this time to nearly the close of Stephen's reign never ceased, would be neither interesting nor instructive; we will, therefore, limit ourselves to a brief notice of the principal occurrences that took place in the course of it.

Among the foremost who declared in favour of Matilda was Brian fitz Count', of whom slight mention has been already made. On receiving intelligence of her arrival, he forthwith supplied his strong castle of Wallingford with a numerous garrison, and rose in open and zealous rebellion against the king Milo of Gloucester, also, in violation of his oath to Stephen, rose in open rebellion against him, and giving an asylum to all the enemies of the king who flocked to him, desolated the surrounding counties. But Stephen, rising above the torrents of adversity which threatened to overwhelm him, collected his forces with the resolution of attacking his foes in detail; in prosecution of which, his first intention was to blockade the castle of Wallingford, but from which he was diverted by the counsel of his barons, founded on the vast strength of the place and its stores both of warlike munitions and all the necessaries of life. Far more advisable, added they, would it be to erect two forts before it, placing in them a number of men sufficient to continue the blockade, and proceed immediately to the suppression of other adversaries.

Following this counsel, Stephen caused two forts to be erected before the place, and with all speed proceeded to Trowbridge, which Humphrey of Bohun2, the late king's constable, had, by the advice and at the instigation of Milo, rendered almost impregnable. On his march thither he was

1 See pp. 364, 369.

2 E de Bohon li vieil Onfrei. Rom. de Rou, v. 13584.

Onfroi, seigneur de Bohon, à deux lieues au midi de Carentan. On y voit encore la motte du château de cette famille, qui après la conquête posséda long temps le titre de connétable héréditaire d'Angleterre, et fournit plusieurs comtes de Hereford, d'Essex et de Northampton." Note of M. Prevost.-T.

so fortunate as to take by assault the castle of Cerney, which Milo, for rebellious purposes, had erected against him; and also gained by surrender the strong castle of Malmesbury, in which he captured, together with his followers, Robert fitz Hubert, a Fleming, and kinsman of William of Ypres, notorious for his cruelty and unequalled atrocities1. But now for a season his good fortune forsook him; for while on his march to Trowbridge, Milo with a chosen band made an attack by night on the forts erected by Stephen at Wallingford, and forced the garrisons to surrender. In the opinion of his chronicler, Stephen drew down this disaster on himself, for having desecrated a church, by converting it into one of his forts.

In prosecution of his success against the royal forces, Milo now gathered around him at Gloucester all those whose possessions had been laid waste by, or from other causes were hostile to, the king (a. 1140)2, whence he committed the most horrible devastations over the surrounding country. But his only deeds worthy of remembrance were the capture of those castles which the king had erected in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire, the garrisons of which perpetrated unheard-of outrages on the peaceful inhabitants. Of these, some he overthrew, as at Cerney and Hereford; others he committed to the keeping of his partisans, as at Winchcombe. To the praise of Milo be it however spoken, that his fidelity to the daughter of Henry was unshaken; with him both herself and friends found an hospitable asylum; nor did he cease from acting towards her as a father and counsellor until, by the capture of Stephen, he had made her queen of England. In

1 Robert fitz Hubert had gained possession of the castle by nightly surprise, at the same time setting fire to the town. He enjoyed his acquisition for a fortnight only. W. Malm. p. 726. Captivos melle litos flagrantissimo sole nudos sub divo exponebat, muscas et id genus animalia

ad eos compungendum irritans." Ib. p. 733.-T.

66

2 Dr. Lingard passes from the year 1139 to 1141, thus unaccountably omitting all the events of 1140.—T.

the meantime the king had arrived before Trowbridge, where finding the fortifications of the most formidable character, he toiled on the construction of vast and powerful machines for the capture of the place; but the garrison withstood his efforts, while his barons grew weary of the siege, being under constant apprehension of the approach of the earl of Gloucester. Stephen thereupon resolved on returning to London, leaving a military force at Devizes, to hold the garrison of Trowbridge in check, by whose incursions and mutual hostilities the whole surrounding country was soon converted into a miserable desert. Stephen next proceeded to Worcester, which had sustained considerable damage from the army at Gloucester, where he deprived Milo of the office of constable, and bestowed it on William, the sheriff of Worcester, son of Walter of Beauchamp2.

