[680] Ord. Vit. u. s. “Municipes qui munimenta regis servabant omnibus necessariis pleniter abundabant, et idcirco usque ad mortem pro domini sui fidelitate prœliari satagebant.”
[681] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 266.
[682] Ord. Vit. 774 D. “Galterius Ansgerii filius custos arcis jussit fabris quos secum habebat operari, scoriam quoque candentem super tecta domorum a balistariis impetuose jactari. Tunc rutilus Titan sublimes Geminos peragrabat, et ingenti siccitate mundus arebat, flammeusque turbo imbricibus aularum insidebat. Sic nimius ignis accensus est, quo nimium prævalente tota civitas combusta est.” Vet. An. 307. “Illi qui erant in arce, facto vespere ignem maximum incendentes, in subjectas domos ardentes faculas summa instantia jactare cœperunt. Ignis vero flante Euro convalescens totam civitatem cum magna parte suburbiorum consumpsit.” For Bishop Hildebert’s view of the matter, see [Appendix KK].
[683] Vet. An. 307. “Quo incendio populus stupefactus atque in mœstitiam conversus non satis fidum comiti præstabat auxilium.”
[684] The work of destruction which has been done in modern times at Paris and Rouen seems a trifle compared to the merciless havoc wrought at Le Mans. It amounts almost to a physical destruction of the city. The hill has been cut through to make a road from the modern part of the town to the river. This has involved breaking through the Roman walls, cutting through the Vielle Rome and the other ancient streets, sweeping away the finest of the Romanesque houses, dividing in short the hill and the ancient city into two parts severed by a yawning gap. The mediæval wall has further been broken down and made into a picturesque ruin. When I was first at Le Mans in 1868, the city was still untouched; in 1876 the havoc was doing; by 1879 it was done. Some conceited mayor or prefect doubtless looks on all this brutal destruction as a noble exploit.
[685] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 267.
[686] Vet. An. 307. “Comes contra munitiones machinas atque tormenta ad jactandos lapides erigens, eos qui intus erant summo conamine expugnare nitebatur. At illi contra machinas ejus machinas facientes, omnia ejus molimina frustrabant.” Ord. Vit. 774 D. “Helias et sui frustra machinis et assultibus valde laboraverunt; sed contra inexpugnabiles munitiones nihil prævaluerunt.” So Wace, 14898;
“Li Mans li unt abandoné,
Tot, forz la tor de la cité.
La tor se tint, Mansels l’asistrent,