of accidents was never yet recorded, as occurring to the corpse of a mighty sovereign, who died in the plenitude of his power.

William of Normandy was remarkable for his personal strength, and the majestic beauty of his countenance. It has been said of him that no one but himself could bend his bow, and that he could, when riding at full speed, discharge either arblast or long-bow with unerring aim.1

His forehead was high and bald, his aspect stern and commanding; yet he could, when it pleased him to do so, assume such winning sweetness in his looks and manner as could scarcely be resisted; but when in anger, no man could meet the terror of his eye. Like Saul, he was from the shoulders upwards taller than the rest of his subjects, but before he became too corpulent his figure was finely proportioned. His eloquence was both powerful and persuasive. His habits were temperate, and his household was well regulated with a view to the strictest economy; yet upon proper occasions he indulged his taste for magnificence, and took pleasure in appearing in all his royal state. He wore his crown three times a year.3 At Christmas or Midwinter-day, in the city of Gloucester; Easter at Winchester; and when he celebrated Whitsuntide, at Westminister. He wisely carried his court, it seems, at these festivals, to different parts of England.

William Rufus caused a stately monument, adorned

1 Robert of Gloucester. W. Malmsbury.

2 W. Malmsbury.

* Saxon Annals. Odericus Vitalis. Madox Hist. Exchequer.

with gold, silver, and precious stones, and very rich sculpture, to be erected to the memory of his father before the high altar of St. Stephen's Abbey.1

The loftiness of stature which cotemporary chroniclers have ascribed to William the Conqueror, was fully confirmed by the post mortem examination of his body which was made by the Bishop of Bayeux, in the year 1542, when, prompted by a strong desire to behold the remains of this great sovereign, he obtained leave to open his tomb.2

On removing the stone cover, the body, which was corpulent and exceeding in stature the tallest man then known, appeared as entire as when it was first buried.

Within the tomb lay a plate of copper gilt, on which was engraved an inscription in Latin verse.3

The bishop, who was greatly surprised at finding the body in such perfect preservation, caused a painting to be executed of the royal remains in the state in which they then appeared, by the best artist in Caen, and caused it to be hung up on the abbey wall opposite to the The tomb was then carefully closed, but

monument.

1 Odericus Vitalis.

2 Ducarel's Norman Antiquities.

3 Thomas, Archbishop of York, was the author of the Latin verse, of which the following lines present a close translation not unpoetical in its antique simplicity.

He who the sturdy Normans rued and over England reigned,
And stoutly won and strongly kept what he had so obtained,
And did the swords of those of Maine by force bring under awe,
And made them under his command live subject to his law;
This great King William lieth here entombed in little grave,
So great a lord, so small a house sufficeth him to have.
When Phoebus in the Virgin's lap his circled course applied,
And twenty-three degrees had past, e'en at that time he died.

in 1562, when the Calvinists under Chastillon took Caen, a party of the rapacious soldiers forced it open in hope of meeting with a treasure, but finding nothing more than the bones of the Conqueror wrapped in red taffeta, they threw them about the church in great derision. Viscount Falaise, having obtained from the rioters one of the thigh-bones, it was by him deposited in the royal grave. Monsieur Le Bras, who saw this bone, testified that it was longer by the breadth of his four fingers than that of the tallest man he had ever seen.1

The picture of the remains which had been painted by the order of the Bishop of Bayeux, fell into the hands of Peter Ildo, the jailor of Caen, who was one of the spoilers, and he converted one part into a table and the other into a cupboard door, which proves that this portrait was not painted on canvass, but wainscot. Some years after, these curious relics were discovered and reclaimed by M. Bras, in whose possession they remained till his death.2

No sooner had the Calvinist spoilers plundered the Abbey of St. Stephen and exhumed the bones of the Conqueror, than they entered the church of the Holy Trinity, threatening the same violence to the remains of Matilda. The entreaties and tears of the abbess and her nuns at first had no effect on the rapacious bigots, who considered the destruction of church ornaments and monumental sculpture an acceptable service to God, quite sufficient to atone for the sacrilegious violence of defacing a temple adorned for his worship, and rifling the sepulchres of the dead. In this instance they contented themselves with throwing down the monument, 1 Ducarel's Norman Antiquities.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

breaking to pieces the effigies of the queen which lay thereon, and opening the grave in which the royal corpse was deposited. At that juncture, one of the party observing that there was a gold ring set with a fine sapphire on one of the queen's fingers, took it off, and with more gallantry than might have been expected from such a person, presented it to the abbess, Madame Anna de Montmorenci, who afterwards gave it to her father, the Baron de Conti, constable of France, when he attended Charles the Ninth to Caen, in the year 1563.1

In 1642 the monks of St. Stephen collected the bones of their royal patron, William of Normandy, and built a plain altar-shaped tomb over them, on the spot where the original monument stood in the chancel. The nuns of the Holy Trinity, with equal zeal, caused the broken fragments of Matilda's statue and monument to be restored, and placed over her grave, near the middle of the choir, on a tomb of black and white marble three feet high and six long, in the shape of a coffin, surrounded with iron spikes, and hung with ancient tapestry.2

The restored monument of Matilda remained undisturbed till nearly the close of the last century, when the French republicans paid one of their destructive visits to the church of the Holy Trinity at Caen, and, among other outrages against taste and feeling, swept away this memorial of its royal foundress ;3 but while a single arch of that majestic and time-honoured fane, the church of the Holy Trinity, survives, the first of our Anglo-Norman queens, Matilda of Flanders, will require no other

monument.

1 Ducarel.

3 Ibid.

2 Ducarel, i.

135

MATILDA OF SCOTLAND.

THE QUEEN OF HENRY I.

CHAPTER I.

Ancestry of Matilda-Direct descent from Alfred-Margaret Atheling, her mother Marries King of Scotland-Matilda's birth-Her godfather-Education-First suitor- Her father invades England-His death-Her mother's grief-Pious death-Revolution in ScotlandEdgar Atheling carries the royal family to England-Princesses Matilda and Mary-Placed in Rumsey Abbey-Their aunt, Abbess Christina-Matilda's brother Edgar-Restored to the throne of Scotland-The Atheling a crusader-Matilda at Wilton AbbeyHer literary education-Attachment between Matilda and Henry Beauclerc Her other suitors-Early life of Henry-Education at Cambridge Surname - Literary work by him-Legacy at the Conqueror's death-Poverty of Henry-Affronted by Matilda's suitorEarl Warren-Courtship of Matilda-Harsh rule of Lady Christina -Henry seizes English throne-Asks Matilda's hand-Opposition of her aunt-Council of the Church-Matilda's evidence-Her scruples -Importuned by Anglo-Saxons-Consents-Address to her by Anselm -Consent of the people-Her marriage and coronation-Saxon laws restored.

WHEN We consider the perils to which the representatives of our ancient line of sovereigns, Edgar Atheling and his sisters, were exposed during the usurpation of