Note 265 — Chapter XII · THE LATER REIGN OF WILLIAM IN NORMANDY.[159] 1051–1066.
Reading edition
Will. Gem. u.s. “Eis pœnitentiam injunxit. Mandavit enim, ut ab eis duo cœnobia conderentur, in quibus pro ipsis ab utroque sexu Deo sedulò preces offerentur.” Vit. Lanfr. 289. “Eo tamen modo quatenùs Dux et uxor ejus duo monasteria construerent, in quibus singulas congregationes virorum ac mulierum coadunarent, qui ibi sub normâ sanctæ relligionis, die noctuque Deo deservirent et pro salute eorum supplicarent.” William of Malmesbury (iii. 267) would almost seem to have looked on the foundations as a voluntary expiation, like the pilgrimage of Swegen; “Postmodùm, provectioribus annis, pro expiatione sceleris, illum sancto Stephano Cadomis monasterium ædificâsse, illam beatæ Trinitati in eodem vico idem fecisse, utroque pro sexu suo personas habitantium eligente.”
On the history of Saint Stephen’s, I must refer to two excellent local works, “L’Abbaye de Saint-Etienne de Caen, par C. Hippeau,” Caen, 1855 (M. Hippeau is also known as the editor of the first complete edition of Garnier’s Life of Saint Thomas), and “Analyse Architecturale de l’Abbaye de Saint-Etienne de Caen, par G. Bouet,” Caen, 1867, a book distinguished by the writer’s characteristic caution and minute accuracy.