King's Evil.
In this connection some mention must be made of the miracles performed by the French and English kings.
The early development of the idea that by a sort of divine right the power to cure scrofula, or as it was at that time called, "King's Evil", was conferred upon the sovereign it is impossible now to trace. It seems certain (16, p. 306) that the French kings enjoyed the privilege long before those of England, and tradition says that it was first a gift to Clovis at his baptism in 496 A. D. Another persistent legend is that it was bestowed as a gift by St. Marcone in the sixth century.
However this may be, we find that many of the early French kings made pilgrimages to Corbeny, where the body of this saint reposed, in order to have his skull placed reverently in their hands by the monks. On the day following this ceremony they were ready to banish with a touch that disease, "pour la guérison desquels Dieu a accordé aux rois de France une grace singuliére." Most of the French kings used the sign of the cross saying at the same time "Le roi to touche, Dieu to guerit." This divine prerogative was exercised by the French kings from the time of Louis le Gros (1108-1137) with few exceptions until 1825 when Charles X effected many cures.
Some were deprived of the right, it is said, because of evil life, but rather out of harmony with this is the fact that some of the most notoriously immoral of the kings exercised it with success. Phillippe VI (1328-1350) is said to have cured 14,000; Louis XII (1498-1515) "reconciled himself to God seven times a year by confession" and after each confession touched any one who had need of healing; Henry IV (1589-1610) touched and healed above 15,000 persons a year, according to the king's physician.
In England the first cures are accorded to Edward the Confessor who, it is thought, may have learned the practice from his French contemporaries. His method was his own. Brewer finds that " the king sent for a basin of water and dipping his fingers therein he frequently touched the parts affected every now and then forming with the tip of his finger the mark of the cross. The persons to be touched were selected by the king's surgeon and the number went on increasing every year." (p. 306). Edward I gave a gold or silver touch piece to those he cured; Elizabeth discontinued the use of the sign of the cross for fifteen years; Charles II is said to have touched 100,000 persons on his accession and more than 4,000 yearly and yet "in his reign more died of scrofula than in any other;" Anne touched some 200 in 1714 among whom was the distinguished Samuel Johnson; George I discontinued the practice in 1714 but the formula for "The office of touching" did not disappear from the " Common Prayer Book " until 1719 and pretenders continued to practice it as late as 1745. Black (9, p. 43) tells us that "In 1838, failing the royal touch, a few crowns and half-crowns bearing the effigy of Charles I were still used in the Shetland Islands as remedies for the evil."
Miracles of Healing
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By Charles W. Waddle (1909)
Primitive Christian Worship
Hereditary genius
