Georges, where they offered their prayers
for the repose of the soul of the departed Duke; and archbishop William
commanded that the body should be carried to Caen, to be interred in the
church of St. Stephen, which William had founded. But the lifeless king
was now deserted by all who had participated in his munificence and
bounty. Every one of his brethren and relations had left him; nor was
there even a servant to be found to perform the last offices to his
departed lord. The care of the obsequies was finally undertaken by
Herluin, a knight of that district, who, moved by the love of God and
the honor of his nation, provided at his own expence, embalmers, and
bearers, and a hearse, and conveyed the corpse to the Seine, whence it
was carried by land and water to the place of its destination.
Upon the arrival of the funeral train at Caen, it was met by Gislebert,
bishop of Evreux, then abbot of St. Stephen's, at the head of his monks,
attended with a numerous throng of clergy and laity; but scarcely had
the bier been brought within the gates, when the report was spread that
a dreadful fire had broken out in another part of the town, and the
Duke's remains were a second time deserted. The monks alone remained;
and, fearful and irresolute, they bore their founder "with candle, with
book, and with knell," to his last home.
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