The commentary of decay, so vivid in the descriptions of the deaths of both Henry I and his father William I, wonderfully gruesome stories as they are to tell, should not be taken at face value. They represent so much more than simply trying to put us off our breakfast. They tell us exactly how the kings in question were thought of and how the writers of these stories wanted them to be remembered. Christians believed that a deceased person’s body resists decay. Such stinking, revolting putrefaction suggests moral corruption and a fate that their bodies deserved in death. Make no mistake: this
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