The death of the bishop of Salisbury, which took place in the preceding year (Dec. 11th, 1139), was, no doubt, a fortunate event for Stephen, as thereby many causes of dissension might more easily be removed, and the never wholly alienated favourable disposition of the clergy towards him rendered more available. Bishop Roger commenced his career by gaining the favour of prince Henry, whose scanty finances he administered with so much prudence and frugality, that, on ascending the throne, there seemed nothing, or very little that Henry could deny him. Lands, churches, prebends, abbeys were bestowed on him; he was raised to the dignity of chancellor and, lastly, to the see of Salisbury. It was now that his real character began more manifestly to display itself. If any land lay contiguous to his own, which he was desirous of adding to his possessions, he obtained it, if not by entreaty . or money, by violence. He gloried in the erection of splendid edifices in all his possessions. In his latter years, however, as

1 Gesta Stephani, pp. 58, sq.

2. Flor. Wigorn. Contin. a. 1139, where it is said that Stephen went from Oxford to Worcester.-T.

we have seen, misfortunes thickened upon him; he saw the plunder of his treasures, himself overwhelmed with reproaches before the council at Winchester, and the remnant of his money and plate, which he had laid on the altar for the purpose of completing his church, carried off against his will '.

From Worcester the king proceeded to Oxford, and thence, with his court, to Salisbury, there to celebrate Christmas and wear his crown, according to royal custom. Here the canons presented him with two thousand pounds of silver, in return for which he granted them an exemption from all imposts on their lands, besides twenty marks for their own use, and forty for the covering of their church, moreover promising them that, if he obtained peace, he would restore what they had given him2.

When the bishop of Ely received intelligence of his uncle's death, he resolved on executing that which he had long meditated-vengeance on the king for the injury he had inflicted on his relative, by aiding to the utmost of his power the daughter of Henry in her struggle for the throne. Casting

As Malmesbury (p. 727) appears to speak very impartially and in no flattering strain of his bishop, I have preferred his account to that of the author of the Gesta, who (p. 62) says of Roger: "qui sicut divitiarum gloria, prudentisque animi ingenio omnes regni magnates superavit, ita a luxuria fractus, et prorsus enervatus, quicquid in se virtutis continuit sola sorduit immunditia. Reliquit autem in ecclesia Salesbiriæ infinitam nummorum quantitatem, sed et vasa plurima ductili aurificum opere, ista ex argento, illa ex auro artiste et gloriose cælata; quæ omnia in usus regis cesserunt. . . . . . . . Rex vero partem pecuniæ ad ecclesiam cooperiendam, partem ad canonicorum relevandam necessitatem indulsit, terrasque ecclesiarum et possessiones, quas episcopus in proprios usus redegerat, deque dominabus, sublatis pastoribus, ancillas effecerat, libere et ecclesiastice ipsis ecclesiis reddidit, pastoribusque canonice inthronizatis, duas ecclesias, Malmesbiriensem et Abbesbiriensem, ut fuerant antiquitus, splendide restauravit." According to the Continuator of Florence (p. 113) the bishop's wealth that fell to Stephen consisted of 40,000 marks of silver, besides a large quantity of gold and ornaments, which Roger "thesaurizavit, et ignoravit cui congregavit ea.”—T.

2 Flor. Wigorn. Contin. a. 1140.

away, therefore, all evangelical weapons, and abandoning the warfare of ecclesiastical discipline, he put on the man of blood, and having hired soldiers in Ely inured to deeds of violence, became the terror of all around him. When informed of the rebellion of the bishop, the king immediately hastened to Ely, at the head of a considerable force, when, seeing the extraordinary natural strength of the place, he held anxious council with his followers, as to the best method of attack. It was finally resolved to join a number of boats together in a part where the water, which surrounded the isle, appeared shallow, and form a bridge across them composed of hurdles. This plan was executed, and the army reached the margin of the isle, consisting of muddy fens, over which a ford was pointed out to them by, it is said, a monk of Ely, who for that service was made abbot of Ramsey. The king then advancing into the interior of the isle, permitted his soldiery to disperse themselves and plunder in all directions. Of the bishop's men some were taken, together with much valuable spoil. A small castle also at the entrance of the isle, to which some soldiers of the bishop had retired, was captured. The bishop himself with difficulty escaped to Gloucester; but the monks were treated by Stephen with that unalterable kindness of feeling which, in the midst of all his troubles, he ever preserved. Hence his contemporaries and even tradition3 have justly separated Stephen's individuality from the cruelties committed during his reign, which, moreover, were for the most part perpetrated by his enemies.

It was at this moment so critical for Stephen's stability that the young king of France, Lewis VII., who could not regard with satisfaction the advancement of the house of

1 Gesta Stephani, p. 63.

2 Gesta Steph. p. 64. Ricardi Hist. Eliens. ap. Wharton, Anglia Sacra, ii. p. 620.

3 As in the old ballad: " King Stephen was a worthy peere." See Percy's Reliques, and Shakspere, Othello, Act II. sc. 3.