Truly by thorns are signified, as
the almighty God said to Adam: “Thorns and brambles will grow for you, because
you were obedient to your wife rather than to me, the mighty Lord.” Now our
sins were wiped away again by the thorny crown placed on the savior. They said with
mockery that he was a king, who is truly the ruler of nations. They tripped him
and clothed him again because he would abandon his body and afterward rise
again immortal. (Aelfric, “Palm Sunday,” in The Old English Catholic Homilies:
The Second Series [trans. Roy M. Liuzza; Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 93;
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2026], 319, 321)
