Note 268 — Chapter XII · THE LATER REIGN OF WILLIAM IN NORMANDY.[159] 1051–1066.

This was the great year of consecrations in Normandy. See vol. ii. pp. 212, 222. The consecration of Saint Stephen’s is distinctly placed in this year by Orderic, 548 D. At Bec Lanfranc himself officiated (Will. Gem. vi. 9), but at Caen the ceremony was performed by the Metropolitan John. I gather from what goes before in Orderic that William was present at Caen, though he was not at Bec. But the Chronicle of Saint Stephen itself (Duchèsne, 1018) places the ceremony in 1073. Other dates given are 1081 and 1086 (see Neustria Pia, 625, Bouet, 15, 16). One cannot doubt that 1077 is right date for the main consecration, and that the other dates, if correct, refer to some smaller ceremony. The western towers (of course not the upper portions) must have been added soon after the church was finished. Their style is that of the church, and the masonry shows that they were designed from the first, though not built at the same time as the nave. This would quite agree with the date of 1086. For the consecration of a steeple see vol. ii. p. 437.