THE MONKS OF MARMOUTIER. 65 
foimeily belonging to it he resolved to restore. Let me quote 
bis own words : 
I Ralph, surnamed Pagnell, inflamed by the fire 
of divine love, desiring to treasure up in heaven what 
I can alter this life receive hundredfold, having at the 
city of \ ork of the fief of the King of the English a 
certain Church constructed in honour of the Holy 
Trinity, formerly adorned with canons and rents of 
farms and ecclesiastical ornaments, but now by sins, 
which cry for vengeance, almost reduced to nothing, 
in the desire of re-establishing in it the service of 
God, which has been abandoned, I have delivered it 
to Blessed Martin of Marmoutier and to his monks to 
be in their possession for ever.” 
Then follows a long list of churches, advowsons, tithes and 
lands with which he endowed the Benedictine House. The 
properties so given were doubtless those which had before 
belonged to the Canons, and Ralph’s endowment was simply a 
re-endowment and re-establishment of the great Church which 
had played so conspicuous a part in the history of York and 
neighbourhood, but now changed from a House of Canons to 
an alien Benedictine Priory. 
Right in the heart of the city of Tours there are the ruins of 
the Abbey of S. Martin. Of the five towers that this great 
Abbey Church formerly had two are still standing in a ruinous 
condition, a very busy street running between them. A dense 
population has sprung up around this once beautiful old abbev, 
and on the site of it are now to be found buildings of all 
descriptions. Some years ago the Tomb of S. Martin was 
discovered close by, and over it there has been built in recent 
years a lovely modern Basilica which up to the present time 
has cost over £ 80,000, in the crypt of which the Tomb of the 
great Saint of lours may be seen, surrounded by all kinds of 
ex voto offerings. 
But splendid though this monastery must have been in the 
ancient days, it was not by any means the most important 
Religious House in that part of France. On the other side of 
the Loire, about ij miles further up the ri'ver, was a much 
