ervation can decide, exactly in the state
in which it was left by the original builder.

The abbey of the Holy Trinity was founded in 1066, by Matilda of
Flanders, wife to William II. Duke of Normandy; and its church was
dedicated on the eighteenth of June of the same year, by Maurilius,
Archbishop of Rouen, assisted by the bishops and abbots of the province,
and in the presence of the duke and duchess, together with their
principal barons. The sovereign, upon the same day, presented at the
altar his infant daughter, Cecilia, devoting her to the service of God
in this monastery, in which she was accordingly educated, and was its
first nun and second abbess. History has recorded the name of the first
abbess, Matilda, and relates that she was of one of the most noble
families of the duchy; but no farther particulars are known respecting
her. The foundation-charters of this convent, which bear date in the
years 1066 and 1082, are full of donations in every respect princely;
and these, not only on the part of the sovereign, but also of his
nobles, whose signatures are likewise attached to the instruments. The
queen, also, at her decease, left the monastery her crown, sceptre, and
ornaments of state;[51] thus setting the example, which was shortly
afterwards followed by her royal consort, with regard to the abbey of
St. Stephen. Robert, the Conqueror's successor in the dukedom, was not
behind-hand with his father in his liberality to the convent of the
Trinity. The latter, in his charter, dated 1083, had reserved to himself
the right of the fishery of the Orne, together with sundry possessions
outside the walls of the town, in the direction of the suburb of
Vaugeux. All these were ceded by the new duke to his sister; and out of
the various grants, on the part of the father and son, was formed what
was denominated the _Bourg l'Abbesse_, or _Barony of St. Giles_. Duke
Robert did yet more; for, after having distinguished himself at the
capture of Jerusalem, and refused the crown of the Holy Land, he
brought home with him, on his return to France, and deposited in the
abbatial church founded by his mother, the great standard of the
Saracens, wrested from them by his valor in the field of Ascalon.

Among the privileges conferred upon the abbey of the Trinity, by the
Norman princes, was the right of holding a fair upon Trinity-Sunday and
the days that immediately preceded and followed it. The abbess, during
these days, was entitl