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Mediaeval Chester

STEPHEN.

Born 1104. - Married Matilda of Boulogne. by whom he had three sons and two daughters who did not survive their father.
Began to reign, 1135 - Reigned 19 years - Died 1154.

DOMINIONS

Stephen was elected king in England with little difficulty,. in spite of the homage done to Henry's daughter Maud before the king's death, and in spite of the claims of Stephen's own elder brother Theobald, to whom the Norman in Normandy offend the crown and duchy. David king of Scots, however, received Cumberland, that is Cumberland and probably most of Westmoreland and Furness in Lancashire, in 1136 as a fief for his son Henry, and in 1139 he occupied the present county of Northumberland also. These were practically annexed to partisans of Maud between 1138 and 1145.
During a great part of the reign Maud's partisans were also in possession of much of England.

PRINCIPAL EVENTS

If the barons had kept the promise which they had made to Henry I., they would have accepted his daughter Matilda as Queen when he died. The barons, however, were very doubtful whether a Queen reigning would be a good thing, and for another they disliked her husband, Geoffrey of Anjou.

There was another claimant to the English throne. Stephen, born 1104 who was the son of Adela, and grandson of William the Conqueror, thought he should be King, and many of the barons agreed that he would be better than Matilda. His uncle Henry I. gave him the earldom of Mortaigne, in Normandy, and large estates in England, in return for which he took the oath for securing the succession to Henry's daughter, the Empress Matilda. So an excuse was sought to put Stephen on the throne instead of Matilda. An excuse was found. A man swore on oath that Henry had disinherited the princess, though it is doubtful whether he ever did. Stephen hastened from France to England and claimed the crown (26th Dec. 1135), and was crowned by Corboil in Westminster Abbey, London. Nevertheless his seat on the throne, by reason of the disaffection of many of the nobility, was very insecure, so began a reign of terror.

Throughout the country it soon became quite clear that the barons had no intention of doing as Stephen said, and, for that matter, Stephen seemed quite powerless to do anything about it. To secure the favour of the barons, he had allowed them to build castles, and the barons used them as bases from which to plunder. In the meantime, Matilda refused to sit back and see the crown taken from her. Right from the start, she began to organise an army to assist her. One of those who was to help her most was Robert, Earl of Gloucester, who gave up his lands in England, in 1137, and went to Normandy, from whence he defied the King. In 1138 David of Scotland invaded England to secure the claims of his niece, the people of the north rose for their own protection and the King of Scotland was driven back. but in the battle of the Standard he was defeated by the northern barons (Aug. 22). In the following year the empress herself landed in England with her half-brother, the Earl of Gloucester, and a civil war ensued, in which Stephen was taken prisoner and Matilda acknowledged queen.

None of this helped Stephen, for, while he had to spend all his energy in defeating Matilda, the barons were able to do just as they pleased, many of them becoming stronger and stronger. Some were able to do well for themselves in other ways, too. It was no uncommon thing to find one supporting Stephen while he seemed to be winning, and changing sides with the tide of the battle. Once it seemed that Stephen's cause was lost, for, at the Battle of Lincoln, he was captured.

It has been said that the King was weak-willed, but it must also be said that he was a man of valour. At Lincoln he fought like a " lion " with his sword until that broke, and then he continued fighting with a mace, with which he fought "with the fury of a wild boar," until he was struck on the head and captured.

At last, Matilda was in power, she had Stephen as a prisoner, and could do with him as she wished. However, she did not use her power to the best advantage, and soon she had lost much of the support that she might have had. Her conduct excited an insurrection against her government; and, being shut up in Winchester Castle, she escaped with difficulty, while the Earl of Gloucester was taken prisoner, by Stephen's men, and Stephen was exchanged for the earl, and the war was renewed. Some time later, Stephen caught up with Matilda at Oxford, and she only escaped by slipping out of the city wearing a white robe which did not show up against the snow. In battle with Gloucester, soon afterwards, the King only just avoided capture for the second time. When Matilda retired to Normandy (about 1147) the contest was taken up by her son Prince Henry.

The armies of Henry and Stephen met at Wallingford and agreed to come to terms, Stephen's son, who guessed that this would cut him off from the throne, rebelled and caused some damage in Cambridgeshire, but he died suddenly, and Stephen was then quite ready to listen to Henry. The struggle was brought to an end in 1153 by the Treaty of Wallingford, in which it was agreed that Stephen should reign to his death, and that he should be succeeded by Henry. Stephen, had already lost his lands in Normandy, and only a few months later, on the 25th October, 1154, Stephen died at Dover at the age of fifty, and was buried in the monastery at Faversham Abbey in Kent.

The people welcomed King, Henry II.

WARS

Scotland till 1157.
In Normandy Stephen was at first acknowledged, but the Duchy was gradually conquered by the The whole of England was convulsed by the great civil war of Stephen and Matilda, and the private wars accompanying it.
1138. At Northallerton, or the battle of the Standard, David of Scotland was defeated by the northern barons, and confined to his own kingdom, Northumberland and Cumberland.
1141, At Lincoln, Stephen was defeated and captured by Robert of Gloucester, natural son of Henry I, but exchanged the same year for Robert, who had himself been captured near Winchester.

OFFICIALS

Archbishops. - William de Corbeil, d. 1186 - see vacant three years; Theobald 1139.
Justiciars - Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, 1135 - 1139. On the arrest of Roger and his nephews by Stephen in 1139 the whole administration was thrown into disorder. One first-rate writer, Roger Hoveden, states that Henry, afterwards king, was appointed Justiciar in 1153 by the treaty of Wallingford.
Chancellors. - Roger le Poor, son of the Bishop of Salisbury, 1135 - 1139; Philip, 1139; Theobald, the Archbishop, acted for the Empress Maud in 1142.

ACTS AND DOCUMENTS

The Treaty of Wallingford, 1153, putting an end to the civil war and securing the present possession of Stephen and the accession after him of Henry son of the Empress Maud. Negotiated through the influence of Theobald the Archbishop and of Henry de Blois, Bishop of Winchester and Papal Legate brother to Stephen. Printed in substance, as a charter of King Stephen.