Then perished all the riches of Crowland; its library too, of more than
seven hundred volumes, with that famous Nadir, or Orrery, the like whereof
was not in all England, wherein the seven planets were represented, each
in their proper metals. And even worse, all the charters of the monastery
perished, a loss which involved the monks thereof in centuries of
lawsuits, and compelled them to become as industrious and skilful forgers
of documents as were to be found in the minsters of the middle age.
But Crowland minster had been rebuilt in greater glory than ever, by the
help of the Norman gentry round. Abbot Ingulf, finding that St. Guthlac's
plain inability to take care of himself had discredited him much in the
fen-men's eyes, fell back, Norman as he was, on the virtues of the holy
martyr, St. Waltheof, whose tomb he opened with due reverence, and found
the body as whole and uncorrupted as on the day on which it was buried:
and the head united to the body, while a fine crimson line around the neck
was the only sign remaining of his decollation.
On seeing which Ingulf "could not contain himself for joy: and
interrupting the response which the brethren were singing, with a loud
voice began the hymn 'Te Deum Laudamus,' on which the chanter, taking it
up, enjoined the rest of the brethren to sing it.
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