forgotten.

The new town of Lisieux and the bishopric most probably arose together,
towards the close of the sixth century; and the city, like other
provincial capitals in Gaul, took the name of the tribe by whom the
district had been peopled. It first appears in history under the
appellation of _Lexovium_ or _Lexobium_: in the eleventh century, when
Ordericus Vitalis composed his history, it was called _Luxovium_; and
soon after it became _Lixovium_, and _Lizovium_, which, gallicised,
naturally passed into _Lyzieulx_, or, as it is now written, _Lisieux_.
The city was ravaged by the Normans about the year 877, in the course of
one of their predatory excursions from Bayeux: it again felt their
vengeance early in the following century, when Rollo, after taking
Bayeux by storm, sacked Lisieux at the head of his army on his way to
Rouen. The conqueror was not put in possession of the Lexovian territory
by Charles the Simple till 923, eleven years after the rest of Neustria
had been ceded to him.

United to the duchy, Lisieux enjoyed a short respite from the calamities
of war; nor does it appear to have borne any prominent part in the
transactions of the times. The name, indeed, of the city occurs as the
seat of the council held for the purpose of degrading Malgerius from the
primacy of Normandy; but, except on this occasion, Lisieux is scarcely
mentioned till the first year of the twelfth century, when it was the
seat of rebellion. Ralph Flambart, bishop of Durham, a prelate of
unbounded arrogance, had fled from England, and joined Duke Robert, then
in arms against his brother. Raising the standard of insurrection, he
fixed himself at Lisieux, took forcible possession of the town, and
invested his son, only twelve years old, with the mitre[67], while he
himself exercised despotic authority over the inhabitants. At length, he