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Feudalism at its Worst.

Feudalism at its Worst.

The "Nineteen Long Winters" Stephen, 1135-54.

When Henry I died, his plans for his daughter came to nothing. Maud was neither popular nor wise. She had married a foreigner, Geoffrey of Anjou, who was hated by the barons. Besides, no one then dreamed that a woman could be fit to rule the country. Consequently the barons, assembled in Great Council, set on the throne Stephen, Count of Blois.

Stephen was the son of Adela, William I's daughter. As a grandson of the Conqueror, he had a sound enough title to the throne. He was also, the chronicler tells us, a "mild man and a good", so there was hope that he would be a tolerable king. His share of goodness did not turn out to be very large, but his mildness, in other words his weakness, was undeniable. And the throne was at this time no place for a mild man; what was wanted was a strong man who could keep order.

Consequently, Stephen's reign was purely disastrous. It was one long struggle for power. First, David of Scotland burst over the border, nominally as Maud's ally. He was defeated at the Battle of the Standard, in which the barons and yeomen of Yorkshire, standing fast round a chariot on which floated the banners of St. Peter of York, St. Wilfred of Ripon, and St. John of Beverley, beat off the Scottish charges. But while the Scots were routed in the north, Maud's half-brother, Robert of Gloucester, rebelled in the west, and Stephen had to buy off David by handing over to him Northumberland and Cumberland. David gave up Maud's cause and went home; the part he played was not a noble one, but he was neither better nor worse than the rest; he was only fighting for his own hand.

So far Stephen had the support of the Church, since his brother, Henry, was Bishop of Winchester and firm on his side.

He soon managed to lose this support. He demanded that the Bishops of Salisbury and Lincoln should hand over their castles to him. When they refused, he cast them into prison. This was certain to set the Church against him: but, more than that, it lost him the favour of the great officials; for this Bishop of Salisbury was that same Roger who had served Henry I so faithfully at the Exchequer, and the Bishop of Lincoln was his nephew. To quarrel with such men was sheer folly. Speedily Stephen's power slipped from him. He moved to capture the castle of Lincoln, which had been surprised by Ralf, Earl of Chester. Ralf, leaving his wife to defend the castle, gathered forces in his earldom, and, uniting with Robert of Gloucester, fell on Stephen's besieging army. A terrible conflict followed. Stephen showed that though he was a feeble king, he was a sturdy warrior. He met the Earl of Chester in fight, and, had his battle-axe not broken on the earl's helmet, might have overthrown him. As it was, his men gave way, and he was himself taken prisoner.

Maud thus became "Lady of England", but she soon proved equally unfit to rule. Haughty and wilful, without gratitude to those who had put her on the throne, she could not understand that the same people could put her off again. She, too, quarrelled with the churchmen. She was obliged to set Stephen at liberty in exchange for Robert of Gloucester, a prisoner in the hands of the other side. Soon she tasted the bitterness of defeat. She was besieged in Oxford, and only escaped by being let down at night from the walls by a rope, crossing the Thames on the ice, and fleeing across the snow. Then she gathered forces and fought again.

Yet battles and adventures, alliances and desertions, are but a part of our concern. History is sometimes written as if it were but the history of the mighty in the land; yet the case of the lowly no less deserves attention. Kings and nobles are under the fortunes of war; but the misfortunes of war lie heaviest upon the people. So it was in Stephen's reign. Rightly did the chronicler style it "the nineteen long winters". The fact was that the war went on because the barons did not wish to end it. Selfish, ambitious, merciless, unscrupulous, each baron made himself strong in his castle, and hoped to add to his possessions by violence or treachery. There was not one who took an honest part. When they fought, it was not for their side, but for themselves. Geoffrey, Earl of Essex, and others like him took their titles from both parties and pillaged both. "All became forsworn and broke their allegiance." They did not want pitched battles, for if either Stephen or Maud became supreme, their day would be over. " Then arose the barons, or rather the betrayers of England, treating of concord, though they loved discord: but they would not join battle, for they desired not to exalt either of the two." Each in his petty realm reigned like a tyrant, striking his own coin, declaring his own justice, oppressing the wretched people by making them work at the castles with which they filled the land. They "put men in prison for their gold and silver. They hanged men up by the feet and smoked them with foul smoke. Some were hanged up by their thumbs, others by the head, and burning things were hung on to their feet. They put knotted strings about their heads and writhed them till they went into the brain. They put men into prisons where adders and snakes and toads were crawling, and so tormented them. Some they put into a chest, short and narrow and not deep, that had sharp stones within, and forced men therein so that they broke all their bones." When Stephen brought over foreigners from abroad to fight for him, these behaved even worse, sacking, burning, spoiling wherever they went. "Men said that Christ and his saints slept." The poor were reduced to misery; many of them whose huts had been burnt died of cold and hunger in the fields. This was what being left to the mercy of the barons meant. This was what the rule of a "mild man and a good" led to in the days of feudalism.

The rivalry between Stephen and Maud seemed likely to be continued between their children. Fortunately for England Stephen's son died, and Stephen had no longer an interest in going on with the struggle. Once more, as so often in this reign, we have an example of the power of the churchmen; Archbishop Theobald managed to bring the two sides to terms. It was agreed by the Treaty of Wallingford, in 1153, that Stephen should be king for the rest of his life, but that Maud's son, Henry, should succeed him. Henry had not to wait long. In 1154 Stephen died.

Chronology

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