As to his person, he is described to be of middle stature; his body
strong set and fleshy; his hair black; his eyes large; his countenance
amiable, and very pleasant, especially when he was merry. He was
temperate in meat and drink, and a hater of effeminacy, a vice or folly
much complained of in his time, especially that circumstance of long
artificial hair, which he forbade upon severe penalties. His three
principal virtues were prudence, valour, and eloquence. These were
counterbalanced by three great vices; avarice, cruelty, and lust; of
which the first is proved by the frequency of his taxes; the second by
his treatment of Duke Robert; and the last was notorious. But the proof
of his virtues doth not depend on single instances, manifesting
themselves through the whole course of a long reign, which was hardly
attended by any misfortune that prudence, justice, or valour could
prevent. He came to the crown at a ripe age, when he had passed thirty
years, having learned, in his private life, to struggle with hardships,
whereof he had his share, from the capriciousness and injustice of both
his brothers; and by observing their failures, he had learned to avoid
them in himself, being steady and uniform in his whole conduct, which
were qualities they both seemed chiefly to want. This likewise made him
so very tenacious as he was observed to be in his love and hatred. He
was a strict observer of justice, which he seems never to have violated,
but in that particular case, which political casuists are pleased to
dispense with, where the dispute is about a crown. In that he[25] * * *
* * *

[Footnote 25: Here the sentence breaks off short, and is left
unfinished. [D.S.]]

Consider him as a private man, he was perhaps the most accomplished
person of his age, having a facetious wit, cultivated by learning, and
advanced with a great share of natural eloquence, which was his peculiar
talent: and it was no doubt the sense he had of this last perfection in
himself, that put him so often upon calling together the great councils
of the nation, where natural oratory is of most figure as well as use.


THE REIGN OF STEPHEN.

The veneration which people are supposed naturally to pay to a right
line, and a lawful title in their kings, must be upheld by a long
uninterrupted succession, otherwise it quickly loses opinion, upon which
the strength of it, although not the justice, is entirely founded: and
where breaches have been already made in the lineal descent, there is
little security in a good title (though confirmed by promises and oaths)
where the lawful heir is absent, and a popular aspiring pretender near
at hand. This, I think, may pass for a maxim, if any consequences drawn
from history can pretend to be called so, having been verified
successively three times in this kingdom, I mean by the two preceding
kings, and by the prince whose reign we are now writing. Neither can
this observation be justly controlled by any instances brought of future
princes, who being absent at their predecessor's death, have peaceably
succeeded, the circumstances being very different in every case, either
by the weakness or justice of pretenders, or else by the long
establishment of lineal succession.

  1135.

Stephen Earl of Boulogne, whose descent hath been already shewn in the
foregoing reign, was the second of three brothers, whereof the eldest
was Theobald Earl of Blois, a sovereign prince, and Henry the youngest
was Bishop of Winchester, and the Pope's legate in England. At the time
of King Henry's death, his daughter the Empress was with her husband the
Earl of Anjou, a grave and cautious prince, altogether unqualified for
sudden enterprises: but Earl Stephen, who had attended the King in his
last expedition, made so great dispatch for England,[26] that the
council had not time to meet and make any declaration about a successor.
When the lords were assembled, the legate had already, by his credit and
influence among them, brought over a great party to his brother's
interests; and the Earl himself, knowing with what success the like
methods were used by his two last predecessors, was very liberal of his
promises to amend the laws, support the Church, and redress grievances:
for all which the bishop undertook to be guarantee. And thus was Stephen
elected by those very persons who had so lately, and in so solemn a
manner, more than once sworn fealty to another.

[Footnote 26: Stephen was at Boulogne when he received the news of
Henry's death. [D.S.]]

The motives whereby the nobility was swayed to proceed after this
manner, were obvious enough. There had been a perpetual struggle between
them and their former kings in the defence of their liberties; for the
security whereof, they thought a king elected without other title, would
be readier to enter into any obligations, and being held in constant
dependence, would be less tempted to break them: therefore, as at his
coronation they obtained full security by his taking new and additional
oaths in favour of their liberties, their oath of fealty to him was but
conditional, to be of force no longer than he should be true to those
stipulations.

But other reasons were contrived and given out to satisfy the people:
they were told it was an indignity for so noble a nation to be governed
by a woman; that the late King had promised to marry his daughter within
the realm, and by consent of Parliament, neither of which was observed:
and lastly, Hugh Bigod, steward to King Henry, took a voluntary oath,
before the Archbishop of Canterbury, that his master, in his last
sickness, had, upon some displeasure, disinherited his daughter.

He received the crown with one great advantage that could best enable
him to preserve it: this was the possession of his uncle's treasures,
amounting to one hundred thousand pounds, and reckoned as a prodigious
sum in those days; by the help of which, without ever raising one tax
upon the people, he defended an unjust title against the lawful heir
during a perpetual contest of almost twenty years.

