The Fall of the Grand Sarrasin Part 14

But I must close up this chronicle of his fall with an event that concerned myself, which, as it were, flowed straight out of it. For if I had not journeyed to Normandy, and been caught on my way first by Le Grand Sarrasin, I suppose I should never have been made known unto my father.

And it is of my father, Ralf de Bessin, that I must therefore tell.

Now, the next day after, when we had rested ourselves of our great toils in the battle and pursuit, I and Brother Hugo purposed to go to the Chapel of St Apolline to offer our thanks to the priest and him that had saved me from all the unknown horrors of the prison in which I was pent.

Or at least we would hear whether yet they had appeared again.

The fall of the Moor had brought them back to earth, and they sat together in the small hut beside the fishers' chapel, whence I had set out on my second journey. All the time they had lived in a cave hard by, fed daily by some fisher folk that knew their hiding-place; and indeed they looked as men that had fared exceeding roughly, and all the plumpness of the good Father had fled away.

I told them my story as I have told it to you in these leaves, and he whom I knew as Des Bois inquired again and again of all my dealings with the vicomte. Then, when I had finished, he said--

"Full bravely done. I regret not that I saved thee as I did, for thou hast some great deeds yet to do. And now, wouldst thou know, Nigel de Bessin, why I was led to save thee?"

I looked straight at him tenderly, for I guessed the truth.

"It was because thou wast indeed my son." He clasped both my hands in his, and looked down into my eyes. And I said "Father" for the first time thus, knowing that this was he of whom the vicomtesse told me.

"Thy father indeed," he said, "but ruined these many years by follies more than by crimes, as this Augustine, mine old schoolfellow, will tell."

"Father," said I, "Duke William and the vicomte will feel kindly to thee for thy lot in this matter."

"It matters not," he answered; "I have long ago done with courts, and now I have done with fighting. A quiet resting-place is all I want. And in those solitary days Augustine and I have made our determination. Have many brethren died in the siege?" he asked of Hugo, who nodded sadly.

"Then here is one to fill an empty hood," said my father. And I knew that the priest of St. Apolline's had persuaded him to become a monk.

"Thou wilt go forth," he said to me, "to wars, and courts, and princes, and may G.o.d shield thee still from all evil, as He hath so marvellously done these perilous days. From Vale Cloister will I look out on thee in pride of thy knightly fame, if such a small taint of earth as pride in thee be there permitted."

In such a manner were we made known to one another, the son and the father, and ere long Ralf de Bessin became Brother Francis of the Vale.

But I, ere that, had left my pupilage behind, and was numbered in the retinue of my uncle the vicomte as he followed the ever-conquering banner of William.

THE END.

HISTORICAL NOTES.

The chief authorities for the history and antiquities of Guernsey are:--

Du Moulin: "History of Normandy." [1631].

Thomas Dicey: "Historical Account of Guernsey."

William Berry: "History of the Island of Guernsey."

F.B. Tupper: "History of Guernsey."

Extracts bearing on the foregoing pages are quoted in these notes from the above, but Du Moulin seems to be the writer on whom the later authors have depended.

NOTE A.

_Archbishop Maugher_.--"William succeeded Robert A.D. 1035. One of his most powerful opponents was his uncle Maugher, Archbishop of Rouen, who, after William was settled in his Duchy of Normandy, excommunicated him on pretence that his wife Matilda was too nearly related. William, in 1055, deposed and banished Maugher in consequence to the Isle of Guernsey.... Insular tradition has fixed his residence near Saints Bay.

"Du Moulin says: 'Maugher, thus justly deposed, was banished to the island of Guernsey, near Coutances, where, says Walsingham, he fell into a state of madness, and had a miserable end. Others affirm that during his exile he gave his mind to the black arts (_sciences noires_) and that he had a familiar spirit, which warned him of his death, while he was taking his recreation in a boat, on which he said to the boatman: "Let us land, for a certainty one of us two will be drowned to-day,"

which happened, for as they embarked at the port of Winchant he fell into the sea and was drowned, and his body being found a few days afterwards was interred in the church of Cherbourg'" (F.B. Tupper, "History of Guernsey," p. 40).

