nt-Romain, is much
more remarkable, for the destruction of heathen temples, and the famous
miracle of the _Gargouille_, which, gave birth to the privilege not less
famous, which the chapter possessed of setting at liberty a prisoner
every year. It is thought generally, however, that Saint-Romain,
constructed one of the churches, which succeeded each other on the site
of the Cathedral, but, they were deceived who have said that this bishop
extirpated paganism from Rouen, and from the province. Saint-Ouen, who
came after Saint-Romain, found the people clownish, superstitious, and
idolatrous, in consequence of the negligence of some bishops, his
predecessors. The inhabitants of the neighbouring country, were coarse,
cruel and dishonest; morals and the sciences were cultivated only among
the higher classes of society. We find in the preface to the life of
Saint-Eloi by Saint-Ouen, that, even in the VIIth century, they read
authors of whose works nothing now remains.

Saint-Ouen, founded or enriched a great many religious establishments in
Rouen and its environs. It was under his episcopate, that a monument was
first raised to Saint-Nicaise within the walls of Rouen. He also caused
to be built the celebrated abbeys of Fontenelle (since Saint-Wandrille),
Jumieges, and Saint-Austreberthe.

In the time of this archbishop, there was a state prison near the end of
the rue de la Poterne. It was in this prison that Saint-Ouen, having
been deceived by the mayor of the palace Ebroin, caused Philibert the
first Abbot of Jumieges to be confined on a false accusation of the
crime of high-treason.

To Saint-Ouen, Ansbert succeeded in 683; at this time doubtless the
mechanical arts were not very far advanced in Rouen, since the new
bishop, wishing to erect a rich mausoleum to his predecessor, sent for
workmen from different provinces.

According to the monk Aigrad, a great famine took place in Rouen and its
neighbourhood, during the episcopate of Ansbert, who caused the
treasures of the church to be given, for the relief of the poor.

Here, the history of Rouen is lost in obscurity; our materials are
reduced, we may almost say, to the mere list of bishops, until the time
when the north-men shewed themselves in this country. From the year 841,
when they appeared for the first time at the mouth of the Seine, until
the year 912, the period of the treaty of Saint-Claire-sur-Epte, Rouen,
and its environs presented nothing but a scene of c