In order to defend himself against any sudden invasion, which he had
cause enough to expect, he gave all men licence to build castles upon
their lands, which proved a very mistaken piece of politics, although
grounded upon some appearance of reason. The King supposed that no
invader would venture to advance into the heart of his country without
reducing every castle in his way, which must be a work of much time and
difficulty, nor would be able to afford men to block them up, and secure
his retreat: which way of arguing may be good enough to a prince of an
undisputed title, and entirely in the hearts of his subjects: but
numerous castles are ill defenders of an usurpation, being the common
retreat of malcontents, where they can fly with security, and discover
their affections as they please: by which means the enemy, although
beaten in the field, may still preserve his footing in the bowels of a
country; may wait supplies from abroad; and prolong a war for many
years: nor, while he is master of any castles, can he ever be at mercy
by any sudden misfortune; but may be always in a condition of demanding
terms for himself. These, and many other effects of so pernicious a
counsel, the King found through the whole course of his reign; which was
entirely spent in sieges, revolts, surprises, and surrenders, with very
few battles, but no decisive action: a period of much misery and
confusion, which affords little that is memorable for events, or useful
for the instruction of posterity.

  1136.

The first considerable enemy that appeared against him was David King of
Scots, who having taken the oath of fealty to Maud and her issue, being
further engaged by the ties of blood, and stirred up through the
persuasions of several English nobles, began to take up arms in her
cause; and invading the northern parts, took Carlisle and Newcastle; but
upon the King's speedy approach with his forces, a peace was presently
made, and the towns restored. However, the Scottish prince would, by no
means, renounce his fidelity to the Empress, by paying homage to
Stephen; so that an expedient was found to have it performed by his
eldest son: in consideration of which the King gave, or rather restored,
to him the Earldom of Huntingdon.

Upon his return to London from this expedition, he happened to fall sick
of a lethargy, and it was confidently given out that he was dead. This
report was, with great industry and artifice, dispersed by his enemies,
which quickly discovered the ill inclination of several lords, who,
although they never believed the thing, yet made use of it for an
occasion or pretext to fortify their castles, which they refused to
surrender to the King himself; but Stephen was resolved, as he said, to
convince them that he was alive and well; for coming against them before
he was expected, he recovered Exeter, Norwich,[27] and other fortified
places, although not without much difficulty.

[Footnote 27: Hugh Bigod had seized Norwich Castle. [D.S.]]

It is obvious enough to wonder how a prince of so much valour, and other
excellent endowments, elected by the Church and State, after a
compliance with all conditions they could impose on him, and in an age
when so little regard was had to the lineal descent, lastly confirmed by
the Pope himself, should be soon deserted and opposed by those very
persons who had been the most instrumental to promote him. But, beside
his defective title, and the undistinguished liberty of building
castles, there were three circumstances which very much contributed to
those perpetual revolts of the nobles against him: first, that upon his
coming to the crown he was very liberal in distributing lands and
honours to several young gentlemen of noble birth, who came to make
their court, whereby he hoped to get the reputation of a generous
prince, and to strengthen his party against the Empress: but, by this
encouragement, the number of pretenders quickly grew too fast upon him;
and when he had granted all he was able, he was forced to dismiss the
rest with promises and excuses, who, either out of envy or discontent,
or else to mend their fortunes, never failed to become his enemies upon
the first occasion that offered. Secondly, when he had reduced several
castles and towns which had given the first example of disaffection from
him, he hardly inflicted the least punishment on the authors; which
unseasonable mercy, that in another prince and another age would have
been called greatness of spirit, passed in him for pusillanimity and
fear, and is reckoned, by the writers of those times to have been the
cause of many succeeding revolts. The third circumstance was of a
different kind: for, observing how little good effect he had found by
his liberality and indulgence, he would needs try the other extreme,
which was not his talent. He began to infringe the articles of his
charter; to recall or disown the promises he had made; and to repulse
petitioners with rough treatment, which was the more unacceptable by
being new and unexpected.

  1137.

Mean time the Earl of Anjou, who was not in a condition to assert his
wife's title to England, hearing Stephen was employed at home, entered
Normandy with small force, and found it no difficult matter to seize
several towns. The Normans, in the present distraction of affairs, not
well knowing what prince to obey, at last sent an invitation to Theobald
Earl of Blois, King Stephen's eldest brother, to accept their dukedom
upon the condition of protecting them from the present insults of the
Earl of Anjou. But before this matter could come to an issue, Stephen,
who, upon reduction of the towns already mentioned, had found a short
interval of quiet from his English subjects, arrived with unexpected
speed into Normandy; where Geoffrey of Anjou soon fled before him, and
the whole duchy came over to his obedience; for the further settlement
whereof he made peace with the King of France; constituted his son
Eustace Duke of Normandy; and made him swear fealty to that Prince, and
do him homage. His brother Theobald, who began to expostulate upon this
disappointment, he pacified with a pension of two thousand marks:[28]
and even the Earl of Anjou himself, who, in right of his wife, made
demands of Stephen for the kingdom of England, finding he was no equal
match at present, was persuaded to become his pensioner for five
thousand more.[29]

[Footnote 28: The mark of Normandy is to be understood here. Such a
pension in that age was equivalent to one of ВЈ31,000 sterling in the
present. [D.S.]]

[Footnote 29: Five thousand marks of silver coin was, in this reign, of
the same value as the sum of ВЈ77,500 modern currency, is now. Here again
the Norman mark seems to be used. [D.S.]]

