The History of England, Volume I Stephen War with Scotland
by David Hume
David, King of Scotland,
appeared at the head of an army in defence of his niece's title, and
penetrating into Yorkshire, committed the most barbarous devastations
on that country. The fury of his massacres and ravages enraged the
northern nobility, who might otherwise have been inclined to join
him; and William, Earl of Albemarle, Robert de Ferrers, William
Piercy, Robert de Brus, Roger Moubray, Ilbert Lacey, Walter l'Espec,
powerful barons in those parts, assembled an army with which they
encamped at North-Allerton, and awaited the arrival of the enemy. [MN
22d. Aug.] A great battle was here fought, called the battle of the
STANDARD, from a high crucifix, erected by the English on a waggon,
and carried along with the army as a military ensign. The King of
Scots was defeated, and he himself, as well as his son Henry, narrowly
escaped falling into the hands of the English. This success overawed
the malecontents in England, and might have given some stability to
Stephen's throne, had he not been so elated with prosperity as to
engage in a controversy with the clergy, who were at that time an
overmatch for any monarch.
[ [q] W. Malm. p. 180. M. Paris, p. 51. [r] W. Malm. p. 180.]
Though the great power of the church, in ancient times, weakened the
authority of the crown, and interrupted the course of the laws, it may
be doubted, whether, in ages of such violence and outrage, it was not
rather advantageous that some limits were set to the power of the
sword, both in the hands of the prince and nobles, and that men were
taught to pay regard to some principles and privileges. The chief
misfortune was, that the prelates on some occasions acted entirely as
barons, employed military power against their sovereign or their
neighbours, and thereby often increased those disorders which it was
their duty to repress. The Bishop of Salisbury, in imitation of the
nobility, had built two strong castles, one at Sherborne, another at
Devizes, and had laid the foundations of a third at Malmesbury: his
nephew, Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, had erected a fortress at
Newark: and Stephen, who was now sensible from experience of the
mischiefs attending these multiplied citadels, resolved to begin with
destroying those of the clergy, who, by their function, seemed less
entitled than the barons to such military securities [s]. [MN 1139.]
Making pretence of a fray which had arisen in court between the
retinue of the Bishop of Salisbury and that of the Earl of Britany, he
seized both that prelate and the Bishop of Lincoln, threw them into
prison, and obliged them by menaces to deliver up those places of
strength which they had lately erected [t].
[ [s] Gul. Neubr. p. 362. [t] Chron. Sax. p. 238. W. Malmes. p.
181.]
Henry, Bishop of Winchester, the king's brother, being armed with a
legatine commission, now conceived himself to be an ecclesiastical
sovereign, no less powerful than the civil; and, forgetting the ties
of blood which connected him with the king, he resolved to vindicate
the clerical privileges, which, he pretended, were here openly
violated. [MN 30th Aug.] He assembled a synod at Westminster, and
there complained of the impiety of Stephen's measures, who had
employed violence against the dignitaries of the church, and had not
awaited the sentence of a spiritual court, by which alone, he
affirmed, they could lawfully be tried and condemned, if their conduct
had anywise merited censure or punishment. [u]. The synod ventured to
send a summons to the king charging him to appear before them, and to
justify his measures [w]; and Stephen, instead of resenting this
indignity, sent Aubrey de Vere to plead his cause before that
assembly. De Vere accused the two prelates of treason and sedition;
but the synod refused to try the cause, or examine their conduct, till
those castles, of which they had been dispossessed, were previously
restored to them [x]. The Bishop of Salisbury declared that he would
appeal to the pope; and had not Stephen and his partisans employed
menaces, and even shown a disposition of executing violence by the
hands of the soldiery, affairs had instantly come to extremity between
the crown and the mitre [y].
[ [u] W. Malm. p. 182. [w] Ibid. M Paris, p. 53. [x] W. Malm. p.
183. [y] Ibid.]
While this quarrel, joined to so many other grievances, increased the
discontents among the people, the empress, invited by the opportunity,
and secretly encouraged by the legate himself, landed in England with
Robert Earl of Gloucester, and a retinue of a hundred and forty
knights. She fixed her residence at Arundel Castle, whose gates were
opened to her by Adelais, the queen-dowager, now married to William de
Albini, Earl of Sussex; and she excited, by messengers, her partisans
to take arms in every county of England.
