The Lives of the III. Normans, Kings of England: William the First, William the Second, Henrie the First

by Sir John Hayward

During the time of his sickenesse hee was much molested in conscience,[28] for the blood which hee had spilt, and for the seueritie which he had vsed against the English: holding himselfe for that cause more guilty before God, then glorious among men. Hee spent many good speeches in reconciling himselfe to God and the world, & in exhorting others to vertue and Religion. He gaue great summes of money to the Clergie of Meux, and of some other places in France, to repaire the Churches which a little before he had defaced. To some Monasteries he gaue tenne markes of gold, and to others sixe. To euery Parish Church hee gaue fiue shillings, and to euery Borough Towne a hundred pounds for reliefe of the poore. Hee gaue his Crowne, with all the ornaments therto belonging, to the Church of Saint Stephen in Caen, which hee had founded: for redeeming whereof, King Henry the first did afterwards giue to the same Church the Mannour of Brideton in Dorcetshire. Hee reteined perfect memorie and speach so long as he reteined any breath. Hee ended his life vpon the ninth day of September: full both of honour and of age, when hee had reigned twenty yeeres, eight moneths and sixteene dayes; in the threescore and fourth yeere of his age.

So soone as he was dead, the chiefe men that were about him went to horse, and departed forthwith to their owne dwellings: to prouide for the safety of themselues, and of their families and estates. For all men were possessed with a marueilous feare, that some dangerous aduentures would ensue. The seruants and inferiour Officers also fled away; and to double the basenesse of their disposition, tooke with them whatsoeuer was portable about the king; his Armour, plate, apparell, household-stuffe, all things were held as lawfull bootie. Thus the dead body was not onely abandoned, but left almost naked vpon the ground: where it remained from prime vntil three of the clocke, neither guarded nor regarded by any man. In the meane time the Religious persons went in procession to the Church of S. Geruase, & there commended his soule to God. Then William Archb. of Roan commaunded, that his body should be caried to Caen, to be there buried in the Church of S. Stephen. But hee was so forsaken of all his followers, that there was not any found who would vndertake either the care or the charge. At the last Herlwine a countrey Knight, vpon his owne cost, caused the body to be embalmed and adorned for funerall pompe: then conueyed it by coach to the mouth of the Riuer Some; and so partly by land, and partly by sea brought it to Caen.

Here the Abbot with the Couent of Monks came foorth with all accustomed ceremonies, to meet the corps: to whom the whole multitude of the Clergie and Lay-people did adioyne. But when they were in the middest of their sad solemnities, a fire brake out of a certaine house, and suddenly embraced a great part of the towne. Hereupon the Kings body was once againe abandoned; all the people running from it in a headlong haste; some to saue their goods, others to represse the rage of the flame, others (as the latest nouelty) to stand and looke on. In the end a few Moncks returned, and accompanied the Hearse to the Abbey Church.

Afterward all the Bishops and Abbots of Normandy assembled to solemnize the funerall. And when the diuine Office was ended, and the coffin of stone set into the earth, in the presbytorie, betweene the Quire and the Altar (but the body remained vpon the Herse) Guislebert bishop of Eureux made a long Sermon; wherein hee bestowed much breath in extolling the honourable actions of the King. In the end he concluded; That forsomuch as it was impossible for a man to liue, much lesse to gouerne, without offence; First, by reason of the multitude of a Princes affaires; Secondly, for that he must commit the managing of many things to the conscience and courtesie of others; Lastly, for that personall grieuances are many times beneficiall to the maine body of State; in which case, particular either losses or harmes, are more then manifoldly recompenced by the preseruation or quiet of the whole: If therefore any that were present did suppose they had receiued iniurie from the King, he desired that they would in charitie forgiue him.

When the Bishop had finished his speach, one Anselme Fitz-Arthur stood vp amongst the multitude, and with a high voice said; This ground whereupon wee stand, was sometimes the floore of my fathers house; which that man of whom you haue spoken, when he was Duke of Normandie, tooke violently from my father, and afterward founded thereon this Religious building. This iniustice hee did not by ignorance or ouersight; not vpon any necessitie of State; but to content his owne couetous desire. Now therefore I doe challenge this ground as my right; and doe here charge you, as you will answere it before the fearefull face of Almightie God, that the body of the spoiler be not couered with the earth of mine inheritance.

When the Bishops and Noble men that were present heard this, and vnderstood by the testimony of many that it was true, they agreed to giue him three pounds presently for the ground that was broken for the place of burial; and for the residue which he claimed, they vndertooke he should be fully satisfied. This promise was performed in short time after, by Henrie the Kings sonne, who onely was present at the Funerall; at whose appointment Fitz-Arthur receiued for the price of the same ground one hundred pounds.

Now when the body was to be put into the earth, the sepulchre of stone which stood within the graue, was hewen somewhat too strait for his fat belly; whereupon they were constrained to presse it downe with much strength. By this violence, whether his bowels burst, or whether some excrements were forced out at their natural passage, such an intolerable stinck proceeded from him, as neither the perfumes that smoaked in great abundance, nor any other meanes were able to qualifie. Wherefore the Priests hasted to finish their office, and the people departed in a sad silence; discoursing diuersly afterward of all these extraordinarie accidents.

A man would thinke that a sepulchre thus hardly attained, should not easily againe bee lost. But it happened otherwise to this vnquiet King; not destined to rest, either in his life or after his death. For in the yeere 1562. when Chastilion tooke the Citie of Caen, with those broken troupes that escaped at the battaile of Dreux; certaine sauage Souldiers of diuers nations, led by foure dissolute Captaines, beate downe the Monument which King William his sonne had built ouer him, and both curiously and richly adorned with gold & costly stones. Then they opened his Tombe, & not finding the treasure which they expected, they threw forth his bones with very great derision & despight. Many English souldiers were then in the Towne, who were very curious to gather his bones; whereof some were afterwards brought into England. Hereby the report is conuinced for vaine, that his body was found vncorrupt, more then foure hundred yeeres after it was buried. Hereby also it is found to be false, that his body was eight foote in length. For neither were his bones proportionable to that stature, (as it is testified by those who saw them) and it is otherwise reported of him by som who liued in his time; namely, that he was of a good stature, yet not exceeding the ordinary proportion of men.

And this was the last end of all his fortunes, of all that was mortall in him besides his fame: whose life is too much extolled by the Normans, and no lesse extenuated by the English. Verely, he was a very great Prince: full of hope to vndertake great enterprises, full of courage to atchieue them: in most of his actions commendable, and excusable in all. And this was not the least piece of his Honour, that the Kings of England which succeeded, did accompt their order onely from him: not in regard of his victorie in England, but generally in respect of his vertue and valour.

For his entrance was not by way of conquest but with pretence of title to the Crowne: wherein he had both allowance and aide from diuers Christian Princes in Europe. He had also his partie within the Realme, by whose meanes he preuailed against the opposite faction, (as Cæsar did against Pompey) and not against the entire strength of the State.