Peter's to take it away and bury it in his own church. The
Abbot came to Bruges, and before dawn the body of the murdered Count
was being stealthily carried along the aisles of St. Donatian's,
when a great crowd rushed in, declaring that the bones of Charles
must be allowed to rest in peace at Bruges. The arches rang with
cries, chairs were overturned, stools and candlesticks were thrown
about, as the people, pressing and struggling round the Abbot and
his servants, told Bertulf, with many an oath, that he must yield
to their wishes. At last the Provost submitted, and on the morrow,
just two days after the murder, the body of Charles was buried before
the Lady Altar, on the very spot, it is said, where the statue of
Van Eyck now stands under the trees in the Bourg.
The triumph of the Erembalds was short, for the death of Charles
the Good was terribly avenged by his friends, who came to Bruges
at the head of a large force. A fierce struggle took place at the
Rue de l'Ane Aveugle, where many were slain. The Erembalds were
driven into the Bourg, the gates of which they shut; but an entrance
was forced, and, after desperate fighting, some thirty of them, all
who remained alive, were compelled to take refuge, first in the
nave and then in the tower of the Church of St.
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