Robert answered with his entire force, marching from Gloucester by the Foss Way. The two earls met at Claybrook, but winter floods had drowned the marshy ground between the road and the Lincoln hill. On the morning of Candlemas, February 2, 1141, the two earls plunged into the water at the head of their host, and all swam safely across. The outpost fled or was overcome, and the army wound its way to dry ground on the south-western side of the hill, where Stephen had drawn out his forces.
The two hosts clashed in the morning mist. The Disinherited charged Stephen’s first line of cavalry with such fury that it scattered almost at once. The second line, the Flemings under William of Ypres and the count of Aumale, was attacked in flank by the Welsh; the men of Chester charged home and the whole body of horse turned tail. Stephen and his foot-soldiers, gathered around the royal standard, were left alone in the midst of the foe, who closed round them as if besieging a fortress. Again and again the horsemen dashed at that living wall, leaving a ghastly breach each time, but driven back from the central point where the king stood like a lion at bay, cutting down all within reach. His sword broke, but a citizen of Lincoln thrust a two-handed Danish battle-axe into his hand. Almost all his followers were taken or slain. Then a stone struck him on the head and he fell. A knight, William of Kahaines, seized him by the helmet, shouting “Hither, hither! I have the king!” Yet Stephen shook him off, and it was only to Robert of Gloucester in person that he would surrender. He was conveyed to Gloucester and presented by Robert to his sister, who sent him to prison in Bristol Castle.
Within three weeks Miles Beauchamp had regained Bedford Castle, William Peverel had surrendered Nottingham, Hervey of Lions had been driven from Devizes, and offers of homage flowed in from every quarter. The legate, Bishop Henry, found himself driven into a corner by Matilda’s blunt threat that if he would not join her she would lead “all the armies of England” against him. Terms were arranged, and on a rainy March morning Matilda entered Winchester in triumphal procession, led by the legate and a long train of bishops, abbots, clergy, and people, to the Old Minster. She won Oxford Castle by Robert of Oilly’s surrender, and on the strength of these gains was elected “Lady of England and Normandy” by a great council at Winchester in April.
But Matilda, who had the Conqueror’s stern temper, made Stephen’s faults the model of her own. She would listen to no one. She confiscated lands, disposed of Church property, refused to restore Stephen’s lands to his children, refused the Londoners the Laws of King Edward, and drove away the richest burghers with abuse when they asked for patience. The Londoners revolted; bells rang, the people swarmed out like bees, and Matilda and her friends had to flee. Robert accompanied his sister to Oxford, and she hurried on to Gloucester. The queen meanwhile re-converted the legate, and Matilda, resolved to bring him back, marched suddenly on Winchester. The bishop retired to Wolvesey, his new castle hard by the cathedral. Matilda established herself in the royal castle, but found the bishop had already summoned all the king’s partisans, while the queen was bringing up a thousand London citizens and William of Ypres with his Flemings. The bishop set fire to the city, and the wind that saved the cathedral carried the flames northward to Hyde Abbey. At last, on September 13, peace was proclaimed in the bishop’s name; Robert decided to march quietly out next morning, sending his sister first while he brought up the rear. But as Matilda rode through the west gate the bishop gave the signal for attack, and the queen’s partisans rushed upon the Lady’s troops. Robert covered his sister’s retreat, but at Stockbridge he was overtaken by William of Ypres and made prisoner. Miles of Gloucester, surrounded in like manner, threw down his arms and fled to Gloucester almost naked. The archbishop of Canterbury and several bishops were despoiled of horses and clothes. Matilda escaped with Brian Fitz-Count, the Breton lord of Wallingford, her devoted friend from the day he helped escort her to her wedding. They reached Luggershall, then Devizes, where, half dead with fatigue, she laid herself on a bier and was bound to it with ropes, as if a corpse, and so was carried safe at last to Gloucester.
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