Stephen, upon his return to England, met with an account of new troubles
from the north; for the King of Scots, under pretence of observing his
oath of fealty to the Empress, infested the Borders, and frequently
making cruel inroads, plundered and laid waste all before him.

  1138.

In order to revenge this base and perfidious treatment, the King, in his
march northward, sat down before Bedford, and took it after a siege of
twenty days. This town was part of the Earldom of Huntingdon, given by
Stephen in the late peace to the eldest son of the Scottish King, for
which the young prince did homage to him; and it was upon that account
defended by a garrison of Scots. Upon intelligence of this surrender,
King David, overcome with fury, entered Northumberland, where, letting
loose the rage of his soldiers, he permitted and encouraged them to
commit all manner of inhumanities; which they performed in so execrable
a manner as would scarce be credible, if it were not attested by almost
the universal consent of writers: they ripped up women with child, drew
out the infants, and tossed them upon the points of their lances: they
murdered priests before the altars; then cutting the heads from off the
crucifixes, in their stead put on the heads of those they had murdered:
with many other instances of monstrous barbarity too foul to relate: but
cruelty being usually attended with cowardice, this perfidious prince,
upon the approach of King Stephen, fled into places of security. The
King of England, finding no enemy on whom to employ his revenge, marched
forward into the country, destroying with fire and sword all the
southern parts; and would, in all probability, have made terrible
impressions into the heart of Scotland, if he had not been suddenly
recalled by a more dangerous fire at home, which had been kindled in his
absence, and was now broken out into a flame.

Robert Earl of Gloucester, natural son of the late King, came into
England some time after the advancement of Stephen to the crown; and,
yielding to the necessity of the time, took the oath of fealty upon the
same condition used by the other nobles, to be of force so long as the
King should keep his faith with him, and preserve his dignity inviolate:
but, being in his heart wholly devoted to the interests of the Empress
his sister, and moved by the persuasions of several religious men, he
had, with great secrecy and application, so far practised upon the
levity or discontents of several lords, as to gain them to his party:
for the King had, of late, very much alienated the nobles against him;
first, by seizing several of their persons, and dispossessing them of
their lands; and, secondly, by taking into his favour William d'Ypres, a
Flemish commander, of noble birth, but banished by his prince. This man,
with many of his followers, the King employed chiefly both in his
councils and his armies, and made him Earl of Kent, to the great envy
and displeasure of his English subjects. The Earl of Gloucester,
therefore, and his accomplices, having prepared all things necessary for
an insurrection, it was agreed among them, that while the King was
engaged against the Scots, each of them should secure what towns and
castles they could, and openly declare for the Empress. Accordingly Earl
Robert suddenly fortified himself in Bristol; the rest followed his
example; Hereford, Shrewsbury, Ludlow, Dover,[30] and many other places,
were seized by several lords, and the defection grew so formidable, that
the King, to his great grief, was forced to leave his Scottish
expedition unfinished, and return with all possible speed to suppress
the rebellion begun by his subjects; having first left the care of the
north to Thurstan Archbishop of York; with orders carefully to observe
the motions of the Scots.

[Footnote 30: Robert Earl of Gloucester had been entrusted by Stephen
with the custody of Dover Castle: but Robert lying now under heavy
suspicion, the King sent Matilda his queen to besiege it, in which she
was successful. [D.S.]]

Whilst the King was employed in the south in reducing his discontented
lords, and their castles, to his obedience, David, presuming upon the
distance between them, reentered England with more numerous forces, and
greater designs, than before: for, without losing more time than what
was necessary to pillage and destroy the country as he marched, he
resolved to besiege York, which, if he could force to surrender, would
serve as a convenient frontier against the English. To this end,
advancing near the city, and having pitched his tents, he sat down
before it with his whole army. In the mean time Archbishop Thurstan,
having already summoned the nobles and gentry of the shire and parts
adjacent, had, by powerful persuasions incited them to defend their
country against a treacherous, bloody, and restless enemy: so that
before the King of Scotland could make any progress in the siege, the
whole power of the north was united against him, under the Earl of
Albemarle, and several other nobles. Archbishop Thurstan happening to
fall sick, could not go in person to the army, but sent the Bishop of
Durham in his stead; by whose encouragements the English, although in
number far inferior, advanced boldly towards the enemy, and offered them
battle, which was as readily accepted by the Scots, who, sending out a
party of horse to secure the rising ground, were immediately attacked by
the English, and, after a sharp dispute, entirely defeated. In the heat
of the battle the King of Scots, and his son Henry Earl of Huntingdon,
gave many proofs of great personal valour. The young prince fell with
such fierceness upon a body of the English, that he utterly broke and
dispersed them; and was pursuing his victory, when a certain man,
bearing aloft the head of an enemy he had cut off, cried out, It was the
head of the Scottish King, which being heard and believed on both sides,
the English, who had lately fled, rallied again, assaulting their
enemies with new vigour; the Scots, on the other side, discouraged by
the supposed death of their Prince, began to turn their backs: the King
and his son used all endeavours to stop their flight, and made several
brave stands against the enemy; but the greatest part of their army
being fled, and themselves almost encompassed, they were forced to give
way to fortune, and with much difficulty made their escape.

