at the head of a large force. A fierce struggle took place at the
Rue de l'Âne Aveugle, where many were slain. The Erembalds were
driven into the Bourg, the gates of which they shut; but an entrance
was forced, and, after desperate fighting, some thirty of them, all
who remained alive, were compelled to take refuge, first in the
nave and then in the tower of the Church of St. Donatian, where,
defending themselves with the courage of despair, they made a last
stand, until, worn out by fatigue and hunger, they surrendered
and came down. Bertulf the Provost, Burchard, and a few of the
other ringleaders had fled some days before, and so escaped, for
a time at least, the fate of their companions, who, having been
imprisoned in a dungeon, were taken to the top of the church tower
and flung down one by one on to the stones of the Bourg. 'Their
bodies,' says Mr. Gilliat-Smith, 'were thrown into a marsh beyond
the village of St. André, and for years afterwards no man after
nightfall would willingly pass that way.' In the Church of St.
Sauveur there is a costly shrine containing what are said to be the
bones of Charles the Good, taken from their first resting-place,
at which twice every year a festival is held in commemoration of
his virtues.




THE BÉGUINAGE--CHURCHES--THE RELIC OF THE HOLY BLOOD




CHAPTER III