THE KING'S MIRROR 241 



pointed him ruler of all the world, and he turned to 

 righteousness and Christianity as soon as he came to 

 understand the holy faith. He gave his mother, Queen 

 Helena, a kingdom east of the sea in the land of the 

 Jews. But because her realm and dominion were there, 

 she came to be persuaded that no faith concerning God 

 could be correct but that held by the Jews ; and as letters 

 passed between them, the queen and her son the em- 

 peror, they began to realize that they differed somewhat 

 in the beliefs which each of them held concerning God. 

 Then the emperor commanded the queen to come over 

 the sea from the east with her wise and learned men and 

 many other lords to a meeting in Rome, where the veri- 

 ties of the holy faith should be examined. But when the 

 queen arrived with her company, the emperor had called 

 together many bishops including Pope Sylvester and 

 many wise men, both Christians and heathen. When the 

 conference had begun and a court had been appointed 

 to decide between the emperor and the queen, it became 

 evident to both that there was likely to be a violent dis- 

 pute between the Christian bishops and the learned 

 Jews and other wise men who had come with the queen 

 from the east, in view of the fact that each side would 

 produce weighty arguments from its books against the 

 other to prove and confirm its own learning and holy 

 faith. They saw clearly, therefore, that it would be 

 necessary for the assembly to appoint upright judges, 

 who could weigh in a tolerant and rational spirit all the 

 arguments that might be offered on either side. 



But whereas the emperor with the pope and the Chris- 

 tian bishops was the defender of holy Christianity and 



