ents which usually
appertain to the crown. Still further to manifest his gracious regard,
he directed that the abbatial church should be the depository of his
mortal remains; and that a foundation, so rich in worldly wealth, might
not lack the more precious possessions of sanctity, he bought, as we
are told by the early writers,[33] _at no small price_, a portion of the
relics of the proto-martyr, consisting of a part of his arm, which was
preserved in the city of Besancon, and a small phial containing some
drops of blood, averred to have flowed from the same limb. At a
subsequent time, the King added to these a lock of the Saint's hair,
together with a portion of the skin of his head, and the stone with
which he was killed.[34] The hair was white, and as fresh as if it had
only then been severed; and it was kept in a beautiful crystal vessel;
so that, to use the words of a contemporary manuscript, "totum fuit
pulchrum: capilli albi et pulchri; lapis etiam unde percussus fuit
albus; vas pulchrum et album; et aspicientibus rem adeo pulchram magnam
faciunt admirationem."

The first abbot of the convent was Lanfranc, a native of Italy, who had
established himself in the neighboring monastery of Bec, where the fame
of his talents had acquired him a most extensive celebrity; and the zeal
with which he had applied himself to the task of education,[35] had
increased it to a degree, of which, in these days, we have little idea.
But he held the pastoral staff only a very short time, for he was, as
early as the year 1070, translated to the more important post of
Archbishop of Canterbury; and it was reserved to his successor, William
de Bonne Ame, to have the honor of presiding over the community, at the
period when John of Avranches, Archbishop of Rouen, assisted by his
suffragan bishops, as well as by Lanfranc himself, with Thomas, his
brother metropolitan, and many abbots, and a wonderful throng of people,
performed the ceremony of the dedication.[36]

The Conqueror's sons confirmed the various donations made to the abbey
by their parent. The eldest of them, Robert, his successor in the
dukedom, added the privilege of a fair and a weekly market at Cheux.
William Rufus, the second, entered into a negociation with the monks, to
re-purchase his father's royal ornaments, in exchange for the parish of
Coker, in Somersetshire; but he died before the completion of the
treaty; and this was finally carried into effect by Henry I. with