Abbeye aux Hommes, Normandy, France

It is said thought William the Conqueror built L’Abbeye aux Hommes, or the Men’s Abbey, in order to gain favour with Pope Leo IX, who had him excommunicated after having disapproved of his marriage to Matilda of Flanders, as they were distant cousins, and under the law of consanguinity, they were too closely related to marry without a dispensation from the Pope. The Pope's successor, Pope Nicholas II, granted them a pardon provided that they founded four hospitals and two Abbeys.

William’s tomb lies in front of the altar, in the Church of Saint Etienne, which is part of the Abbeye aux Hommes complex. The Church was consecrated on the 13 th of September 1077, in Williams presence. The later buildings attached to the abbey are classical, and now house the Town Hall.

The Benedictine Abbey was founded in 1063 and built in the Romanesque style, but was altered and completed in the Gothic style in the 13 th Century.

The Romanesque Nave dates from the 11 th and 13 th Centuries, with the ribbed vault and apse being added in the 12 th Century.

Having led an expedition against the French in July of 1087, something happened to William, he either fell ill or was injured. He was then taken to Rouen, where he died on September 9th. He was buried by the monks of L’Abbeye aux Hommes, and as recorded by the monk of Caen:

‘William great in body and strong, tall in stature but not ungainly.’

When it came time to bury the body, it was discovered that the stone sarcophagus had been made too small, an attempt was made to force the bloated corpse in, however we are told:

‘the swollen bowels burst, and an intolerable stench assailed the nostrils of the bystanders and the whole crowd.’

Even the incense was said to not be enough to mask the smell and the rites were hurriedly concluded.

On his deathbed, William made what might be considered a mistake. Rather than leaving all his lands to his eldest son, he decided to divide them. He left Normandy to his eldest son, Robert Curthose, and England to his second son, William Rufus. In doing so, he put in place a set of circumstances, which would set his sons against each other.

William died in Rouen in 1087, and his body was sent to Caen to be buried in the Abbey church, as he had requested. His tomb was disturbed firstly in 1522, when the grave was opened by orders of the Pope. The body was said to be found in a reasonable state of preservation and was reinterred. Calvinists desecrated the grave in 1562 during the Wars of Religion, and the bones were scattered, leaving only a thighbone, which was reburied in 1642 under a new monument, which was also demolished during riots in 1793. The grave was then opened and reburied in 1987, in the new tomb we see today.