The History of England, Volume I Stephen Accession of Stephen
by David Hume
In the progress and settlement of the feudal law, the male
succession to fiefs had taken place some time before the female was
admitted; and estates being considered as military benefices, not as
property, were transmitted to such only as could serve in the armies,
and perform in person the conditions upon which they were originally
granted. But when the continuance of rights, during some generations,
in the same family, had in a great measure, obliterated the primitive
idea, the females were gradually admitted to the possession of feudal
property; and the same revolution of principles which procured them
the inheritance of private estates naturally introduced their
succession to government and authority. The failure, therefore, of
male heirs to the kingdom of England and duchy of Normandy seemed to
leave the succession open, without a rival, to the Empress Matilda;
and as Henry had made all his vassals, in both states, swear fealty to
her, he presumed that they would not easily be induced to depart at
once from her hereditary right, and from their own reiterated oaths
and engagements. But the irregular manner in which he himself had
acquired the crown might have instructed him, that neither his Norman
nor English subjects were as yet capable of adhering to a strict rule
of government; and as every precedent of this kind seems to give
authority to new usurpations, he had reason to dread, even from his
own family, some invasion of his daughter's title which he had taken
such pains to establish.
Adela, daughter of William the Conqueror, had been married to Stephen,
Count of Blois, and had brought him several sons, among whom Stephen
and Henry, the two youngest, had been invited over to England by the
late king, and had received great honours, riches, and preferment,
from the zealous friendship which that prince bore to every one that
had been so fortunate as to acquire his favour and good opinion.
Henry, who had betaken himself to the ecclesiastical profession, was
created Abbot of Glastonbury and Bishop of Winchester; and though
these dignities were considerable, Stephen had, from his uncle's
liberality, attained establishments still more solid and durable [a].
The king had married him to Matilda, who was daughter and heir of
Eustace Count of Boulogne, and who brought him, besides that feudal
sovereignty in France, an immense property in England, which, in the
distribution of lands, had been conferred by the Conqueror on the
family of Boulogne. Stephen also by this marriage acquired a new
connexion with the royal family of England; as Mary, his wife's
mother, was sister to David the reigning King of Scotland, and to
Matilda, the first wife of Henry, and mother of the empress. The
king, still imagining that he strengthened the interests of his family
by the aggrandizement of Stephen, took pleasure in enriching him by
the grant of new possessions; and he conferred on him the great estate
forfeited by Robert Mallet in England, and that forfeited by the Earl
of Mortaigne in Normandy. Stephen, in return, professed great
attachment to his uncle; and appeared so zealous for the succession of
Matilda, that when the barons swore fealty to that princess, he
contended with Robert, Earl of Gloucester, the king's natural son, who
should first be admitted to give her this testimony of devoted zeal
and fidelity [b]. Meanwhile he continued to cultivate, by every art
of popularity, the friendship of the English nation; and many virtues,
with which he seemed to be endowed, favoured the success of his
intentions. By his bravery, activity, and vigour, he acquired the
esteem of the barons: by his generosity, and by an affable and
familiar address, unusual in that age among men of his high quality,
he obtained the affections of the people, particularly of the
Londoners [c]. And though he dared not to take any steps towards his
farther grandeur, lest he should expose himself to the jealousy of so
penetrating a prince as Henry; he still hoped that, by accumulating
riches and power, and by acquiring popularity, he might in time be
able to open his way to the throne.
