Death of Conan. once kindled, was as fierce as that of his father or his brother. "By the soul of my mother"—that seems to have been the most sacred of oaths with Matilda's defrauded heir, as he looked out towards the church of her building—"there shall be no ransom for the traitor, but rather a hastening of the death which he deserves."[1] Conan no longer pleaded for life; he thought only of the welfare of his soul. "For the love of God, at least grant me a confessor."[2] Had the Lion of Justice reached that height of malice which seeks to kill the soul as well as the body? At Conan's last prayer his wrath reached its height;[3] Conan should have no time for shrift any more than for ransom. If the clergy of Saint Romanus already enjoyed their privilege of mercy, they were to have no chance of exercising it on behalf of this arch-criminal. With all the strength of both his hands, Henry thrust Conan, like Eadric,[4] through the window of the tower. He fell from the giddy height, and died, so it was said, before he reached the ground. His body was tied to the tail of a pack-horse and dragged through the streets of Rouen to strike terror into his followers. The spot from which he was hurled took the name of the Leap of Conan.[5] The tower, as I have said, has perished; the site of the Leap of Conan must be
- ↑ Ord. Vit. 690 C. "Per animam matris meæ, traditori nulla erit redemptio, sed debitæ mortis acceleratio."
- ↑ Ib. "Conanus gemens clamavit alta voce; Pro amore, inquit, Dei, confessionem mihi permitte."
- ↑ Ib. "Henricus acer fraternæ ultor injuriæ præ ira infremuit." Simple wrath is an attribute which we are more used to assign to Henry the Second, with his hereditary touch of the Angevin devil, than to the calm, deliberate, Henry the First. Yet we can understand how, through the stages of the "ironica insultatio," as Orderic calls Henry's discourse to Conan, a determination taken in cold blood might grow into the fierce delight of destruction at the actual moment of carrying it out.
- ↑ See Appendix K.
- ↑ Ord. Vit. 691 A. "Locus ipse, ubi vindicta hujusmodi perpetrata est, saltus Conani usque in hodiernam diem vocitatus est."
