Conclusion. How, the above matters being finished, I was made known to
my father.
Thus fell Le Grand Sarrasin, and I would fain finish this chronicle
here, for all matters at the Vale most quickly returned to their old
order, the next year being chiefly occupied with the rebuilding of the
cloister and the planning of that great church that took so many years
to build, which at last is so magnifical, that the old church wherein we
used to sing with our boyish trebles seems in our memories but a poor
place.
To the laying of these noble stones much of the stores of treasure found
in the caverns at the château was justly devoted, and the holy things of
many a plundered House of God are to be found in the stately church of
the cloister.
And in my time, at least, no pirates ever landed on that island. Like a
rock of doom they shun the place, for indeed many hundred of them
perished there, as I have told, and they lost in one day the gathered
treasure of years of crime.
And their captain being destroyed, their spirit seemed fled out of
them, to the joy of all good and honest men.
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 God 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 drownèd 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 restitution, Robert fitted out a
powerful armament, and embarked at the head of a numerous army,
intending to land on the coast of Sussex. A great storm arose the day
after leaving Fécamp, 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 assistance, and piloted them
into a bay on the north side of the Vale, where they rode in safety. The
Duke was brought ashore 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 title 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,
Anglicé 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).
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