William Rufus, under the
superintendance of Lanfrane, was a production of much costly and elaborate
workmanship; the shrine, which was placed upon the mausoleum, glittered
with gold and silver and precious stones. To complete the whole, the
effigy of the king had been added to the tomb at some period subsequent to
its original erection. A monument like this naturally excited the rapacity
of a lawless banditti, unrestrained by civil or military force, and
inveterate against every thing that might be regarded as connected with
the Catholic worship. The Calvinists were masters of Caen, and, incited by
the information of what had taken place at Rouen, they resolved to repeat
the same outrages. Under the specious pretext of abolishing idolatrous
worship, they pillaged and ransacked every church and monastery: they
broke the windows and organs, destroyed the images, stole the
ecclesiastical ornaments, sold the shrines, committed pulpits, chests,
books, and whatever was combustible, to the fire; and finally, after
having wreaked their vengeance upon every thing that could be made the
object of it, they went boldly to the town-hall to demand the wages for
their labours. In the course of these outrages the tomb of the Conqueror
at one abbey and that of Matilda, his queen, at the other, were demolished.
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