Arrival of Stephen-Temporary confusion-Adherents of Matilda-Castles-Scottish invasionBattle of the Standard-Ecclesiastical power-Religious foundations since the ConquestCistercian Abbeys-Cathedrals-Norman bishops-Arrest of bishops-Synod-Landing of Matilda-Partisan war-Battle of Lincoln-Stephen a prisoner-Bishop of Winchester swears fealty to Matilda-Revolt of the Londoners-The rout of Winchester-Leaders of the war-Matilda's flight from Oxford-Turmoil and desolation-Henry of Anjou-Death of Stephen.

Or the reign of Stephen, Sir James Mackintosh has said, "It perhaps contains the most perfect condensation of all the ills of feudality to be found in history." He adds, "The whole narrative would have been rejected, as devoid of all likeness to truth, if it had been hazarded in fiction."* As a picture of "all the ills of feudality," this narrative is a picture of the entire social state-the monarchy, the church, the aristocracy, the people; and appears to us, therefore, to demand a more careful examination than if the historical interest were chiefly centred in the battles and adventures belonging to a disputed succession, and in the personal characters of a courageous princess and her knightly rival.

Stephen, earl of Boulogne, the nephew of King Henry I., was no stranger to the country which he aspired to rule. He had lived much in England, and was an universal favourite. "From his complacency of manners, and his readiness to joke, and sit and regale even with low people, he had gained so much on their affections as is hardly to be conceived." This popular man was at the death-bed of his uncle; but before the royal body was borne on the shoulders of nobles from the castle of Lions to Rouen, Stephen was on his road to England. He embarked at Whitsand, undeterred by boisterous weather; and landed during a winter storm of thunder and lightning. It

* "History of England," in "Lardner's Cyclopædia."

VOL. I.

+Malmesbury.

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TEMPORARY CONFUSION.

[1135

was a more evil omen when Dover and Canterbury shut their gates against him. But he went boldly on to London. There can be no doubt that his

Arms of Stephen.

proceedings were not the result of a sudden impulse; and that his usurpation of the crown was successful, through a very powerful organisation. His brother Henry was bishop of Winchester; and his influence with the other dignitaries of the Church was mainly instrumental in the election of Stephen to be king, in open disregard of the oaths taken a few years before to recognise the succession of Matilda and of her son. Between the death of a king and the coronation of his successor, there was usually a short interval, in which the form of election was gone through. But it is held that during that suspension of the royal functions there was usually a proclamation of "the king's peace," under which all violations of law were punished as if the head of the law were in the full exercise of his functions and dignities.* King Henry I. died on the 1st of December, 1135. Stephen was crowned on the 26th of December. The death of Henry would probably have been generally known in England in a week after the event. There is a sufficient proof that this succession was considered doubtful, and, consequently, that there was an unusual delay in the proclamation of " the king's peace." The Forest Laws were the great grievance of Henry's reign. His death was the signal for their violation by the whole body of the people. "It was wonderful how so many myriads of wild animals, which in large herds before plentifully stocked the country, suddenly disappeared, so that out of the vast number scarcely two now could be found together. They seemed to be entirely extirpated." + According to the same authority, "the people also turned to plundering each other without mercy:" and "whatever the evil passions suggested in peaceable times, now that the opportunity of vengeance presented itself, was quickly executed." This is a remarkable condition of a country, which, having been governed by terror, suddenly passed out of the evils of despotism into the greater evils of anarchy. This temporary confusion must have contributed to urge on the election of Stephen. By the Londoners he was received with acclamations; and the witan chose him for king without hesitation, as one who could best fulfil the duties of the office, and put an end to the dangers of the kingdom. Stephen succeeded to a vast amount of treasure. All the rents of Henry I. had been paid in money, instead of in necessaries; and he was rigid in enforcing the payment in coin of the best quality. With this possession of means, Stephen sur rounded himself with troops from Flanders and Brittany. The objections to his want of hereditary right appear to have been altogether laid aside for a time, in the popularity which he derived from his personal qualities and his command of wealth. Strict hereditary claims to the choice of the nation had been disregarded since the

10

Silver Penny of Stephen. From Specimen

in British Museum.

See Hallam's "Middle Ages," vol. ii. p. 427, ed. 1855.

+"Acta Stephani," b. I., translated by Forester.

1137.]

ADHERENTS OF MATILDA-CASTLES.

251

time of the Confessor. The oath to Matilda, it was maintained, had been unwillingly given, and even extorted by force. It is easy to conceive that, both to Saxon and Norman, the notion of a female sovereign would be out of harmony with their ancient traditions and their warlike habits. The king was the great military chief, as well as the supreme dispenser of justice and guardian of property. The time was far distant when the sovereign rule might be held to be most beneficially exercised by a wise choice of administrators, civil and military; and the power of the crown, being co-ordinate with other powers, strengthening as well as controlling its final authority, might be safely and happily exercised by a discreet, energetic, and just female. King Stephen vindicated the choice of the nation at the very outset of his reign. He went in person against the robbers who were ravaging the country. The daughter of "the lion of justice" would probably have done the same. But more than three. hundred years had passed since the Lady of Mercia, the sister of Alfred, had asserted the courage of her race. Norman and Saxon wanted a king; for though ladies defended castles, and showed that firmness and bravery were not the exclusive possession of one sex, no thane or baron had yet knelt before a queen, and sworn to be her "liege man of life and limb."

The unanimity which appeared to hail the accession of Stephen was soon interrupted. David, king of Scotland, had advanced to Carlisle and Newcastle, to assert the claim of Matilda which he had sworn to uphold. But Stephen came against him with a great army, and for a time there was peace. Robert, earl of Gloucester, the illegitimate son of Henry I., had done homage to Stephen; but his allegiance was very doubtful; and the general belief that he would renounce his fealty engendered secret hostility or open resistance amongst other powerful barons. Robert of Gloucester very soon defied the king's power. Within two years of his accession, the throne of Stephen was evidently becoming an insecure seat. To counteract the power of the great nobles, he made a lavish distribution of crown lands to a large number of tenants in chief. Some of them were called earls; but they had no official charge, as the greater barons had, but were mere titular lords, made by the royal bounty. All those who held direct from the crown were called barons; and these new barons, who were scattered over the country, had permission from the king to build castles. Such permission was extended to many other lay barons. The accustomed manor-house of the land-proprietor, in which he dwelt amidst the churls and serfs of his demesne, was now replaced by a stone tower, surrounded by a moat and a wall. The wooden one-storied homestead, with its thatched roof, shaded by the "toft" of ash and elm and maple, was pulled down, and a square fortress with loopholes and battlement stood in solitary nakedness upon some bleak hill, ugly and defiant. There with a band of armed men-sometimes with a wife and children, and not unfrequently with an unhappy victim of his licentiousness,the baron lived in gloom and gluttony, till the love of excitement, the approach of want, or the call to battle, drove him forth. His passion for hunting was not always free to be exercised. Venison was not everywhere to be obtained without danger even to the powerful and lawless. But within a ride of a few miles there was generally corn in the barns, and herds were in the pastures. The petty baron was almost invariably a robber-sometimes on his own account, often in some combined adventure of plunder. The spirit of rapine,