Such great riches, so much power, and the conscious-Wie Stephan ness of abilities, were the first incentives to Stephen's Zum Throne ambition. Placed at no great distance from the throne gelangt. by birth, and perceiving the success of his uncle's usurpation, he resolved to run the same career, and strike for the crown. For this purpose, even during the king's life-time, he used all his arts to procure popularity, and to cultivate the affections of the English nobility. By his bravery, activity, and vigour, he acquired the esteem of the barons; by his generosity and familiar address he obtained the love of the people. No sooner, therefore, was the king known to be dead, than Stephen, conscious of his own power and influence, resolved to secure to himself the possession of what he had so long desired. He hastened from Normandy, where he then was, and, setting sail for England, landed at Dover. But there the citizens, apprised of his intent, shut their gates against him. Thence he went to Canterbury, where he was treated with the like disrespect; but passing on, he arrived at London, where he was immediately saluted king by all the lower ranks of the people. Being thus secure of the populace, his next step was to gain over the clergy; and for that purpose, his brother the bishop of Winchester exerted all his influence among them with great success. The archbishop of Canterbury, as he had taken the oaths of allegiance to Matilda, seemed for a while to stand out; but Hugh Bigod (steward of the household) averring, upon oath, that the late king had expressed his intentions to make Stephen his heir, the archbishop anointed him without farther scruple. Thus was Stephen made king, by one of those speedy revolutions which ever mark the barbarity of a state in which they are customary. The people acquiesced in his claims from his popularity; the clergy allowed them, being influenced by the intrigues of his

brother; and the nobility acknowledged a king, from the weakness of whose title they might derive power to themselves.

Erste Hand. The first acts of an usurper are always popular. Umy Stephen, Stephen, in order to secure his tottering throne, passed

a charter, granting several privileges to the different orders of the state; to the nobility, a permission to hunt in the royal forests; to the clergy, a speedy filling of all vacant benefices; and to the people, a restoration of the laws of Edward the Confessor. To fix himself still more securely, he took possession of the royal treasures at Winchester, and had his title ratified by the pope with a part of the money.

Erbauung A crown thus gained by usurpation was to be kept befestigter only by repeated concessions. The nobility and the Schlö. clergy, in proportion as they were indulged in one de

mand, only prepared to find out others. The barons, in return for their submission, required the right of fortifying their castles, and putting themselves in a posture of defence; nor could the king refuse his consent to such exorbitant demands, as their opposition might be fatal. The clergy imitated the same pernicious example; and, in a short time, all England was filled with these independent fortresses, which the noblemen garrisoned with their own vassals, or with mercenary bravoes hired from the continent: nothing could exceed the misery to which the kingdom must have been reduced at that terrible period of aristocracy. Unbounded rapine was exercised upon the people for the maintenance of those troops; the private animosities of the nobility were productive of wars in every quarter; the erection of one castle proved the immediate cause of building many more; and the whole country presented A. D. a scene of petty tyranny and hostile preparation. 1138. It was in vain that a victory gained by the king

over the Scots at Northallerton promised to allay the murmurs of the people; their miseries were risen to too great a height for such brilliant successes to remove. The prince, having usurped the crown without a title, was obliged to tolerate in others that injustice by which he had himself risen to the throne.

Not only real but imaginary grievances were added Stephan to raise the discontents of the people, and fill the coun- bring du try with complaints against the government. The cler-gelicht gy, whose power had been firmly established on the gegen sich auf.

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ruins of the regal authority, began, in imitation of the lay-barons, to build castles, and entertain garrisons, sensible that their sacred pretensions would be more implicitly obeyed when their temporal power was sufficient to enforce them. Stephen, who now too late perceived the mischiefs attending these multiplied citadels, resolved to begin with destroying those of the clergy, whose profession seemed to be averse from the duties of war. Taking, therefore, the pretence of a fray, which had risen between the retinue of the bishop of Salisbury and that of the earl of Bretagne, he seized that prelate, and obliged both him and the bishop of Lincoln to deliver up their castles which they had lately erected. This the whole body of the clergy considered as a breach of that charter which he had granted upon his accession; they loudly murmured against this infraction; and even his brother, the bishop, resolved to vindicate the privileges of the church, which he pretended were openly violated. A synod was assembled, in which the disgraced prelates openly inveighed against the king. But he, instead of answering the charge in person, sent one of his barons to plead his cause, and intimidate his accusers.

It was in this critical situation of Stephen's affairs Versuch that accounts were brought him of Matilda's landing in Milden's England, with a resolution to dispossess him, and regain

the crown. Matilda, upon the death of the late king, being then in Normandy, found herself totally unable to oppose the rapid progress of her rival. She was not less unfortunate in her continental connexions than in those at home. The Norman barons, unwilling to have the union with England dissolved, almost unanimously declared for Stephen, and put him in possession of their government; while Geoffrey himself, Matilda's husband, was content to resign his pretensions, and to receive a pension from the English king. He had not, however, long acquiesced in this compromise, when he was incited to a renewal of his wife's claims by Robert earl of Gloucester, natural son of the late king, a nobleman who had, from the beginning, opposed the accession of Stephen, and only waited an opportunity of beginning an insurrection. This haughty baron, having at length settled with his friends the project of an opposition, retired to the continent, to the court of Matilda, and sent the king a defiance, solemnly renouncing his allegiance. It was not long before he was in a capacity effectually to second his declarations; for, sensible of the power of his party in England, he landed together with Matilda, whose claims he professed to support, upon the coast of Sussex.

Stophan The whole of Matilda's retinue, upon this occasion, belagert das amounted to no more than a hundred and forty knights, Arundel who immediately took possession of Arundel castle; Schloss but the nature of her claims soon increased the number of her partisans, and her forces every day seemed to gain ground upon those of her antagonist. Meantime A.D. Stephen, being assured of her arrival, flew to 1139. besiege Arundel, where she had taken refuge, and where she was protected by the queen dowager, who secretly favoured her pretensions. This fortress was too feeble to promise a long defence; and it would

have been soon taken, had it not been represented to the king, that as it was a castle belonging to the queen dowager, it would be an infringement of the respect which was her due, to attempt taking it by force. There was a spirit of generosity mixed with the rudeness of the times, that unaccountably prevailed in many transactions. Stephen permitted Matilda to come forth in safety, and had her conveyed with security to Bristol, another fortress equally strong with that from which he permitted her to retire. It would be tedious to relate the various skirmishes on either side, in pursuance of their respective pretensions; it will suffice to say, that Matilda's forces increased every day, while her antagonist seemed every hour to become more unpopular. The troops Stephen led were, in general, foreign mercenaries, commanded by tumultuous barons, more accustomed to pillage than to conquer. But, in this fluctuation of success, the kingdom was exposed to ruin, whichever side pretended to victory. The castles of the nobility were become receptacles for licensed robbers, who gave their rapine the name of attachment to party. The land was left untilled, the instruments of husbandry were destroyed or abandoned, and a terrible famine, the result of general disorder, oppressed at once the spoiled and the spoilers.

After the misery of numberless indecisive conflicts, Stephan added to the rest of the country's calamities, a complete wird ges victory, gained by the forces of Matilda, promised to fangen. terminate their disputes. Stephen had marched with his forces to relieve the city of Lincoln; the earl of Gloucester led a body of troops to second the A.D. efforts of the besiegers. These two armies en- 1141. gaged within sight of the city, and a dreadful conflict ensued. After a violent shock, the two wings of Stephen's army, which were composed of horse, were put