The loss on the English side was inconsiderable; but of Scots, by
general consent of writers, ten thousand were slain. And thus ended the
War of the Standard, as it was usually called by the authors of that
age, because the English, upon a certain engine, raised the mast of a
ship, on the top whereof, in a silver box, they put the consecrated
wafer, and fastened the standards of St. Peter and other saints: this
gave them courage, by remembering they were to fight in the presence of
God; and served likewise for a mark where to reassemble when they should
happen to be dispersed by any accident or misfortune.

  1139

Mean time the King was equally successful against his rebellious lords
at home, having taken most of their castles and strong-holds; and the
Earl of Gloucester himself, no longer able to make any resistance,
withdrew into Normandy, to concert new measures with the Empress his
sister. Thus the King had leisure and opportunity for another expedition
into Scotland, to pursue and improve his victory, where he met with no
opposition: however, he was at length persuaded with much difficulty to
accept his own conditions of a peace; and David delivered up to him his
eldest son Henry, as hostage for performance of articles between them.

The King, in his return homeward, laid siege to Ludlow Castle, which had
not been reduced with the rest: here Prince Henry of Scotland, boiling
with youth and valour, and exposing his person upon all occasions, was
lifted from his horse by an iron grapple let down from the wall, and
would have been hoisted up into the castle, if the King had not
immediately flown to his assistance, and brought him off with his own
hands by main force from the enemy, whom he soon compelled to surrender
the castle.

  1140

Stephen having thus subdued his inveterate enemies the Scots, and
reduced his rebellious nobles, began to entertain hopes of enjoying a
little ease. But he was destined to the possession of a crown with
perpetual disturbance; for he was hardly returned from his northern
expedition, when he received intelligence that the Empress, accompanied
by her brother the Earl of Gloucester, was preparing to come for
England, in order to dispute her title to the kingdom. The King, who
knew by experience what a powerful party she already had to espouse her
interests, very reasonably concluded, the defection from him would be
much greater, when she appeared in person to countenance and reward it;
he therefore began again to repent of the licence he had granted for
building castles, which were now like to prove so many places of
security for his enemies, and fortifications against himself; for he
knew not whom to trust, vehemently suspecting his nobles ever since
their last revolt. He therefore cast about for some artifice to get into
his hands as many of their castles as he could: in the strength and
magnificence of which kind of structures, the bishops had far outdone
the rest, and were upon that, as well as other accounts, very much
maligned and envied by the temporal lords, who were extreme jealous of
the Church's increasing power, and glad upon all occasions to see the
prelates humbled. The King, therefore, having formed his project,
resolved to make trial where it would be least invidious, and where he
could foresee least danger in the consequences. At a Parliament or
assembly of nobles at Oxford, it was contrived to raise a quarrel
between the servants of some bishops and those of Alan Count of Dinan in
Bretagne, upon a contention of rooms in their inns. Stephen took hold of
this advantage, sent for the bishops, taxed them with breaking his
peace, and demanded the keys of their castles, adding threats of
imprisonment if they dared to disobey. Those whom the King chiefly
suspected, or rather who had built the most and strongest castles, were
Roger Bishop of Salisbury, with his nephew and natural son the Bishops
of Ely and Lincoln, whom the King, by many circumstances of rigour,
compelled to surrender, going himself in person to seize the Devizes,
then esteemed the noblest structure of Europe, and built by the
forementioned Bishop Roger, whose treasure, to the value of forty
thousand marks,[31] there likewise deposited, fell, at the same time,
into the King's hand, which in a few days broke the bishop's heart,
already worn with age and infirmity.

[Footnote 31: This prelate's treasure is doubtless computed by the
smaller or Saxon mark; the use of which still prevailed in England: and
even thus computed, it amounts to a vast sum, equal to about ВЈ116,350 of
modern money. [D.S.]]

It may, perhaps, not be thought a digression to say something of the
fortunes of this prelate, who, from the lowest beginnings, came to be,
without dispute, the greatest churchman of any subject in his age. It
happened that the late King Henry, in the reign of his brother, being at
a village in Normandy, wanted a priest to say mass before him and his
train, when this man, who was a poor curate thereabouts, offered his
service, and performed it with so much dexterity and speed, that the
soldiers who attended the prince recommended him to their master, upon
that account, as a very proper chaplain for military men; but it seems
he had other talents; for having gotten into the prince's service, he
soon discovered great application and address, much order and economy in
the management of his master's fortunes, which were wholly left to his
care. After Henry's advancement to the crown, this chaplain grew chief
in his favour and confidence; was made Bishop of Salisbury, Chancellor
of England, employed in all his most weighty affairs, and usually left
vicegerent of the realm while the King was absent in Normandy. He was
among the first that swore fealty to Maud and her issue; and among the
first that revolted from her to Stephen, offering such reasons in
council for setting her aside, as, by the credit and opinion of his
wisdom, were very prevalent. But the King, in a few years, forgot all
obligations, and the bishop fell a sacrifice in his old age to those
treasures he had been so long heaping up for its support. A just reward
for his ingratitude towards the Prince that raised him, to be ruined by
the ingratitude of another, whom he had been so very instrumental to
raise.

