Crown him with many crowns

As we celebrated Jesus' Ascension this week, I thought it was a good opportunity to look at a hymn which celebrates his kingship.  Crown him with many crowns definitely ranks among my many favourite hymns, praising Jesus for all that he is, reminding us of all that he did for us, and seeing him as firmly enthroned in heaven - the Lord of love, peace, light, life and time.  It's set to a fantastic tune, which was written especially for this hymn.

The original author of the words was Matthew Bridges (1800 - 1894).  He was an Anglican, born in Essex, who converted to Roman Catholicism in 1848, under the influence of the Oxford Movement.  He published Crown him with many crowns in 1851, in the second edition of a book of his own hymns entitled Hymns of the Heart.  Bridges' original version had six verses, and was inspired by Revelation 19:12, which is translated in the Authorised (King James') Version as follows: His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

Crown him with many crowns became well-known when it was included in the appendix to the first edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern in 1868.  It's stirring tune, Diademata was written to accompany the hymn at that time and for that book.

You many have noticed that Crown him with many crowns is often attributed to both Matthew Bridges and Godfrey Thring.  This was no collaboration!  Thring (1823 - 1903) was an Anglican priest who wrote an entirely new version of the hymn, published in 1874 in his own Hymns and Sacred Lyrics.  He was seeking to counteract Bridges' Catholic doctrine, and to write a version of the hymn which avoided Bridges' Roman Catholic imagery.

Today, we often sing a selection of verses from both authors.  In addition, two of Bridges' original verses are usually conflated - we sing the first half of his fifth verse followed by the second half of his final verse.

According to Wikipedia, these are the twelve verses - the first column those written by Matthew Bridges, the second, those written by Godfrey Thring:

This hymn was sung at the service in Westminster Abbey to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.