Chapter VI · THE ROUT OF WINCHESTER.

The Empress, it will be remembered, in the panic of her escape, on the sudden revolt of the citizens, had fled to the strongholds of her cause in the west, and sought refuge in Gloucester. Most of her followers were scattered abroad, but the faithful Miles of Gloucester was found, as ever, by her side. As soon as she recovered from her first alarm, she retraced her steps to Oxford, acting upon his advice, and made that fortress her head-quarters, to which her adherents might rally.[388]

To her stay at Oxford on this occasion we may assign a charter to Haughmond Abbey, tested inter alios by the King of Scots.[389] But of far more importance is the well-known charter by which she granted the earldom of Hereford to her devoted follower, Miles of Gloucester.[390] With singular unanimity, the rival chroniclers testify to the faithful service of which this grant was the reward.[391] It is an important fact that this charter contains a record of its date, which makes it a fixed point of great value for our story. This circumstance is the more welcome from the long list of witnesses, which enables us to give with absolute certainty the personnel of Matilda's court on the day this charter passed (July 25, 1141), evidence confirmed by another charter omitted from the fasciculus of Mr. Birch.[392] From a comparison of the dates we can assign these documents to the very close of her stay at Oxford, by which time her scattered followers had again rallied to her standard. It is also noteworthy that the date is in harmony with the narrative of the Continuator of Florence. This has a bearing on the chronology of that writer, to which we have now in the main to trust.

William of Malmesbury, who on the doings of his patron is likely to be well informed, tells us that the rumours of the legate's defection led the Earl of Gloucester to visit Winchester in the hope of regaining him to his sister's cause. Disappointed in this, he rejoined her at Oxford.[393] It must have been on his return that he witnessed the charter to Miles of Gloucester.

The Empress, on hearing her brother's report, decided to march on Winchester with the forces she had now assembled.[394] The names of her leading followers can be recovered from the various accounts of the siege.[395]

The Continuator states that she reached Winchester shortly before the 1st of August.[396] He also speaks of the siege having lasted seven weeks on the 13th of September.[397] If he means by this, as he implies, the siege by the queen's forces, he is clearly wrong; but if he was thinking of the arrival of the Empress, this would place that event not later than the 27th of July. We know from the date of the Oxford charter that it cannot well have been earlier. The Hyde Cartulary (Stowe MSS.) is more exact, and, indeed, gives us the day of her arrival, Thursday, July 31 ("pridie kal. Augusti"). According to the Annals of Waverley, the Empress besieged the bishop the next day.[398]

Of the struggle which now took place we have several independent accounts. Of these the fullest are those given by the Continuator, who here writes with a bitter feeling against the legate, and by the author of the Gesta, whose sympathies were, of course, on the other side. John of Hexham, William of Malmesbury, and Henry of Huntingdon have accounts which should be carefully consulted, and some information is also to be gleaned from the Hyde Cartulary (Stowe MSS.).

It is John of Hexham alone who mentions that the bishop himself had commenced operations by besieging the royal castle, which was held by a garrison of the Empress.[399] It was in this castle, says the Continuator, that she took up her quarters on her arrival.[400] She at once summoned the legate to her presence, but he, dreading that she would seize his person, returned a temporizing answer, and eventually rode forth from the city (it would seem, by the east gate) just as the Empress entered it in state.[401]

Though the Continuator asserts that the Empress, on her arrival, found the city opposed to her, William of Malmesbury, whose sympathies were the same, asserts, on the contrary, that the citizens were for her.[402] Possibly, the former may only have meant that she had found the gates of the city closed against her by the legate. In any case, she now established herself, together with her followers, within the walls, and laid siege to the episcopal palace, which was defended by the legate's garrison.[403] The usual consequence followed. From the summit of the keep its reckless defenders rained down fire upon the town, and a monastery, a nunnery, more than forty (?) churches, and the greater part of the houses within the walls are said to have been reduced to ashes.[404]

Meanwhile, the legate had summoned to his aid the Queen and all the royal party. His summons "was promptly obeyed;[405] even the Earl of Chester, "who," says Dr. Stubbs, "was uniformly opposed to Stephen, but who no doubt fought for himself far more than for the Empress,"[406] joined, on this occasion, the royal forces, perhaps to maintain the balance of power. But his assistance, naturally enough, was viewed with such deep suspicion that he soon went over to the Empress,[407] to whom, however, his tardy help was of little or no value.[408] From London the Queen received a well-armed contingent, nearly a thousand strong;[409] but Henry of Huntingdon appears to imply that their arrival, although it turned the scale, did not take place till late in the siege.[410]

