STEPHEN. A.D. 1135--1154.
Neither English nor Normans had ever been ruled by a woman, and the
Empress Maude, as she still called herself, was a proud, disagreeable,
ill-tempered woman, whom nobody liked. So her cousin, Stephen de
Blois--whose mother, Adela, had been daughter of William the Conqueror
--thought to obtain the crown of England by promising to give everyone
what they wished. It was very wrong of him; for he, like all the
other barons, had sworn that Maude should reign. But the people knew
he was a kindly, gracious sort of person, and greatly preferred him
to her. So he was crowned; and at once all the Norman barons, whom
King Henry had kept down, began to think they could have their own
way. They built strong castles, and hired men, with whom they made
war upon each other, robbed one another's tenants, and, when they saw
a peaceable traveler on his way, they would dash down upon him, drag
him into the castle, take away all the jewels or money he had about
him, or, if he had none, they would shut him up and torment him till
he could get his friends to pay them a sum to let him loose.
Stephen, who was a kind-hearted man himself, tried to stop these
cruelties; but then the barons turned round on him, told him he was
not their proper king, and invited Maude to come and be crowned in
his stead. She came very willingly; and her uncle, King David of
Scotland, set out with an army to fight for her; but all the English
in the north came out to drive him back; and they beat him and his
Scots at what they call the Battle of the Standard, because the
English had a holy standard, which was kept in Durham Cathedral.
Soon after, Stephen was taken prisoner at a battle at Lincoln, and
there was nothing to prevent Maude from being queen but her own bad
temper. She went to Winchester, and was there proclaimed; but she
would not speak kindly or gently to the people; and when her friends
entreated her to reply more kindly, she flew into a passion, and it
is even said that she gave a box on the ear to her uncle--the good
King of Scotland, who had come to help her--for reproving her for her
harsh answers. When Stephen's wife came to beg her to set him free,
promising that he should go away beyond the seas, and never interfere
with her again, she would not listen, and drove her away. But she
soon found how foolish she had been. Stephen's friends would have
been willing that he should give up trying to be king, but they could
not leave him in prison for life; and so they went on fighting for
him, while more and more of the English joined them, as they felt how
bad and unkind a queen they had in the Empress. Indeed, she was so
proud and violent, that her husband would not come over to England
to help her, but staid to govern Normandy. She was soon in great
distress, and had to flee from Winchester, riding through the midst
of the enemy, and losing almost all her friends by the way as they
were slain or made prisoners. Her best helper of all--Earl Robert of
Gloucester--was taken while guarding her; and she could only get to
his town of Gloucester by lying down in a coffin, with holes for air,
and being thus carried through all the country, where she had made
everyone hate her.
Stephen's wife offered to set the Earl free, if the other side would
release her husband; and this exchange was brought about. Robert then
went to Normandy, to fetch Maude's little son Henry, who was ten years
old, leaving her, as he thought, safe in Oxford Castle; but no sooner
was he gone than Stephen brought his army, and besieged the Castle--
that is, he brought his men round it, tried to climb up the walls, or
beat them down with heavy beams, and hindered any food from being
brought in. Everything in the castle that could be eaten was gone;
but Maude was determined not to fall into her enemy's hands. It was
the depth of winter; the river below the walls was frozen over, and
snow was on the ground. One night, Maude dressed herself and three of
her knights all in white, and they were, one by one, let down by ropes
from the walls. No one saw them in the snow. They crossed the river
on the ice, walked a great part of the night, and at last came to
Abingdon, where horses were waiting for them, and thence they rode to
Wallingford, where Maude met her little son.
There was not much more fighting after this. Stephen kept all the
eastern part of the kingdom, and Henry was brought up at Gloucester
till his father sent for him, to take leave of him before going on a
crusade. Geoffrey died during this crusade. He was fond of hunting,
and was generally seen with a spray of broom blossom in his cap. The
French name for this plant is _genet_; and thus his nickname was
"Plantagenet;" and this became a kind of surname to the kings of
England.
Henry, called Fitz-empress--or "the Empress's son"--came to England
again as soon as he was grown up; but instead of going to war, he made
an agreement with Stephen. Henry would not attack Stephen any more,
but leave him to reign all the days of his life, provided Stephen
engaged that Henry should reign instead of his own son after his death.
This made Stephen's son, Eustace, very angry, and he went away in a
rage to raise troops to maintain his cause; but he died suddenly in
the midst of his wild doings, and the king, his father, did not live
long after him, but died in 1154.
Maude had learnt wisdom by her misfortunes. She had no further desire
to be queen, but lived a retired life in a convent, and was much more
respected there than as queen.