The repentance of Rosamond, which appears to have been sincere, was not permitted to wipe away the shame of the past, and her body was removed and buried in the common cemetery. The nuns, however, feared no contamination from the poor remains of their frail sister, and they secretly collected her bones, strewed perfumes over them, and buried them once more in the church. The story of the bower of Rosamond, and of the poisoned bowl forced upon her by the jealousy of Eleanor, cannot be traced to any contemporary source, and must be rejected as devoid of truth. Whatever may be the view we take of the character of Henry as a man, there can be no doubt that, as a king, he deserves a high place in English history. In the stormy times of the Middle Ages, better were the wrongs inflicted by an ambitious monarch, than the national corruption and decay which attended the reign of a weak one. Under the rule of Henry Plantagenet, the country made rapid strides in power and influence, and reached that high position among the nations of Europe which it was destined to maintain in later times. [Illustration: CROWN OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY (_From the Tomb of Richard I. at Fontevrault._)] [Illustration: ST. CLEMENT'S, SANDWICH, SHOWING THE NORMAN TOWER.] CHAPTER XX. NORMAN ARCHITECTURE. Introduction of Norman Architecture--Remains of Saxon Work--Canterbury Cathedral--St. Albans and other Edifices--Periods of Norman Architecture--Its Characteristics--Towers--Windows--Doorways--Porches--Arches--Piers and Pillars--Capitals--Mouldings and Ornaments. Edward the Confessor, who was more Norman than English, and more a churchman than a king, had been brought up at the Norman court, where his ideas and tastes had been formed. On his accession to the English throne he introduced the Norman fashions and manners, filled his court with Norman ecclesiastics, and adopted the Norman style of architecture for his ecclesiastical buildings. Shortly before his death he built the abbey church of Westminster, which is described by William of Malmesbury[34] as being constructed in a "new style," and he also says that it served for a model for many subsequent buildings. This edifice, which has long since disappeared, was doubtless in the style he had imported from abroad, and, though built by an English monarch, was, there can be no doubt, a genuine Norman building. Numerous churches and monasteries, founded on this model, are said to have sprung up in towns and villages in all directions, and thus we see that the Norman style was established even before the Norman conquest. That great event confirmed the changes which the Confessor had begun, and the rude English churches were swept away and replaced by the more finished Norman edifices.