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William the Conqueror
Death of William
William returned to Normandy after Salisbury, for he was at war with the King
of France again. He fell ill while campaigning, and was taken to a monastery at
Saint-Gervais.
He died on 9 September 1087. The great lords with him quickly departed, including
his son, William Rufus, hurrying back to their castles and estates, the better
to guard their interests.
What happened to William after his death provides an interesting example of the vagaries of fortune.
The quick flight of the nobility left only the lesser attendants with the body,
and when the servants looked around and saw no great lords about, they lost all
discipline. The chronicler
Orderic Vitalis
says,
"Observing that their masters had disappeared, [they] laid hands on the arms, the plate, the linen, and the royal furniture, and hastened away, leaving the corpse almost naked on the floor of the cell."
His body was brought to Caen. The funeral procession was interrupted when a fire broke out in the town. Those carrying the coffin put it down, rushed off to fight the fire, then returned when the fire was out to continue the procession.
The procession finally arrived at the abbey church. A lovely service was held. The eulogies were disrupted, however, when Ascelin, a local man, rose to protest that he was the owner of the ground in which the king was to be buried. He complained that he had not been paid and loudly demanded his rights. Someone came and settled him down, paid him, and the services resumed.
As the body was being placed in the stone coffin, the attendants accidentally broke one of the limbs, releasing such a foul stench that the priests had to hurry the service to an undignified close. The cathedral quickly emptied.
His memorial was beautiful, at least. Chroniclers tell us this, for it has not survived. In 1562, Calvinists completely ruined it, looting the tomb. The body disappeared at this time. Eighty years later, a new monument was built, likewise beautiful. In it was re-buried what was left of William: a thigh bone that a priest claimed had been rescued from the Calvinist sack.
The new monument was destroyed in its turn during the revolutionary riots of 1793. Today, William has only a stone slab to commemorate him. Local tradition asserts that the thigh bone is still under the slab. But it is a sorry survival for the Conqueror.