[ [a] Gul. Neubr. p. 360. Brompton, p. 1023. [b] W. Malm. p. 192. [c] W. Malm. p. 179. Gest. Steph. p. 928. ]
No sooner had Henry breathed his last, than Stephen, insensible to all
the ties of gratitude and fidelity, and blind to danger, gave full
reins to his criminal ambition, and trusted that, even without any
previous intrigue, the celerity of his enterprise, and the boldness of
his attempt, might overcome the weak attachment which the English and
Normans in that age bore to the law and to the rights of their
sovereign. He hastened over to England; and though the citizens of
Dover, and those of Canterbury, apprized of his purpose, shut their
gates against him, he stopped not till he arrived at London, where
some of the lower rank, instigated by his emissaries, as well as moved
by his general popularity, immediately saluted him king. His next
point was to acquire the good will of the clergy; and by performing
the ceremony of his coronation, to put himself in possession of the
throne, from which he was confident it would not be easy afterwards to
expel him. His brother, the Bishop of Winchester, was useful to him
in these capital articles: having gained Roger, Bishop of Salisbury,
who, though he owed a great fortune and advancement to the favour of
the late king, preserved no sense of gratitude to that prince's
family, he applied, in conjunction with that prelate, to William,
Archbishop of Canterbury, and required him, in virtue of his office,
to give the royal unction to Stephen. The primate, who, as all the
others, had shown fealty to Matilda, refused to perform this ceremony;
but his opposition was overcome by an expedient equally dishonourable
with the other steps by which this revolution was effected. Hugh
Bigod, steward of the household, made oath before the primate, that
the late king, on his deathbed, had shown a dissatisfaction with his
daughter Matilda, and had expressed his intention of leaving the Count
of Boulogne heir to all his dominions [d]. [MN 1135. 22d. Dec.]
William, either believing, of feigning to believe, Bigod's testimony,
anointed Stephen, and put the crown upon his head; and from this
religious ceremony that prince, without any shadow either of
hereditary title, or consent of the nobility or people, was allowed to
proceed to the exercise of sovereign authority. Very few barons
attended his coronation [e]; but none opposed his usurpation, however
unjust or flagrant. The sentiment of religion, which, if corrupted
into superstition, has often little efficacy in fortifying the duties
of civil society, was not affected by the multiplied oaths taken in
favour of Matilda, and only rendered the people obedient to a prince,
who was countenanced by the clergy, and who had received from the
primate the rite of royal unction and consecration [f].
[ [d] Matt. Paris, p.
51. Diceto, p. 505. Chron. Dunst. p. 23. [e] Brompton, p. 1023.
[f] Such stress was formerly laid on the rite of coronation, that the
monkish writers never give any prince the title of king till he is
crowned; though he had for some time been in possession of the crown,
and exercised all the powers of sovereignty.]
Stephen, that he might farther secure his tottering throne, passed a
charter, in which he made liberal promises to all orders of men: to
the clergy, that he would speedily fill all vacant benefices, and
would never levy the rents of any of them during the vacancy; to the
nobility, that he would reduce the royal forests to their ancient
boundaries, and correct all encroachments; and to the people, that he
would remit the tax of Danegelt, and restore the laws of King Edward
[g]. The late king had a great treasure at Winchester, amounting to a
hundred thousand pounds; and Stephen, by seizing this money,
immediately turned against Henry's family the precaution, which that
prince had employed for their grandeur and security: an event which
naturally attends the policy of amassing treasures. By means of this
money, the usurper ensured the compliance, though not the attachment,
of the principal clergy and nobility; but not trusting to this frail
security, he invited over from the continent, particularly from
Britany and Flanders, great numbers of these bravoes or disorderly
soldiers, with whom every country in Europe, by reason of the general
ill police and turbulent government, extremely abounded [h]. These
mercenary troops guarded his throne by the terrors of the sword; and
Stephen, that he might also overawe all malecontents by new and
additional terrors of religion, procured a bull from Rome, which
ratified his title, and which the pope, seeing this prince in
possession of the throne, and pleased with an appeal to his authority
in secular controversies, very readily granted him [i].
[ [g] W. Malmes. p. 179. Hoveden, p. 482. [h] W. Malm. p. 179.
[i] Hagulstadt, p. 259, 313.]
[MN 1136.] Matilda, and her husband Geoffrey, were as unfortunate in
Normandy as they had been in England. The Norman nobility, moved by
an hereditary animosity against the Angevins, first applied to
Theobald, Count of Blois, Stephen's elder brother, for protection and
assistance; but hearing afterwards that Stephen had got possession of
the English crown, and having many of them the same reasons as
formerly for desiring a continuance of their union with that kingdom,
they transferred their allegiance to Stephen, and put him in
possession of their government. Lewis the younger, the reigning King
of France, accepted the homage of Eustace, Stephen's eldest son, for
the duchy; and the more to corroborate his connexions with that
family, he betrothed his sister, Constantia, to the young prince. The
Count of Blois resigned all his pretensions, and received, in lieu of
them, an annual pension of two thousand marks; and Geoffrey himself
was obliged to conclude a truce for two years with Stephen, on
condition of the king's paying him, during that time, a pension of
five thousand [k]. Stephen, who had taken a journey to Normandy,
finished all these transactions in person, and soon after returned to
England.