But Henry Bishop of Winchester, the Pope's legate, not able to endure
this violation of the Church, called a council of all the prelates to
meet at Winchester, where the King being summoned, appeared by his
advocate, who pleaded his cause with much learning; and the Archbishop
of Rouen coming to the council, declared his opinion, That although the
canons did allow the bishops to possess castles, yet in dangerous times
they ought to deliver them up to the King. This opinion Stephen followed
very steadily, not yielding a tittle, although the legate his brother
used all means, both rough and gentle, to work upon him.

The council of bishops broke up without other effect than that of
leaving in their minds an implacable hatred to the King, in a very
opportune juncture for the interests of Maud, who, about this time,
landed at Portsmouth with her brother Robert Earl of Gloucester. The
whole force she brought over for this expedition consisted but of one
hundred and forty knights;[32] for she trusted altogether in her cause
and her friends. With this slender attendance she went to Arundel, and
was there received into the castle by the widow of the late King; while
Earl Robert, accompanied only by twenty men, marched boldly to his own
city of Gloucester, in order to raise forces for the Empress, where the
townsmen turned out the King's garrison as soon as they heard of his
approach.

[Footnote 32: In these times none served on horseback but gentlemen or
knights, in right of their fiefs, or their representatives, called
_Men-at-arms;_ and each of these was attended by at least two servants
or retainers mounted and armed. [D.S.]]

King Stephen was not surprised at the news of the Empress's arrival,
being a thing he had always counted upon, and was long preparing himself
against. He was glad to hear how ill she was provided, and resolved to
use the opportunity of her brother's absence; for, hasting down to
Arundel with a sufficient strength, he laid siege to the castle, in
hopes, by securing her person, to put a speedy end to the war.

But there wanted not some very near about the King, who, favouring the
party of Maud, had credit enough to prevail with him not to venture time
and reputation against an impregnable fortress, but rather, by
withdrawing his forces, permit her to retire to some less fortified
place, where she might more easily fall into his hands. This advice the
King took against his own opinion; the Empress fled out of Arundel by
night; and, after frequent shifting her stages through several towns,
which had already declared in her favour, fixed herself at last at
Lincoln; where, having all things provided necessary for her defence,
she resolved to continue, and expect either a general revolt of the
English to her side, or the decision of war between the King and her
brother.

But Stephen, who had pursued the Empress from place to place, hearing
she had shut herself up in Lincoln, resolved to give her no rest; and to
help on his design, it fell out that the citizens in hatred to the Earl
of Chester, who commanded there for the Empress, sent a private
invitation to the King, with promise to deliver the town and their
governor into his hands. The King came accordingly, and possessed
himself of the town; but Maud and the Earl made their escape a few days
before. However, many great persons of Maud's party remained prisoners
to the King, and among the rest the Earl of Chester's wife, who was
daughter to the Earl of Gloucester. These two Earls resolving to attempt
the relief of their friends, marched with all their forces near Lincoln,
where they found the enemy drawn up and ready to receive them.

The next morning, after battle offered by the lords, and accepted by the
King, both sides made ready to engage. The King having disposed his
cavalry on each wing, placed himself at the head of his foot, in whom he
reposed most confidence. The army of the lords was divided in three
bodies; those whom King Stephen had banished were placed in the middle,
the Earl of Chester led the van, and the Earl of Gloucester commanded
the rear. The battle was fought at first with equal advantage, and great
obstinacy on both sides; at length the right wing of the King's horse,
pressed by the Earl of Chester, galloped away, not without suspicion of
treachery; the left followed the example. The King beheld their flight,
and encouraging those about him, fell with undaunted valour upon the
enemy; and being for some time bravely seconded by his foot, did great
execution. At length overpowered by numbers, his men began to disperse,
and Stephen was left almost alone with his sword in his hand, wherewith
he opposed his person against a whole victorious army, nor durst any be
so hardy to approach him; the sword breaking, a citizen of Lincoln put
into his hands a Danish battle-axe,[33] with which he struck to the
ground the Earl of Chester,[34] who presumed to come within his reach.
But this weapon likewise flying in pieces with the force of those
furious blows he dealt on all sides, a bold knight of the Empress's
party, named William de Keynes, laid hold on his helmet, and immediately
cried out to his fellows, "I have got the King." Then the rest ran in,
and he was taken prisoner.[35]

[Footnote 33: Sim. Dunelmensis. [D.S.]]

[Footnote 34: The Earl of Chester lived nevertheless to fight other
battles, and died twelve years afterwards by poison. [D.S.]]

[Footnote 35: Gervase. [D.S.]]

The King being thus secured, was presented to the Empress, then at
Gloucester, and by her orders conveyed to Bristol, where he continued in
strict custody nine months, although with honourable treatment for some
time, until either upon endeavouring to make his escape, or in malice to
the Londoners, who had a great affection for their King, he was, by
express command from the Empress, laid in irons, and used with other
circumstances of severity.

This victory was followed by a general defection of almost the whole
kingdom; and the Earl of Anjou, husband to the Empress, upon the fame of
the King's defeat and imprisonment, reduced without any difficulty the
whole Duchy of Normandy to his obedience.

