Of the exploits of this band of active warriors but one is told in full,
and that one is worth repeating. The Abbey of Peterborough, not far
removed from Ely, had submitted to Norman rule and gained a Norman
abbot, Turold by name. This angered the English at Ely, and they made a
descent upon the settlement. No great harm was intended. Food and some
minor spoil would have satisfied the raiders. But the frightened monks,
instead of throwing themselves on the clemency of their
fellow-countrymen, sent word in haste to Turold. This incensed the
raiding band, composed in part of English, in part of Danes who had
little regard for church privileges. Provoked to fury, they set fire to
the monks' house and the town, and only one house escaped the flames.
Then they assailed the monastery, the monks flying for their lives. The
whole band of outlaws burst like wolves into the minster, which they
rapidly cleared of its treasures. Here some climbed to the great rood,
and carried off its golden ornaments. There others made their way to
the steeple, where had been hidden the gold and silver pastoral staff.
Shrines, roods, books, vestments, money, treasures of all sorts
vanished, and when Abbot Turold appeared with a party of armed Normans,
he found but the bare walls of the church and the ashes of the town,
with only a sick monk to represent the lately prosperous monastery.
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