--Richard strangely
received a triple funeral. In obedience to his wishes, his heart was
buried at Rouen, while his body was carried to Fontevraud, and his
entrails were deposited in the church of Chaluz, where he was
killed:--this division is commemorated in the quaint, yet energetic
lines, which are said to have been inscribed upon his tomb:--
VISCERA CARCEOLUM, CORPUS FONS SERVAT EBRARDI,
ET COR ROTOMAGUM, MAGNE RICHARDE, TUUM.
IN TRIA DIVIDITUR UNUS QUI PLUS FUIT UNO;
NEC SUPEREST UNI GLORIA TANTA VIRO.
Richard neither withheld his gifts nor his protection from the
metropolitan church; and, after his death, the chapter inclosed the
heart of their benefactor in a shrine of silver. But a hundred and fifty
years subsequently, the shrine was despoiled, and the precious metal was
melted into ingots, forming a portion of the ransom which redeemed St.
Louis from the fetters of his Saracen conqueror.
Henry the younger, who was crowned King of England during the life-time
of his father, against whom he subsequently revolted, also requested on
his death-bed, that his body might be interred in this church; and his
directions were obeyed, though not without much difficulty; for the
chapter of the cathedral of Mans, where his servants rested with the
body _in transitu_, seized and buried it there; nor did those of Rouen
recover the corpse, without application to the Pope and to the King his
father.
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