The legate himself, although brother to King Stephen, received her at
Winchester with great solemnity, accepted her oath for governing with
justice, redressing grievances, and supporting the rights of the Church,
and took the old conditional one of fealty to her; then in an assembly
of bishops and clergy convoked for the purpose, he displayed the
miscarriages of his brother, and declared his approbation of the Empress
to be Queen; to which they unanimously agreed. To complete all, he
prevailed by his credit with the Londoners, who stood out the last of
any, to acknowledge and receive her into the city, where she arrived at
length in great pomp, and with general satisfaction.

But it was the misfortune of this Princess to possess many weaknesses
that are charged to the sex, and very few of its commendable qualities:
she was now in peaceable possession of the whole kingdom, except the
county of Kent, where William d'Ypres pretended to keep up a small party
for the King; when by her pride, wilfulness, indiscretion, and a
disobliging behaviour, she soon turned the hearts of all men against
her, and in a short time lost the fruits of that victory and success
which had been so hardly gained by the prudence and valour of her
excellent brother. The first occasion she took to discover the
perverseness of her nature, was in the treatment of Maud, the wife of
King Stephen, a lady of great virtue, and courage above her sex, who,
coming to the Empress an humble suitor in behalf of her husband,
offered, as a price of his liberty, that he should resign all
pretensions to the crown, and pass the rest of his life in exile, or in
a convent: but this request was rejected with scorn and reproaches; and
the Queen finding all entreaties to no purpose, writ to her son Eustace
to let him understand the ill success of her negotiation, that no relief
was to be otherwise hoped for than by arms, and therefore advised him to
raise immediately what forces he could for the relief of his father.

Her next miscarriage was towards the Londoners, who presented her a
petition for redressing certain rigorous laws of her father, and
restoring those of Edward the Confessor. The Empress put them off for a
time with excuses, but at last discovered some displeasure at their
importunity. The citizens, who had with much difficulty been persuaded
to receive her against their inclinations, which stood wholly for the
King, were moved with indignation at her unreasonable refusal of their
just demands, and entered into a conspiracy to seize her person. But she
had timely notice of their design, and leaving the city by night in
disguise, fled to Oxford.

A third false step the Empress made,[36] was in refusing her new
powerful friend the legate a favour he desired in behalf of Eustace, the
King's son, to grant him the lands and honours held by his father before
he came to the crown. She had made large promises to this prelate, that
she would be directed in all things by his advice, and to be refused
upon his first application a small favour for his own nephew, stung him
to the quick; however, he governed his resentments a while, but began at
the same time to resume his affection for his brother. These thoughts
were cultivated with great address by Queen Maud, who prevailed at last
so far upon the legate, that private measures were agreed between them
for restoring Stephen to his liberty and crown. The bishop took leave of
the Empress, upon some plausible pretence, and retired to Winchester,
where he gave directions for supplying with men and provisions several
strong castles he had built in his diocese, while the Queen with her son
Eustace prevailed with the Londoners and men of Kent to rise in great
numbers for the King; and a powerful army was quickly on foot, under the
command of William d'Ypres Earl of Kent.

[Footnote 36: William of Malmesbury. [D.S.]]

In the mean time the Empress began to be sensible of the errors she had
committed; and in hope either to retrieve the friendship of the legate,
or take him prisoner, marched with her army to Winchester, where being
received and lodged in the castle, she sent immediately for the legate,
spoke much in excuse of what was past, and used all endeavours to regain
him to her interests. Bishop Henry, on the other side, amused her with
dubious answers, and kept her in suspense for some days; but sent
privately at the same time to the King's army, desiring them to advance
with all possible speed; which was executed with so much diligence, that
the Empress and her brother had only time with their troops to march a
back way out of the town. They were pursued by the enemy so close in the
rear, that the Empress had hardly time, by counterfeiting herself dead,
to make her escape; in which posture she was carried as a corpse to
Gloucester; but the Earl her brother, while he made what opposition he
could, with design to stop her pursuers, was himself taken prisoner,
with great slaughter of his men. After the battle, the Earl was in his
turn presented to Queen Maud, and by her command sent to Rochester to be
treated in the same manner with the King.

Thus the heads of both parties were each in the power of his enemy, and
Fortune seemed to have dealt with great equality between them. Two
factions divided the whole kingdom, and, as it usually happens, private
animosities were inflamed by the quarrel of the public; which introduced
a miserable face of things throughout the land, whereof the writers of
our English story give melancholy descriptions, not to be repeated in
this history; since the usual effects of civil war are obvious to
conceive, and tiresome as well as useless to relate. However, as the
quarrel between the King and Empress was grounded upon a cause that in
its own nature little concerned the interests of the people, this was
thought a convenient juncture for transacting a peace, to which there
appeared an universal disposition. Several expedients were proposed; but
Earl Robert would consent upon no other terms than the deposing of
Stephen, and immediate delivery of the crown to his sister. These
debates lasted for some months, until the two prisoners, weary of their
long constraint, by mutual consent were exchanged for each other, and
all thoughts of agreement laid aside.

The King, upon recovery of his freedom, hastened to London, to get
supplies of men and money for renewing the war. He there found that his
brother of Winchester had, in a council of bishops and abbots, renounced
all obedience to the Empress, and persuaded the assembly to follow his
example. The legate, in excuse for this proceeding, loaded her with
infamy, produced several instances wherein she had broken the oath she
took when he received her as Queen, and upon which his obedience was
grounded; said, he had received information that she had a design upon
his life.[37]

[Footnote 37: William of Malmesbury. [D.S.]]

