well on land and sea, hence why should not I serve him with my
book-learning?" He bears witness that the bishop himself is his
authority for much that he has written.

Archbishop Absalon closed his eyes on St. Benedict's Day, March 21,
1201, in the cloister at Soroe which Sir Asker built and where he
lived his last days in peace. Absalon's statue of bronze, on
horseback, battle-axe in hand, stands in the market square in
Copenhagen, the city he founded and of which he is the patron saint;
but his body lies within the quiet sanctuary where, in the deep
forest glades, one listens yet for the evensong of the monks, long
silent now. When his grave was opened, in 1826, the lines of his
tall form, clad in clerical robes, were yet clearly traceable. The
strong hands, turned to dust, held a silver chalice in which lay his
episcopal ring. They are there to be seen to-day, with remnants of
his staff that had partly crumbled away. No Dane approaches his
grave without emotion. "All Denmark grieved for him," says a German
writer of that day, "and commended his soul to Jesus Christ, the
Prince of Peace, for that in his lifetime he had led many who were
enemies to peace and concord." In his old cathedral, in Roskilde
town, lies Saxo, according to tradition under an unmarked stone.
When he went to rest his friend and master had slept five years.

Esbern outlived his brother three years. The hero of so many battles
met his death at last by an accidental fall in his own house. The
last we hear of him is at a meeting in the Christmas season, 1187,
where emissaries of Pope Gregory VIII preached a general crusade.
Their hearers wept at the picture they drew of the sufferings
Christians were made to endure in the Holy Land. Then arose Esbern
and reminded them of the great deeds of the fathers at home and
abroad. The faith and the fire of Absalon were in his words:

"These things they did," he said, "for the glory of their name and
race, knowing nothing of our holy religion. Shall we, believing, do
less? Let us lay aside our petty quarrels and take up this greater
cause. Let us share the sufferings of the saints and earn their
reward. Perhaps we shall win--God keeps the issue. Let him who
cannot give himself, give of his means. So shall all we, sharing the
promise, share also the reward."

The account we have says that many took the cross, such was the
effect of his words, more likely of the man and what he was and had
been in the sight