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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 2002-12 > 1039057428
From:
Subject: Re: Murder most foul
Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 22:03:53 EST
In a message dated 12/04/2002 8:14:38 PM Central Standard Time,
writes:
> Anyway - here's part of that, from The Age of Faith, by Will Durant. p.
> 668: "The King grew so stout that he could hardly mount a horse. He
> warred
> with Philip I of France over boundaries; when he tarried at Rouen, almost
> immovable with corpulence, Philip jested (it is said) that the King of
> England was 'lying in,'...William...ordered his army to burn down Mantes
> and
> all its neighborhood...and it was done. Riding happily amid the ruins,
> William was thrown against the iron pommel of his saddle by a stumble of
> his
> horse. He was carried to the priory of St. Gervase near Rouen. He
> confessed his sins.... All his sons except Henry deserted his deathbed to
> fight for the succession; his officers and servants fled with what spoils
> they could take. A rustic vassal bore his remains to the Abbaye aux Hommes
> at Caen (1087). The coffin made for him proved too small for his corpse;
> when the attendants tried to force the enormous bulk into the narrow space,
> the body burst, and filled the church with a royal stench"
>
> Durant's reference is Freeman, NORMAN CONQUEST, 714.
Yeah, that's where I saw that. Poor old Billy boy. Really a hell of a way
to die though. All alone except for some rustic vassal when you had been on
top of the world. Oh well.
Gordon
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