It must be confessed that oaths of fealty in this Prince's reign were
feeble ties for binding the subject to any reasonable degree of
obedience; and the warmest advocates for liberty cannot but allow, from
those examples here produced, that it is very possible for people to run
upon great extremes in this matter, that a monarch may be too much
limited, and a subject too little; whereof the consequences have been
fully as pernicious for the time as the worst that can be apprehended
from arbitrary power in all its heights, although not perhaps so lasting
or so hard to be remedied; since all the miseries of this kingdom,
during the period we are treating of, were manifestly owing to that
continual violation of such oaths of allegiance, as appear to have been
contrived on purpose by ambitious men to be broken at pleasure, without
the least apprehension of perjury, and in the mean time keep the prince
in a continual slavish dependence.

The Earl of Gloucester, soon after his release, went over into Normandy,
where he found the Earl of Anjou employed in completing the conquest of
that duchy; there he delivered him the sons of several English noblemen,
to be kept as hostages for their fathers' fidelity to the Empress, and
used many arguments for persuading him to come over in person with an
army to her assistance: but Geoffrey excused himself by the importance
of other affairs, and the danger of exposing the dominions he had newly
acquired to rebellions in his absence. However, he lent the Earl of
Gloucester a supply of four hundred men, and sent along with him his
eldest son Henry, to comfort his mother, and be shewn to the people.

During the short absence of the Earl of Gloucester, the Empress was
closely besieged in Oxford by the King; and provisions beginning to
fail, she was in cruel apprehensions of falling into his hands. This
gave her occasion to put in practice the only talent wherein she seemed
to excel, which was that of contriving some little shift or expedient to
secure her person upon any sudden emergency. A long season of frost had
made the Thames passable upon the ice, and much snow lay on the ground;
Maud with some few attendants clad all in white, to avoid being
discovered from the King's camp, crossed the river at midnight on foot,
and travelling all night, got safe to Wallingford Castle, where her
brother and young son Henry, newly returned from France, arrived soon
after, to her great satisfaction: but Oxford, immediately upon the news
of her flight, surrendered to the King.

However, this disgrace was fully compensated soon after by another of
the same kind, which happened to King Stephen; for whilst he and his
brother of Winchester were fortifying a nunnery at Wilton, to bridle his
enemies at Salisbury, who very much harassed those parts by their
frequent excursions, the Earl of Gloucester, who watched all
opportunities, came unaware with a strong body of men, and set fire on
the nunnery while the King himself was in it. Stephen, upon the sudden
surprise of the thing, wholly lost or forgot his usual courage, and fled
shamefully away, leaving his soldiers to be cut in pieces by the Earl.

During the rest of the war, although it lasted nine years longer, there
is little memorable recorded by any writer; whether the parties being
pretty equal, and both sufficiently tired with so long a contention,
wanted vigour and spirit to make a thorough conquest, and only
endeavoured to keep what they had, or whether the multitude of strong
castles, whose number daily increased, made it very difficult to end a
war between two contending powers almost in balance; let the cause be
what it will, the whole time passed in mutual sieges, surprises,
revolts, surrenders of fortified places, without any decisive action, or
other event of importance to be related. By which at length the very
genius of the people became wholly bent upon a life of spoil, robbery,
and plunder; many of the nobles, although pretending to hold their
castles for the King or the Empress, lived like petty independent
princes in a perpetual state of war against their neighbours; the fields
lay uncultivated, all the arts of civil life were banished, no
veneration left for sacred persons or things; in short, no law, truth,
or religion among men, but a scene of universal misery, attended with
all the consequences of an embroiled and distracted state.

About the eleventh year of the King's reign, young Henry, now growing
towards a man, was sent for to France by a message from his father, who
was desirous to see him; but left a considerable party in England, to
adhere to his interests; and in a short time after (as some write[38])
the Empress herself grown weary of contending any longer in a cause
where she had met with nothing but misfortunes of her own procuring,
left the kingdom likewise, and retired to her husband. Nor was this the
only good fortune that befell Stephen; for before the year ended, the
main prop and pillar of his enemies was taken away by death; this was
Robert Earl of Gloucester, than whom there have been few private persons
known in the world that deserve a fairer place and character in the
registers of time, for his inviolable faith, disinterested friendship,
indefatigable zeal, and firm constancy to the cause he espoused, and
unparalleled generosity in the conduct thereof: he adhered to his sister
in all her fortunes, to the ruin of his own; he placed a crown on her
head; and when she had lost it by her folly and perverseness refused the
greatest offers from a victorious enemy, who had him in his power, and
chose to continue a prisoner rather than recover his liberty by any
hazard to her pretensions: he bore up her sinking title in spite of her
own frequent miscarriages, and at last died in her cause by a fever
contracted with perpetual toils for her service. An example fit to be
shewn the world, although few perhaps are like to follow it; but
however, a small tribute of praise, justly due to extraordinary virtue,
may prove no ill expedient to encourage imitation.

[Footnote 38: Gervase. [D.S.]]

