CHAPTER XXXII.

HEREWARD THE SAXON:--Hereward, living in Flanders, is told by some exiles of the spoliation of his home--He sets out for England--Assembles his friends and retakes his paternal home--His popularity--Is made captain of the camp at Ely--Is admitted a member of the high Saxon militia--Is sneered at by the Norman knights--Turauld, the fighting churchman--Turauld is appointed Abbot of Peterborough--Hereward makes a descent on the abbey and carries off the crosses, sacred vestments, &c.--Turauld arrives at Peterborough--Ivo Taille-Bois proposes to Turauld to attack the camp of Ely--Hereward attacks Turauld's soldiers at the abbey, seizes upon the abbot and his attendants, and detains them prisoners--Sweyn, King of Denmark, fits out a fleet for the assistance of the Saxons--Sweyn joins Hereward at Ely--William bribes him to return--Departure and sacrilege of the Danes--The Normans commence siege operations--Hereward attacks the workmen--Hereward is suspected of being in league with the Evil One--Ivo Taille-Bois procures the services of a witch to disenchant Hereward's operations--Hereward's bonfire--Blockade of the Isle of Ely--Treachery of the monks of Ely--Rout of the Saxons--Hereward's escape--His daring attack on the Norman station--Exploits of Hereward and his followers--Hereward's marriage--Hereward accepts the king's peace--His treacherous assassination--Valorous defence--Asselm's remark