He had promised these men the pillage of the city, and he
kept his word; but the soldiers were not content with the plunder: they
set fire to the town, and what had escaped their ravages, perished in
the flames.[84] In 1356, under the reign of Edward IIIrd, Bayeux
experienced nearly the same fate from our countrymen; and in the
following century it again suffered severely from their arms, till the
decisive battle of Formigny, fought within ten miles of the city,
compelled Henry VIth to withdraw from Normandy, carrying with him
scarcely any other trophies of his former conquests, than a great
collection of Norman charters, and, among the rest, those of Bayeux,
which are to this hour preserved in the tower of London.
During the subsequent wars occasioned by the reformation, this town bore
its share in the common sufferings of the north of France. The horrors
experienced by other places on the occasion were even surpassed by the
outrages that were committed at Bayeux; but it is impossible to enter
into details which are equally revolting to decency and to humanity.
Of late years, Bayeux has been altogether an open town. The old castle,
the last relic of its military character, a spacious fortress flanked by
ten square towers, was demolished in 1773; and, as the poet of Bayeux
has sung[85],--
".
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