Chapter 5I first met Aldwyn shortly after the visit of Hildebrand of York, who was travelling to Canterbury on pilgrimage. The woman was heavily built and taller even than the abbot, with a booming voice that seemed to delight in criticising everything the abbot showed her in his tour around the abbey.
She had with her a small pet dog that she always carried in her arms. It yapped constantly and snapped viciously at anyone who dared to approach her too closely.
The abbot seemed determined to impress her and laid on a concert in her honour. This pleased her little more than anything else, and she harped continually through the “Procedorum in Pace,” and at the end of the “Alma Redemptoris” proclaimed noisily that we could hardly sing worse if our throats had been cut.
From our point of vi
