Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 1.djvu/218

204 vain to induce him to retract these words, and he continued repeating them until death laid its finger on his lips (July 6, A.D. 1189).



No sooner had this great king breathed his last, than his servants and attendants, one and all, deserted his corpse, as had happened a century before to that of his ancestor, William the Conqueror.

It is related that these hirelings stripped the body of their royal master of the very clothes which covered him, and carried off everything of value from the chamber. King Henry had desired to be buried at the abbey of Fontevrault, a few leagues to the south of Chinon; but it was not until after considerable delay that people could be