[ [k] M. Paris, p. 52.]
Robert, Earl of Gloucester, natural son of the late king, was a man of
honour and abilities; and as he was much attached to the interests of
his sister, Matilda, and zealous for the lineal succession, it was
chiefly from his intrigues and resistance that the king had reason to
dread a new revolution of government. This nobleman, who was in
Normandy when he received intelligence of Stephen's accession, found
himself much embarrassed concerning the measures which he should
pursue in that difficult emergency. To swear allegiance to the
usurper appeared to him dishonourable, and a breach of his oath to
Matilda: to refuse giving this pledge of his fidelity, was to banish
himself from England, and be totally incapacitated from serving the
royal family, or contributing to their restoration [l]. He offered
Stephen to do him homage, and to take the oath of fealty; but with an
express condition, that the king should maintain all his stipulations,
and should never invade any of Robert's rights or dignities: and
Stephen, though sensible that this reserve, so unusual in itself, and
so unbefitting the duty of a subject, was meant only to afford Robert
a pretence for a revolt on the first favourable opportunity, was
obliged, by the numerous friends and retainers of that nobleman, to
receive him on those terms [m]. The clergy, who could scarcely, at
this time, be deemed subjects to the crown, imitated that dangerous
example: they annexed to their oaths of allegiance this condition,
that they were only bound so long as the king defended the
ecclesiastical liberties, and supported the discipline of the church
[n]. The barons, in return for their submission, exacted terms still
more destructive of public peace, as well as of royal authority: many
of them required the right of fortifying their castles, and of putting
themselves in a posture of defence; and the king found himself totally
unable to refuse his consent to this exorbitant demand [o]. All
England was immediately filled with those fortresses, which the
noblemen garrisoned either with their vassals, or with licentious
soldiers, who flocked to them from all quarters. Unbounded rapine was
exercised upon the people for the maintenance of these troops; and
private animosities, which had with difficulty been restrained by law,
now breaking out without control, rendered England a scene of
uninterrupted violence and devastation. Wars between the nobles were
carried on with the utmost fury in every quarter; the barons even
assumed the right of coining money, and of exercising, without appeal,
every act of jurisdiction [p]; and the inferior gentry, as well as the
people, finding no defence from the laws during this total dissolution
of sovereign authority, were obliged for their immediate safety, to
pay court to some neighbouring chieftain, and to purchase his
protection, both by submitting to his exactions, and by assisting him
in his rapine upon others. The erection of one castle proved the
immediate cause of building many others; and even those who obtained
not the king's permission, thought that they were entitled, by the
great principle of self-preservation, to put themselves on an equal
footing with their neighbours, who commonly were also their enemies
and rivals. The aristocratical power, which is usually so oppressive
in the feudal governments, had now risen to its utmost height, during
the reign of a prince, who, though endowed with vigour and abilities,
had usurped the throne without the pretence of a title, and who was
necessitated to tolerate in others the same violence, to which he
himself had been beholden for his sovereignty.
[ [l] W Malmes. p. 179. [m] Ibid. M. Paris, p. 51. [n] W. Malm,
p. 179. [o] Ibid. p. 180. [p] Trivet, p. 19 Gill. Neub. p. 372.
Chron. Heming. p. 487. Brompton, p. 1035.]
But Stephen was not of a disposition to submit long to these
usurpations, without making some effort for the recovery of royal
authority. Finding that the legal prerogatives of the crown were
resisted and abridged, he was also tempted to make his power the sole
measure of his conduct; and to violate all those concessions which he
himself had made on his accession [q], as well as the ancient
privileges of his subjects. The mercenary soldiers, who chiefly
supported his authority, having exhausted the royal treasure,
subsisted by depredations; and every place was filled with the best
grounded complaints against the government. [MN 1137.] The Earl of
Gloucester, having now settled with his friends the plan of an
insurrection, retired beyond sea, sent the king a defiance, solemnly
renounced his allegiance, and upbraided him with the breach of those
conditions which had been annexed to the oath of fealty sworn by that
nobleman [r].
