56 S. MODWEN AND "THE DEVILL OF DRAKELOWE." 



without any reverence lor S. Modwen, exulted in his wicked 

 doings." The record goes on to say that on a certain day, 

 returning from the court where he had been prosecuting the 

 monks, and boasting of his deeds in the presence of his family, 

 and what he would do with the bones of S. Modwen, happening 

 to have liis lingers on his face, by some sudden motion of his 

 thumb he pulled out one of his eyes, and for ever after remained 

 ' monoculus ' — one-eyed. 



Among the miracles attributed to S. Modwen after her death 

 is the curious incident alluded to by Dugdale, which occurred 

 during the rule of the fourth Abbot, Galfridus [Mala Terra), between 

 the years 1083 and 1093. It is recorded on fol. 87, col. i, line 

 24, of Geoffry's MS., but the story is so vaguely told that the 

 reader is almost left in a doubt as to the " Devill of Drakelowe." 

 It can hardly be intended to designate Roger the Earl, and 

 so we must conclude that one, at least, of the spectres which 

 haunted the graves of the two rustics, was considered to be that 

 of the " H)eV>tll " himself. 



" Again there arose a certain reproach against the church, on 

 account of which our Lord, considering the merits of S. Modwen, 

 wrought a fearful judgment. Two villains, residing at Stapenhull, 

 on the lands of the Abbey of Burton, and under the rule and 

 jurisdiction of t!ie abbot, fled to the adjoining village of 

 Drakelow, and relinquishing their obedience and fealty to the 

 monks of Burton, desired to live under tiie power of Roger, the 

 Earl surnamed Pictavensis. The Abbot sent therefore to 

 Stapenhull, and seized their seed-corn which was not yet given 

 out to them, but laid up in the barn, hoping thereby to induce 

 them to return to their dwellings ; but they, departing, laid a 

 lying complaint before the earl, which so exasperated him, that 

 he collected a large host of people, and with waggons and 

 arms, and with a mighty hand violently seized all the seed 

 in the abbey barns at Stapenhull. 



The abbot declined to send out his ten soldiers, bvjt with 

 naked feet made procession to the church and bier of S. Modwen. 

 But the ten soldiers, in spite of the abbot's orders, issued forth 