The position of the opposing forces became a very strange one. The Empress and her followers, from the castle, besieged the bishop's palace, and were in turn themselves besieged by the Queen and her host without.[411] It was the aim of the latter to cut off the Empress from her base of operations in the west. With this object they burnt Andover,[412] and harassed so successfully the enemy's convoys, that famine was imminent in the city.[413] The Empress, moreover, was clearly outnumbered by the forces of the Queen and legate. It is agreed on all hands that the actual crisis was connected with an affair at Wherwell, but John of Hexham and the author of the Gesta are not entirely in accord as to the details. According to the latter, who can hardly be mistaken in a statement so precise, the besieged, now in dire straits, despatched a small force along the old Icknield Way, to fortify Wherwell and its nunnery, commanding the passage of the Test, in order to secure their line of communication.[414] John of Hexham, on the contrary, describing, it would seem, the same incident, represents it as merely the despatch of an escort, under John the Marshal and Robert fitz Edith, to meet an expected convoy.[415] In any case, it is clear that William of Ypres, probably the Queen's best soldier, burst upon the convoy close to Wherwell, and slew or captured all but those who sought refuge within the nunnery walls.[416] Nor are the two accounts gravely inconsistent.

On the other hand, the Continuator of Florence appears at first sight to imply that the Marshal and his followers took refuge at Wherwell in the course of the general flight,[417] and this version is in harmony with the Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal.[418] But putting aside William of Malmesbury, whose testimony is ambiguous on the point, I consider the balance to be clearly in favour of the Gesta and John of Hexham, whose detailed accounts must be wholly rejected if we embrace the other version, whereas the Continuator's words can be harmonized, and indeed better understood, if we take "ad monasterium Warewellense fugientem" as referring to John taking refuge in the nunnery (as described in the other versions) when surprised with his convoy. Moreover, the evidence (vide infra) as to the Empress leaving Winchester by the west instead of the north gate, appears to me to clinch the matter. As to the Marshal poem, on such a point its evidence is of little weight. Composed at a later period, and based on family tradition, its incidents, as M. Meyer has shown, are thrown together in wrong order, and its obvious errors not a few. I may add that the Marshal's position is unduly exalted in the poem, and that Brian fitz Count (though it is true that he accompanied the Empress in her flight) would never have taken his orders from John the Marshal.[419] Its narrative cannot be explained away, but it is the one that we are most justified in selecting for rejection.

To expel the fugitives from their place of safety, William and his troopers fired the nunnery. A furious struggle followed in the church, amidst the shrieks of the nuns and the roar of the flames; the sanctuary itself streamed with blood; but John the Marshal stood his ground, and refused to surrender to his foes.[420] "Silence, or I will slay thee with mine own hands," the undaunted man is said to have exclaimed, as his last remaining comrade implored him to save their lives.[421]

On receiving intelligence of this disaster, the besieged were seized with panic, and resolved on immediate retreat.[422] William of Malmesbury, as before, is anxious to deny the panic,[423] and the Continuator accuses the legate of treachery.[424] The account, however, in the Gesta appears thoroughly trustworthy. According to this, the Empress and her forces sallied forth from the gates in good order, but were quickly surrounded and put to flight. All order was soon at an end. Bishops, nobles, barons, troopers, fled in headlong rout. With her faithful squire by her side the Empress rode for her life.[425] The Earl of Gloucester, with the rear-guard, covered his sister's retreat, but in so doing was himself made prisoner, while holding, at Stockbridge, the passage of the Test.[426]

The mention of Stockbridge proves that the besieged must have fled by the Salisbury road, their line of retreat by Andover being now barred at Wherwell. After crossing the Test, the fugitive Empress must have turned northwards, and made her way, by country lanes, over Longstock hills, to Ludgershall. So great was the dread of her victorious foes, now in full pursuit, that though she had ridden more than twenty miles, and was overwhelmed with anxiety and fatigue, she was unable to rest even here, and, remounting, rode for Devizes, across the Wiltshire downs.[427] It was not, we should notice, thought safe for her to make straight for Gloucester, through Marlborough and Cirencester; so she again set her face due west, as if making for Bristol. Thus fleeing from fortress to fortress, she came to her castle at Devizes. So great, however, was now her terror that even in this celebrated stronghold[428] she would not, she feared, be safe. She had already ridden some forty miles, mainly over bad country, and what with grief, terror, and fatigue, the erst haughty Empress was now "more dead than alive" (pene exanimis). It was out of the question that she should mount again; a litter was hurriedly slung between two horses, and, strapped to this, the unfortunate Lady was conveyed in sorry guise (sat ignominiose) to her faithful city of Gloucester.[429]

On a misunderstanding, as I deem it, of the passage (and especially of the word feretrum), writers have successively, for three centuries, represented the Continuator as stating that the Empress, "to elude the vigilance of her pursuers," was "laid out as a corpse!" Lingard, indeed, while following suit, gravely doubts if the fact be true, as it is recorded by the Continuator alone; but Professor Pearson improves upon the story, and holds that the versatile "Lady" was in turn "a trooper" and a corpse.[430]

On the 1st of November the king was released, and a few days later the Earl of Gloucester, for whom he had been exchanged, reached Bristol.[431] Shortly after, it would seem, there were assembled together at Bristol, the Earl, the Empress, and their loyal adherents, Miles, now Earl of Hereford, Brian fitz Count, and Robert fitz Martin.[432]