Note (35) — Chapter II

The writer of the Gesta Stephani(3) distinctly attributes the election of Stephen to the citizens of London: “Majores igitur natu, consultuque quique provectiores, concilium coegere, deque regni statu, pro arbitrio suo, utilia in commune providentes, ad regem eligendum unanimiter conspiravere.” He then goes on with the details of the election. He is borne out by the Chronicle 1135: “Stephne de Blais com to Lundene and te Lundenisce folc him underfeng;” and by William of Malmesbury, Historia Novella, i. 11: “A Londoniensibus et Wintoniensibus in Regem exceptus est.” So again when the Legate, Henry Bishop of Winchester, holds a council for the election of the Empress Matilda, the citizens of London were summoned, and it is distinctly said that they held the rank of nobles or barons: “Londonienses (qui sunt quasi optimates, pro magnitudine civitatis, in Anglia).” “Londonienses, qui præcipui habebantur in Anglia, sicut proceres” (Historia Novella, iii. 45, 46). All this is exactly like the earlier elections of Kings before the Conquest.