The King's End

Him geyfelade. 7 þæt him stranglice eglade. Hwæt mæg ic teollan? Se scearpa deað þe ne forlet ne rice menn. ne heane. seo hine genam. He swealt on Normandige on þone nextan dæg æfter natiuitas sancte Marie. 7 man bebyrgede hine on Caþum æt sancte Stephanes mynstre. ærer he hit arærde. 7 syððan mænifealdlice gegodade. Eala hu leas 7 hu unwrest is þysses middaneardes wela. Se þe wæs ærur rice cyng. 7 maniges landes hlaford. he næfde þa ealles landes buton seofon fot mæl. 7 se þe wæs hwilon gescrid mid golde. 7 mid gimmum. he læg þa oferwrogen mid moldan. He læfde æfter him þreo sunan. Rodbeard het se yldesta. se wæs eorl on Normandige æfter him. se oðer het Willelm. þe bær æfter him on Engleland þone kinehelm. Se þridda het Heanric. þam se fæder becwæð gersuman unateallendlice. Gif hwa gewilnigeð to gewitane hu gedon mann he wæs. oððe hwilcne wurðscipe he hæfde. oððe hu fela lande he wære hlaford.

He had been given. 7 that he greatly troubled him. What can I tell? The sharp death that neither let nor rich men, nor lowly, took him. He died in Normandy on the next day after the nativity of Saint Mary. And he was buried in Caen at the monastery of Saint Stephen. Before he raised it, and afterwards manifoldly gathered. O how little and how unsatisfying is the wealth of this world! He who was formerly a rich king, and lord of many lands, had then no more land than seven feet by measure. And he who was once adorned with gold and gems lay then covered with earth. He left behind three sons: Robert called the eldest, who was earl in Normandy after him; the second named William, who bore after him the crown in England; the third called Henry, to whom his father spoke from beyond measure regarding worldly affairs. If anyone desireth to know how he did man or what worthiness he possessed or how many lands he was lord over.