NOTE B.

_Vale Abbey_.--"The Abbey of Mont St. Michael was reduced in its revenues by Duke Richard of Normandy. The number of Benedictines was reduced in proportion to the reduction of the revenue, and those who were driven from thence, retiring to Guernsey, founded in the year 962 an abbey in that part of the island now called the Close of the Vale.

This they called the Abbey of St. Michael" (Wm. Berry, "History of Guernsey," p. 52).

NOTE C.

_Vale Castle_.--"Towards the end of the tenth century the Danes, or other piratical nations of Scandinavia, who had long been quiet, commenced their depredations. They did not attempt to attack Normandy, but the new settlement of the Benedictines in Guernsey did not escape their cruelty, but was greatly injured by them. They frequently visited the island, and, according to the insular MSS., plundered the defenceless inhabitants, carrying off their corn and cattle. In order to shelter them, a fair and stately castle was built on an eminence in the vale, calculated to receive, even three centuries later, not only the inhabitants of the island but also their cattle and effects. It was called St. Michael's Castle" (_Ibid._, p. 56).

NOTE D.

_Visit of Duke Robert_.--"In 1028 Robert Duke of Normandy espoused the cause of his two cousins Alfred and Edward, claiming the throne of England. On Canute's refusal to make rest.i.tution, Robert fitted out a powerful armament, and embarked at the head of a numerous army, intending to land on the coast of Suss.e.x. A great storm arose the day after leaving Fecamp, his whole fleet was dispersed, and many ships totally lost. Robert's vessel and about twenty others were forced down the channel as far as Guernsey, and would have been dashed to pieces on the rocky coast of the island had not the fishermen, seeing them in distress, ventured out in boats to their a.s.sistance, and piloted them into a bay on the north side of the Vale, where they rode in safety. The Duke was brought ash.o.r.e and lodged at the Abbey of St. Michael.... To reward the Abbot for his hospitality and attention, he gave them all the lands within the Close of the Vale in fee to him and his successors, Abbots of St. Michael, by the t.i.tle of Fief or Manor of St. Michael, with leave to extend the same without the Close of the Vale towards the north-west.... And to recompense the islanders for saving him and his fleet, upon their representing to him how they had been plundered by pirates, he determined to leave behind him two of his most able engineers with a sufficient number of skilled workmen under them, who had embarked with him for the intended descent upon England, to finish the Castle of St. Michael in the Vale, and to build such other fortresses as might be found necessary for protecting the inhabitants.

The Duke left a fortnight after his arrival, and the place where his fleet lay has been ever since called L'Ancresse" (Wm. Berry, "History of Guernsey," p. 58).

NOTE E.

_The Sarrazins in Guernsey_.--"According to tradition the northern freebooters, who were termed by the old French historians Sarrazins, Anglice Saracens, established themselves in Guernsey, where they erected a stronghold, which was named, probably after their leader, _Le Chastel du Grand Jeffroi,_ and it appears also to have borne the name of the Chastel of the Grand Sarrazin. This castle was situated on an eminence nearly in the centre of the island, and commanded an extensive view of the ocean, and of many of the landing-places as well as of the coast of Normandy" (F.B. Tupper, "History of Guernsey," p. 21).

NOTE F.

_The Expedition of Samson d'Anville_.--"[Guernsey], in the year 1061, is stated to have been attacked by a new race of pirates, who, according to Berry (p. 63), issued from the southern ports of France bordering on the Bay of Biscay. Duke William was at Valognes when he received information of this attack, and he immediately sent troops under the command of his squire, Sampson d'Anville, who landed at the harbour of St. Samson. Being joined by the islanders who had sought refuge at the Castle of the Vale and other retreats, he defeated the invaders with much slaughter. Duke William is also said to have made large concessions of land in Guernsey to d'Anville" (F.B. Tupper, "History of Guernsey,"

p. 41).