But the death of this lord, together with the absence of the Empress and
her son in France, added very little to the quiet or security of the
King. For the Earl of Gloucester, suspecting the fidelity of the lords,
had, with great sagacity, delivered their sons to the Earl of Anjou, to
be kept as pledges for their fathers' fidelity, as we have before
related: by which means a powerful party was still kept up against
Stephen, too strong to be suddenly broken. Besides, he had, by an
unusual strain of his conduct, lately lost much good-will, as well as
reputation, in committing an act of violence and fraud on the person of
the Earl of Chester, a principal adherent of the Empress. This nobleman,
of great power and possessions, had newly reconciled himself to Stephen,
and came to his court at Northampton, where, against all laws of
hospitality, as well as common faith and justice, he was committed to
prison, and forced to buy his liberty with the surrender of Lincoln, and
all his other places, into the King's hands.

  1149.

  1150.

Affairs continued in this turbulent posture about two years, the nobles
neither trusting the King nor each other. The number of castles still
increased, which every man who had any possessions was forced to build,
or else become a prey to his powerful neighbours. This was thought a
convenient juncture, by the Empress and her friends, for sending young
Prince Henry to try his fortune in England, where he landed at the head
of a considerable number of horse and foot, although he was then but
sixteen years old. Immediately after his arrival he went to Carlisle,
where he met his cousin David King of Scots, by whom he was made knight,
after the usual custom of young princes and noblemen in that age. The
King of England, who had soon intelligence of Henry's landing and
motions, marched down to secure York, against which he expected the
first attempt of his enemy was designed. But, whatever the cause might
be (wherein the writers of those ages are either silent or
unsatisfactory) both armies remained at that secure distance for three
months, after which Henry returned back to Normandy, leaving the kingdom
in the state of confusion he found it at his coming.

The fortunes of this young prince Henry Fitz-Empress now began to
advance by great and sudden steps, whereof it will be no digression to
inform the reader, as well upon the connection they have with the
affairs at home about this time, as because they concern the immediate
successor to the crown.

  1151.

Prince Henry's voyage to France was soon followed by the death of his
father Geoffrey Earl of Anjou, whereby the son became possessed of that
earldom, together with the Duchy of Normandy; but in a short time after
he very much enlarged his dominions by a marriage, in which he consulted
his reputation less than his advantage. For Louis the Young, King of
France, was lately divorced from his wife Eleanor, who, as the French
writers relate, bore a great contempt and hatred to her husband, and had
long desired such a separation. Other authors give her not so fair a
character: but whatever might be the real cause, the pretext was
consanguinity in the fourth degree.[39] Henry was content to accept this
lady with all her faults, and in her right became Duke of Aquitaine, and
Earl of Poitou, very considerable provinces, added to his other
dominions.

[Footnote 39: Louis VII., after living fourteen years with his Queen,
obtained a dissolution of the marriage on the plea of relationship
within the prohibited degrees. See Bouchet, "Annalles d'Acquitaine."
[W.S.J.]]

But the two Kings of France and England began to apprehend much danger
from the sudden greatness of a young ambitious prince; and their
interests were jointly concerned to check his growth. Duke Henry was now
ready to sail for England, in a condition to assert his title upon more
equal terms; when the King of France, in conjunction with Eustace, King
Stephen's son, and Geoffrey, the Duke's own brother, suddenly entered
into his dominions with a mighty army; took the Castle of NeufmarchГ© by
storm, and laid siege to that of Angers. The Duke, by this incident, was
forced to lay aside his thoughts of England, and marching boldly towards
the enemy, resolved to relieve the besieged; but finding they had
already taken the castle, he thought it best to make a diversion, by
carrying the war into the enemy's country, where he left all to the
mercy of his soldiers, surprised and burnt several castles, and made
great devastations wherever he came. This proceeding answered the end
for which it was designed; the King of France thought he had already
done enough for his honour, and began to grow weary of a ruinous war,
which was likely to be protracted. The conditions of a peace, by the
intervention of some religious men, were soon agreed. The Duke, after
some time spent in settling his affairs, and preparing all things
necessary for his intended expedition, set sail for England, where he
landed[40] the same year in the depth of winter, with a hundred and
forty knights, and three thousand foot.

[Footnote 40: The place where he landed is not mentioned by our
historians. It was probably in the West of England, as the first
garrisoned town he attacked was Malmesbury. [D.S.]]

Some time before Henry landed, the King had conceived a project to
disappoint his designs, by confirming the crown upon himself and his own
posterity.[41] He sent for the Archbishop of Canterbury, with several
other prelates, and proposed that his son Eustace should be crowned King
with all the usual solemnity: but the bishops absolutely refused to
perform the office, by express orders from the Pope, who was an enemy to
Stephen, partly upon account of his unjust or declining cause, but
chiefly for his strict alliance with the King of France, who was then
engaged in a quarrel against that See, upon a very tender point relating
to the revenues of vacant churches. The King and his son were both
enraged at the bishops' refusal, and kept them prisoners in the chamber
where they assembled, with many threats to force them to a compliance,
and some other circumstances of rigour; but all to no purpose, so that
he was at length forced to desist. But the archbishop, to avoid further
vexation, fled the realm.