fragment is to be seen close to the Abbey Church of
St. Ouen, in the exquisite little piece of architecture known as the
Tour aux Clercs in the north-eastern corner of the apse, (see Chap.
VIII.). This is part of the apse of the second abbey, which was begun
by Nicolas of Normandy in 1042, finished in 1126, and burnt to the
ground in 1136. Its fate was the common one of all ecclesiastical
buildings of the time. In the next chapter we shall find but two more
churches that can certainly be dated as before the years when Normandy
became a part of France. The School of Art which gave a name to all
those English buildings of which Durham Cathedral is the type and
flower, left scarcely a stone in its own capital as a memorial of its
source. Nor can Rouen point to a single building now remaining which
was a palace or a prison of its Norman dukes. The greatest monument of
its greatest duke is the Tower of London. Even the ruined Abbey of St.
Amand, which was dedicated in 1070, does not now possess a stone that
can be traced with certainty to the period of its Norman foundation.
For whatever ruins now remain are those of the church built in 1274,
whose tower was rebuilt after 1570, and whose last abbess, Madame de
Lorge, died in October 1745.

CHAPTER V

_The Conquest of England and the Fall of Normandy_

"En Normandie a gent molt fiere
Jo ne sai gent de tel maniere;
Chevaliers sont proz e vaillanz
Par totes terres conqueranz....
... Orguillos sunt Normant e fier.
E vanteor e bombancier;
Toz tems les devreit l'en plaisier
Kar mult sunt fort a justisier."

ROBERT WACE.

[Illustration: FIGURE FROM THE BORDER OF THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY]

It is time to look more closely at the personality of the greatest
Duke of Rouen. William the Bastard has been described[16] as tall and
very stout, fierce of visage, with a high, bald forehead, and, in
spite of his great corpulence, of extreme dignity, whether on his
throne or in the field. The strength of his arms, for which he was
famous, was proved very early, when the chivalry of France went down
before his boyish lance at Val-es-Dunes. He evidently possessed all
the true Viking attributes of physical power derived from Rollo, his
great ancestor. In mental type he reproduced much of that Norman
cunning which we have noticed as a characteristic of the race. Both
Maine and England he conquered by fraud as much as force. If he was a
gre