onqueror having
been carried there in 1087; and, moreover, both the _Gallia Christiana_
and _Neustria Pia_ expressly state that it was in 1114 that William,
fifth son of the founder, and himself also hereditary chamberlain of
Normandy, removed from St. Georges the canons established there by his
father, and replaced them with monks from St. Evroul.

[193] So called by Masseville, I. p. 205.

[194] Mr. Dibdin uniformly calls this castle, the Castle of Montmorenci;
but on no occasion does he state his authority for so doing; the author
of these remarks never heard it so styled in Normandy, nor can he find
it mentioned under that name by Nodier, or any other author. If, as
appears probable, the people of the neighborhood are in the habit of so
designating it, the probability is, that the modern part (see _plate
eighty-five_) was erected at a period when Tancarville belonged to some
member of the noble family of Montmorenci.

PLATE LXXXVII. AND LXXXVIII.

CHURCH OF THE HOLY CROSS, AT ST. LO.

(WESTERN DOOR-WAY, AND VARIOUS SPECIMENS OF SCULPTURE.)

[Illustration: Plate 87. CHURCH OF THE HOLY CROSS AT ST. LO.
_Western Entrance._]

The town of St. Lo is said to owe its origin to the Emperor Charlemagne,
and to have been founded by him in the fifth year of the ninth century.
It is situated in the western part of Normandy, upon the small river,
Vire, about five leagues to the east of Coutances; and at this time it
contains nearly seven thousand inhabitants. Old chroniclers relate that
the name originally given to the place was Ste Croix; but that, soon
after its foundation, it exchanged that appellation for the present,
upon being selected as the spot to be honored with the reception of the
relics of St. Lo, or, as he is called in Latin, St. Laudus, who was the
fifth bishop of Coutances, and presided over that see the greater part
of the sixth century. Of the merits of the saint, the miracles he
performed both living and dead, and the various places that have, at
different times, received his mortal remains, a copious account is given
by M. Rouault, in his History of the Bishops of Coutances. It is
sufficient, in the present instance, to state, that, upon the
translation of the body of St. Lo to the spot now dignified with his
name, a magnificent church was built under his invocation; and the town
was encompassed with fortifications of great strength, to defend it
against the inroads of the Normans. These he