Note 59 — LETTER XX.

A question always existed, whether the Empress was really buried here, or at the abbey of Ste Marie des Prés, at Rouen. Hoveden expressly says, that she was interred at Rouen: the chronicle of Bec, on the other hand, is equally positive in the assertion that her body was brought to Bec, and entombed with honor before the altar of the Virgin. The same chronicle adds that, in the year 1273, her remains were discovered before the high altar, sewed up in an ox's hide.--Still farther to substantiate their claim, the monks of Bec maintained that, in 1684, upon the occasion of some repairs being done to this altar, the bones of the empress were again found immediately under the lamp (which, in Catholic churches, is kept constantly burning before the holy sacrament,) and that they were deposited once more in the ground in a wooden chest, covered with lead.--The Empress was a munificent endower of monasteries, and was at all times most liberal towards Bec. William of Jumieges says, that it would be tedious to enumerate the presents she made to the abbey, but that the sight of them gave pleasure to those strangers who have seen the treasures of the most noble churches. His remarks on this matter, and his account of her arguments with her father, on the subject of her choice of Bec, as a place of her interment, deserve to be transcribed.--"Transiret illac hospes Græcus aut Arabs, voluptate traheretur eadem. Credimus autem, et credere fas est, æquissimum judicem omnium non solùm in futuro, verumetiam in præsenti seculo, illi centuplum redditurum, quod seruis suis manu sicut larga, ita devota gratantèr impendit. Ad remunerationem verò instantis temporis pertinere non dubium est, quòd, miserante Deo, sopita adversa valetudine, sanctitatem refouit, et Monachos suos, Monachos Beccenses, qui præ omnibus, et super omnes pro ipsius sospitate, jugi labore supplicandi decertando pene defecerant, aura prosperæ valetudinis ejus afflatos omninò redintegravit.--Nec supprimendum illud est silentio, imò, ut ita dicatur, uncialibus literis exaratum, seculo venturo transmittendum; quòd antequam convalesceret postulaverat patrem suum, ut permitteret eam in Cœnobio Beccensi humari. Quod Rex primo abnuerat, dicens non esse dignum, ut filia sua, Imperatrix Augusta, quæ semel et iterùm in urbe Romulea, quæ caput est mundi, per manus summi Pontificis Imperiali diademate processerat insignita, in aliquo Monasterio, licèt percelebri et religione et fama, sepeliretur; sed ad civitatem Rotomagensium, quæ metropolis est Normannorum, saltem delata, in Ecclesia principali, in qua et majores ejus, Rollonem loquor et Willelmum Longamspatam filium ipsius, qui Neustriam armis subegerunt, positi sunt, ipsa et poneretur. Qua deliberatione Regis percepta, illi per nuncium remandavit, animam suam nunquam fore lætam, nisi compos voluntatis suæ in hac duntaxat parte efficeretur.--O femina macte virtutis et consilii sanioris, paruipendens pompam secularem in corporis depositione! Noverat enim salubrius esse animabus defunctorum ibi corpora sua tumulari, ubi frequentiùs et devotiùs supplicationes pro ipsis Deo offeruntur. Victus itaque pater ipsius Augustæ pietate et prudentia filiæ, qui ceteros et virtute et pietate vincere solitus erat, cessit, et voluntatem, et petitionem ipsius de se sepelienda Becci fieri concessit. Sed volente Deo ut præfixum est, sanitati integerrimæ restituta convaluit."--Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni, p. 305.