the
morn this fair old man went with them, and brought them in the
right way again. And he was glad to hear them talk of the welfare
and holiness of their king S. Edward. And when he should depart
from them, then he told them what he was and said: I am John the
Evangelist, and say ye unto Edward your king that I greet him right
well, by the token that he gave to me this ring with his own hands
at the hallowing of my church, which ring ye shall deliver to him
again. And say ye to him that he dispose his goods, for within
six months he shall be in the joy of heaven with me, where he
shall have his reward for his chastity and for his good living....
And when he had delivered to them the ring he departed from them
suddenly. And soon after they came home and did their message to
the king, and delivered to him the ring, and said that S. John the
Evangelist sent it to him.’
Shortly after this Edward departed this life, and was laid in his
abbey of Westminster, where the usual abundant harvest of miraculous
cures was enacted at his shrine. In the above story we have also the
explanation of one synonym of epilepsy, the ‘morbus sancti Iohannis’.
The further history of the ring may be gleaned from several sources,
but notably from a MS. by one Richard Sporley, a monk of the abbey,
entitled, ‘De fundacione ecclesie Westm’, dated A.D. 1450, and now in
the British Museum.[221]
St. Edward’s ring was deposited with his corpse in the tomb in A.D.
1066. He was translated at midnight of October 13, 1163, when his body
was found to be incorrupt. Abbot Lawrence took the robes from the body
and made them into three copes, and gave the ring as a sacred relic to
the Abbey:
‘Dompnus Laurentius quondam abbas huius loci ... sed et annulo
eiusdem (Sancti Edwardi) quem Sancto Iohanni quondam tradidit,
quem et ipse de paradiso remisit, elapsis annis duobus et dimidio,
postea _in_ nocte translationis de digito regis tulit, et pro
miraculo in loco isto custodiri iussit.’
[Illustration: From CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY MS. Ec. iii. 59