nsters actually stripped the dead body of their
sovereign, to make sure of all their dues, and left it naked on the
stone floor, while they bore their prizes to a place of safety. The
body lay in this neglected state for many hours; for the tidings of the
great monarch's death, which was so sudden at last, produced, as it
spread, universal excitement and apprehension. No one knew to what
changes the event would lead, what wars would follow between the sons,
or what insurrections or rebellions might have been secretly formed, to
break out suddenly when this crisis should have arrived. Thus the whole
community were thrown into a state of excitement and confusion.

The monk and lay brethren of the monastery at length came in, took up
the body, and prepared it for burial. They then brought crosses, tapers,
and censers, and began to offer prayers and to chant requiems for the
repose of the soul of the deceased. They sent also the Archbishop of
Rouen, to know what was to be done with the body. The archbishop gave
orders that it should be taken to Caen, and be deposited there in the
monastery which William had erected at the time of his marriage.

The tale which the ancient historians have told in respect to the
interment is still more extraordinary, and more inconsistent with all
the ideas we naturally form of the kind of consideration and honor which
the remains of so great a potentate would receive at the hands of his
household and his officers of state, than the account of his death. It
is said that all the members of his household, and all his officers,
immediately after his decease, abandoned the town--all eagerly occupied
in plans and maneuvers to secure their positions under the new reign.
Some went in pursuit of Robert, and some to follow William Rufus. Henry
locked up his money in a strong box, well ironed, and went off with it
to find some place of security. There was nobody left to take the
neglected body to the grave.

At last a countryman was found who undertook to transport the heavy
burden from Rouen to Caen. He procured a cart, and conveyed it from the
monastery to the river, where it was put on board a vessel, and taken
down the Seine to its mouth, and thence by sea to Caen. The Abbot of St.
Stephen's, which was the name of William's monastery there, came, with
some monks and a procession of the people, to accompany the body to the
abbey. As this procession was moving along, however, a fire broke out in
the