Its patronage was most extensive:  the monks presented to one hundred and sixty advowsons, two of them in the metropolis; and thirty other ecclesiastical benefices, as well priories as chapels, were in their gift[57].—­Its possessions, as we may collect from the various charters and donations, might have led us to expect a larger revenue.  The estates belonging to the monastery in England, prior to the reformation, were both numerous and valuable.

Sammarthanus, author of the Gallia Christiana, says, in speaking of Bec, that, whether considered as to religion or literature, there was not, in the eleventh century, a more celebrated convent throughout the whole of Neustria.  The founder of the abbey was Hellouin, sometimes called Herluin, a nobleman, descended by the mother’s side from the Counts of Flanders, but he himself was a native of the territory of Brionne, and educated in the castle of Gislebert, earl of that district.  Hellouin determined, at an early age, to withdraw himself from the court and from the world:  it seems he was displeased or affronted by the conduct of the earl; and we may collect from the chroniclers, that it was not a very easy task in those times for an individual of rank, intent upon monastic seclusion, to carry his purpose into effect, and that still greater difficulties were to be encountered if he wished to put his property into mortmain.  Hellouin was obliged to counterfeit madness, and at last to come to a very painful explanation with his liege lord; and, when he finally succeeded in obtaining the permission he craved, his establishment was so poor, that he was compelled to take upon himself the office of abbot, from an inability to find any other person who would accept it.—­The monkish historians lavish their praises upon Hellouin.  They assign to him every virtue under heaven; but they particularly laud him for his humility and industry:  all day long he worked as a laborer in the building of his convent, whilst the night was passed in committing the psalter to memory.  At this period of his life, a curious anecdote is recorded of him:  curious in itself, as illustrative of the character of the man; and particularly curious, in being quoted as matter of commendation, and thus serving to illustrate the feelings of a great body of the community.—­His mother, who shared in the pious disposition of her son, had attached herself to the convent to assist in the menial offices; and one day, while she was thus engaged, the building caught fire, and she perished in the flames; upon which, Hellouin, though bathed in tears, lifted up his hands to heaven, and gave thanks to God that his parent had been burned to death in the midst of an occupation of humility and piety!