Henry I. had no legitimate sons who survived him. Archbishop of Canter bury. to rob his neighbor as he might. Then king Henry's sons and his friends took his body, and brought it to England, and buried it at Reading. He was a good man, and great was the awe of him; no man durst ill treat another in his time: he made peace for men and deer. Whoso bare his burden of gold and silver, no man durst say to him ought but good. In the meantime his nephew Stephen de Blois had arrived in England, and he came to London, and the inhabitants received him, and sent for the archbishop, William Corboil, who consecrated him king on midwinter-day. In this king's time was all discord, and evil-doing, and robbery; for the powerful men who had kept aloof soon rose up against him; ... A. 1137. This year King Stephen went over sea to Normandy, and he was received there because it was expected that he would be altogether like his uncle, and because he had gotten possession of his treasure, but this he distributed and scattered foolishly. King Henry had gathered together much gold and silver, yet did he no good for his soul's sake with the same. When king Stephen came to England, he held an assembly at Oxford; and there he seized Roger bishop of Salisbury, and Alexander bishop of Lincoln, and Roger the chancellor, his nephew, and he kept them all in prison till they gave up their castles. When the traitors perceived that he was a mild man, and a soft, After the con- and a good, and that he did not enforce justice, they did all wonder. They had done homage to him, and sworn oaths, but they no faith kept ; all became forsworn, and broke their allegiance, for every rich man built his castles, and defended them against him, and they filled the land full of castles. They greatly oppressed the wretched people by making them work at these castles, and when the castles were finished they filled them with devils and evil men. Then they took those whom they suspected to have any goods, by night and by day, seizing both men and women, and they put them in quest the Norman castle plays an important part in English history. It was a stronghold which was seldom reduced, save by starvation of the garrison. ... prison for their gold and silver, and tortured them with pains unspeakable, for never were any martyrs tormented as these were. Many thousands they exhausted with hunger. I cannot and I may not tell of all the wounds, and all the tortures that they inflicted upon the wretched men of this land; and this state of things lasted the nineteen years that Stephen was king, and ever grew worse and worse. They were continually levying an exaction from the towns, which they called Tenserie, and when the miserable Chief rent inhabitants had no more to give, then plundered they, and burnt all the towns, so that well mightest thou walk a whole day's journey nor ever shouldest thou find a man seated in a town, or its lands tilled. Then was corn dear, and flesh, and cheese, and butter, for there was none in the land- wretched men starved with hunger some lived on alms who had been erewhile rich: some fled the country - never was there more misery, and never acted heathens worse than these. At length they spared neither church nor churchyard, but they took all that was valuable therein, and then burned the church and all together. Neither did they spare the lands of bishops, nor of abbats, nor of priests; but they robbed the monks and the clergy, and every man plundered his neighbour as much as he could. If two or three men came riding to a town, all the township fled before them, and thought that they were robbers. The bishops and clergy were ever cursing them, but this to them was nothing, for they were all accursed and forsworn, and reprobate. The earth bare no corn, you might as well have tilled the sea, for the land was all ruined by such deeds, and it was said openly that Christ and his saints slept. These things, and more than we can say, did we suffer during nineteen years because of our sins. A. 1140. Then there arose a very great war between the king and Randolph earl of Chester, not because the king from land. Natural son of Henry I. Stephen's attack upon the bishops lost him the support of the church. 1142. did not give him all that he could ask, even as he did to all others, but that the more he gave them, the worse they always carried themselves to him. The earl held Lincoln against the king, and seized all that belonged to the king there, and the king went thither, and besieged him and his brother William de Romare in the castle and the earl stole out and went for Robert earl of Gloucester, and brought him thither with a large army; and they fought furiously against their lord on Candlemas-day, and they took him captive, for his men betrayed him and fled, and they led him to Bristol, and there they put him into prison and close confinement. Now was all England more disturbed than before, and all evil was in the land. After this, king Henry's daughter, who had been empress of Germany, and was now countess of Anjou, arrived, and she came to London, and the citizens would have seized her, but she fled with much loss. Then Henry bishop of Winchester, King Stephen's brother, spake with earl Robert and with the empress, and swore them oaths that he never more would hold with the king his brother, and he cursed all those that did hold with him, and he said that he would give up Winchester to them, and he made them come thither. . . . Now was England much divided, some held with the king and some with the empress, for when the king was in prison the earls and the great men thought that he would never more come out, and they treated with the empress, and brought her to Oxford, and gave her the town. When the king was out of prison he heard this, and he took his army and besieged her in the tower, and they let her down from the tower by night with ropes, and she stole away, and she fled: and she went on foot to Wallingford. After this she went over sea, and all the Normans turned from the king to the earl of Anjou, some willingly, and some against their will; for he besieged them till they gave up their castles, and they had no help from the king. . . . And the earl of Anjou died, and his Treaty of Wallingford, 1153, brought about by the church, who were all leaders of the son Henry succeeded him; and the queen of France was divorced from the king, and she went to the young earl Later Henry, and he took her to wife, and received all Poitou Henry II. with her. Then he came into England with a great army and won castles; and the king marched against him with a much larger army, howbeit they did not fight, but the archbishop and wise men went between them and made a treaty on these terms: that the king should be lord and king while he lived, and that Henry should be king after his death, and that he should consider him as his father, and the king him as his son, and that peace and concord should be between them, and in all England. The king, and the earl, and the bishop, and the earls, and all the great men swore to observe these and the other conditions that were then made. The earl was received with much honour at Winchester and at London, and all did homage to him, and swore to keep the peace, and it soon became a very good peace, such as never was in this land. Then the king was more powerful here than ever he was; and the earl went over sea, and all the people loved him, because he did good justice, and made peace. The Saxon Chronicle (translated by J. A. Giles, 1847), 501-507. powerful in the crisis. By PETER OF CHAPTER IV-UNDER ANGEVIN BLOIS (†1200?), secretary to Henry II. The com plaints of Peter, which reappear On Henry II Kings. Henry retained the habit of con- until the end quainted with the different parts of his great empire, and learned the needs of the various peoples subject to his rule. RULE 19. Henry the Second F the king has promised to spend the day anywhere, especially if a herald has publicly proclaimed that such is his royal will, you may be sure that he will start off early in the morning and by his sudden change of mind will throw everybody's plans into confusion. You may see men running about as if they were mad, urging on the pack-horses, driving chariots one into another, and everything in a state of confusion. The tumult is such as to give you a vivid picture of the infernal regions. But if the king declares his intention of going to a certain place early the next morning, he will undoubtedly change his mind, and you may be sure that he will sleep till midday. You will see the pack-horses waiting under their loads, the chariots standing ready, the couriers falling asleep, the purveyors uneasy and everybody grumbling. . . . After the weariness of long uncertainty we would have the comfort of learning that we were to stay in a place where there was prospect of food and lodging. Then there would be such confusion and running about of footmen and horsemen that you would think the infernal regions had broken open. But when our couriers had already gone the whole day's journey or almost the whole, the king would change his mind and turn aside to some other place, where perhaps he had only one house and provisions enough for himself, |