Faringdon, where he strongly intrenched himself, within a rampart strengthened with towers, against any sudden irruption from the fort. He then erected against the fort engines of an elaborate construction, posted archers thickly around it, who cruelly annoyed those within; so that, while on the one hand stones, or whatever else might be hurled from the engines, crushed those on whom they fell; on the other, a deadly shower of arrows, ever flying in their sight, cruelly harassed them. Sometimes a missile or heavy mass projected from a distance would throw them into disorder, sometimes a body of daring youth, mounting on the rampart's summit, would engage with the foe in fight, the palisade alone separating the combatants. At length some of the chiefs among the besieged sent clandestinely to the king, offering terms of capitulation, which being accepted, the fortress was delivered up. Among the partisans of Matilda great was the consternation caused by this event, by which not only a large number of prisoners, arms, and other booty fell into the hands of the king, enabling him to bestow liberal rewards on his soldiery, but which struck a terror into his adversaries that was highly advantageous to him. The earl of Chester, who by force of arms occupied nearly a third of the kingdom, now humbly submitted to him at Stamford, expressing his contrition for the treachery and cruelty of which he had been guilty towards his royal master after the battle of Lincoln, and for the violent seizure of the king's demesnes (1146). Matters being thus amicably settled between them, the earl was restored to favour.

Conjointly with the earl of Chester, Stephen now took the town of Bedford, whence they proceeded to the attack of Wallingford castle, to which the earl brought three hundred chosen soldiers. Against the town they erected a fort, by

1 So I have ventured to render the Lat. paxillus. The passage in the Gesta (p. 114) is: "paxillis tantum utrosque dirimentibus.”—T. 3 See page 330.

2 Sax. Chron. a. 1140.

which the depredations of the garrison were materially checked'.

Worthier of notice than the return of the earl of Chester to his allegiance is the transition of Philip, the son of earl Robert, to the cause of Stephen, after the confirmation of an agreement concluded between them, according to which he performed homage to Stephen, receiving from him lands and castles and numerous presents, so that the ambition and extravagance of the young man were more likely to be satisfied than under the control of a father growing stricter and more parsimonious with years. Without mercy the young political renegade ravaged the possessions of his former friends, and even those of his father, while his thoughtless arrogance and violence rendered him extremely burthensome to his new allies.

After the loss of so many men, and so many towns, and other material means, the chiefs of the Angevin party found it desirable to think of peace, by which they hoped to gain more than they had acquired by arms; Reginald of Dunstanvile was therefore commissioned to negotiate. Yet on both sides feelings soon manifested themselves which rendered every chance of an accommodation hopeless. Philip of Gloucester had even had the audacity to capture his uncle Reginald on his way to the king, in defiance of the royal safe-conduct which he bore; while the empress, on the other side, would not renounce the royal dignity in England. The spirit of hostility, which was with difficulty repressed during the negotiations, burst forth shortly after, and it availed little that the new crusade, to which the inspiring words of Bernard of Clairvaux had roused the nations of the West, removed from England the earls William of Warenne, Waleram and Geoffrey of Meulan, Philip of Gloucester, with many other young and warlike knights, in this and the following year2. Their 1 Gesta Steph. p. 115.

2 Ib. p. 117. H. Hunt. Joh. Hagust. a. 1147. Rob. de Monte, a. 1145. G g

deeds in the East this is not the place to celebrate; though short mention must be made of the glorious crusade undertaken by Anglo-Norman and Flemish knights against the Saracens in Portugal.

The Flemish fleet, under count Arnulf of Arschot, had arrived at Dartmouth (1147), where, it seems, they joined the English fleet, then about to sail for Syria, with which, after being scattered by a violent storm, they reached the coasts of Galicia and Portugal. To the pressing instances of king Alphonso, to begin their warfare with the infidels in that country, they gave ear, and in four months succeeded in rescuing from the Mohammedans the even at that time considerable city of Lisbon. Long they luxuriated in rich Saracenic spoil, and not till the following year continued their course eastwards 2.

But, notwithstanding their apparent reconciliation, the earl of Chester continued to be Stephen's most dangerous enemy. It had often excited doubts in the minds of the king and his friends that the earl always delayed the restoration of the royal castles and revenues of which he had forcibly possessed himself, as also the delivery of hostages and securities, which, under such circumstances, it was, in those times, customary to require, and which the fickleness of his character rendered indispensable; so that when he made the attempt to persuade the unsuspecting king to undertake an expedition against Wales, with the view probably of effecting his destruction

1 So I venture to render the "Derchimede" of Dedekin and the "Tredemunde" of Arnulf. See their narrative in P. W. Gerken, Reisen durch Schwaben, th. iv. pp. 386 sq. Martene and Durand, Collect. ampliss. t. i. pp. 800 sq.

