The capture of this fort was one of those gallant
exploits which the historian delights in recording; and it is detailed
at great length in Sully's Memoirs[37].
From Fecamp to Havre the country is well wooded, and much applied to the
cultivation of flax, which flourishes in this neighborhood, and has
given rise to considerable linen manufactories. The trees look well in
masses, but individually they are trimmed into ugliness. Near Havre the
road goes through Montivilliers, and, still nearer, through Harfleur.
The first of these is, like Fecamp, a place of antiquity, and derived
its name[38] and importance from a monastery which was founded at the
end of the seventh century. Its history is headed by the chapter which
begins the records of most of the ecclesiastical foundations of the
duchy: when the invading heathen Normans reached Montivilliers, it
shared the common fate of destruction, and when they withdrew, the
common piety recalled it to existence. Richard IInd bestowed it upon
Fecamp, but the same sovereign restored it to its independence, at the
request of his aunt, Beatrice, who retired hither as abbess, at the head
of a community of nuns.
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