2 Wilken, Gesch. der Kreuzzüge, b. iii. c. 12. Chron. Reg. S. Pantaleonis. H. Hunt. a. 1148. Joh. Hagust. a. 1149, but which must be corrected to 1148; so Rob. de Monte, where 1148 is throughout to be corrected to 1147. The Auct. Gemblac. has the right date, 1147. A MS. Expeditio Francorum, Anglorum et variarum nationum ad obsidendum Ulissipona in Portugallia tempore Hildefonsi regis (1147) per Osbernum,” is cited in Cooper on the Public Records, ii. p. 166,

66

amid the valleys and defiles of that not far distant yet strange and hostile land, the resolve ripened in the breast of the king to assure himself, at a fitting opportunity, of the person of Ranulf, as he had formerly of Geoffrey of Mannevile's. This opportunity soon presented itself at Northampton; Ranulf was there arrested and compelled to surrender Lincoln and all his other usurpations, to give hostages for his future fidelity to the king, and engage to be content with his earldom and lawful fief1.

Stephen solemnized the Christmas festival this year at Lincoln, wearing his crown, into which city, it is said, no king ever durst enter (such was the current superstition); thereby evincing a strength of mind which makes a deeper impression on the hearts of the contemporary generation than a battle won. After his departure thence, Ranulf, burning with anger, attempted to make himself master of Lincoln, Coventry, and other places; but in an attack on the first named city, he lost many of his best men, escaping from death or capture only by a shameful flight 2.

The empress, weary at length of these endless wars and of a most anxious life, returned to France, in the beginning of the year 11473, in the hope, however, of inspiring her party with new zeal, if she introduced upon the scene her son Henry, now grown up, that he might himself contend for the crown to which he had rightful pretensions. Gilbert, son of Richard of Clare, a nephew of the earl of Chester, and one of his hostages, incensed at the loss of his castles, which, in consequence of his uncle's late rebellion, were forfeited to the crown, was the individual by whom the young prince Henry's second crossing over to England was chiefly concerted1. But

1 Gesta Steph. pp. 115, 121-123. N. Trivet, p. 20, edit. E. H. S.

2 H. Hunt. a. 1147. It is remarkable that none of the numerous charters of Henry I. and the earlier kings, relating to the church of Lincoln, are issued in that city. 3 Gervas. a. 1147.

4 Gesta Steph. pp. 125-128. Joh. Hagust. a. 1151 (instead of 1147). Gervas. a. 1146.

Henry's appearance failed in making the expected impression, as he was unaccompanied, contrary to the hopes of his friends, by any large body of French, and his first undertakings against Cricklade and Burton fell short of their object. Pecuniary embarrassment, too, had so increased at the court of the empress, that he was reduced to the necessity of applying for aid to his magnanimous and good-natured rival; nor did he apply in vain1.

At this time also Stephen introduced his son Eustace on the theatre of contention. This youth was for valour, affability, and liberality the exact resemblance of his father. More fortunate than his young rival, he had succeeded in taking Lidley and other castles held by the enemy. To add to the embarrassment, under which the party of the empress was suffering, the earl of Gloucester died unexpectedly in the midst of his exertions to bring all the forces of his party to bear upon the king. His death was hastened by grief for the failure of so many plans, and the desertion of faithless and indifferent friends".

We have, and his contemporaries also had, a most incontrovertible proof of Stephen's inability to satisfy the difficult conditions of his life, in the fact that, notwithstanding the late favourable events, he was unable to recover his sway over the whole of England. It is also remarkable, that for the year 1148, with the exception of some uninteresting matter relating to ecclesiastical affairs, we are without any account of what took place in England.

1 Gesta Stephani, pp. 128, 129.

2 "Castrum quod dicebatur de Silva." Gesta Steph. p. 130. [The character here given of Eustace, from the Gesta, is widely different from what we read of him in the Saxon Chronicle, a. 1140, where he is described as an evil man, who did more evil than good; he robbed the lands and laid great imposts on them. He brought his wife to England and put her in the castle of A good woman she was, but had little bliss

with him."-T.]

* * *

3 Gesta Steph. p. 132. Joh. Hagust. a. 1147. For the bright side of earl Robert's character, see W. Malm. pp. 757 sqq.