The pragmatic Robert’s decision was influenced by the stunning military successes that Geoffrey achieved in Normandy. When Robert declared for Matilda, Geoffrey had made extensive inroads into the duchy. Matilda left Normandy in a much surer position, as she sailed off to England to fight Stephen for her inheritance. She left Henry and his two younger brothers, Geoffrey and William, with their father.
Matilda landed in Sussex on 30 September with her brother Robert and 140 knights, and sought refuge with her stepmother Adeliza, now married to William d’Aubigny, earl of Arundel. Robert, accompanied by only twelve men, left Matilda for his stronghold at Bristol to garner support across the West Country.70
Stephen, in a typical and naive display of chivalry – many of his contemporaries thought it his greatest weakness – did not capture and imprison his first cousin who had come to take the crown from him, but granted her safe passage to join Robert at Bristol. Their cause was joined by their half-brother Reginald of Dunstanville; Matilda’s uncle, now David King of Scots, who fought on Matilda’s behalf in the north; Brian Fitz Count, lord of Wallingford and Abergavenny; and Miles of Gloucester. She received their homage, and it is likely that she set up her court at Gloucester Castle on the banks of the River Severn, while Robert stayed at Bristol.
Matilda’s greatest champion throughout the war would be Brian Fitz Count. He was an illegitimate son of Alan Fergant, count of Brittany. He was at court when Matilda returned from Germany, and over the years he would put all his lands and possessions at Matilda’s disposal.71
He had been one of Henry I’s chief advisors, and owed his king all he had – wealth, lands, and a rich wife. He recalled his time at Matilda’s father’s court as ‘the good and golden days’, grateful that the king had given him ‘arms and an honour’.72
Brian believed in Matilda completely; at least one novelist supposed them to be in love, and the author of the Gesta Stephani noted their ‘affection’ for one another, and his ‘delight’ when she came to England.73 In 1144, Matilda, in public recognition of his unwavering support, issued a grant to Reading Abbey ‘for the love and loyal service of Brian Fitz Count, which he has rendered me’.74 Whether Matilda and Brian Fitz Count were in love, or whether it was the absolute loyalty Brian believed he owed Henry I – and then after his death, his daughter and chosen successor – we will never be sure.
Matilda combined her military campaign with an appeal to the pope to challenge Stephen’s claim to be king. On 4 April 1139, her case was heard before the Second Lateran Council; Matilda’s advocates argued that Stephen had seized the throne illegally, and that he had lied to do so. But although the pope found for Stephen, and ‘confirmed his occupation of the kingdom of England and the duchy of Normandy’, she never ceased to hope that he would change his mind.75
Stephen’s wife, Matilda of Boulogne, joined him in defending England. He still had enough money left in his depleted treasury to employ mercenaries, also known as routiers or ‘ravagers’, and much of the country, besides the borderlands of Wales and the west of England, remained in royal hands.76
Matilda’s friends were tenacious in fighting her cause. Her half-brother Reginald of Dunstanville won in Cornwall, and their grateful brother, Robert, granted him the earldom.77 But one year into the war, the country was feeling its ravages. William of Malmesbury wrote: ‘The whole year [1140] was troubled by the brutalities of war. There were many castles all over England, each defending its own district, or, to be more truthful, plundering it. The war, indeed, was one of sieges. Some of the castellans wavered in their allegiance, hesitating which side to support, and sometimes working entirely for their own profit.’78
The situation had reached a stalemate, with neither side able to gain a decisive advantage. But unexpectedly, everything changed in Matilda’s favour. On 2 February 1141 at Lincoln, in a stellar coup engineered by her half-brother Robert and his son-in-law, Ranulf earl of Chester, who brought with them ‘a dreadful and unendurable number of Welsh’, Stephen was captured and imprisoned at Bristol Castle.79 (It was one of the very few pitched battles of the war – battles were dangerous and their outcomes uncertain; most of the fighting was marked instead by castle sieges.) Stephen had fought bravely, deserted by many of his supporters, with a double-headed axe. But he had lost. Robert placed him in the care of his wife Mabel, at Bristol Castle. It was not a comfortable imprisonment; Stephen would eventually be shackled in irons in his cell.
It looked like the endgame. Matilda was recognised by the church as ‘Lady of England and Normandy’, took possession of the treasury and was given the crown – although as yet she remained uncrowned. She embarked on a progress around the country and was recognised as queen at Winchester. Meanwhile Stephen’s wife, Matilda of Boulogne, frantically attempted to secure her husband’s release, promising he would leave the country and live quietly. Matilda however refused, as she refused Matilda of Boulogne’s pleas to grant their son, Eustace, his inheritance – the lands Stephen had owned before he stole her crown.80 She carried on to London, expecting to be crowned. She was even joined by Stephen’s disaffected brother Henry, bishop of Winchester and now papal legate, who had welcomed her at his cathedral. The bishop had tired of his brother’s hollow promises to uphold the integrity of church freedoms, and was bitter that Stephen had not created him archbishop of Canterbury after William de Corbeil, Stephen’s advocate and the man who had placed the crown upon his head, died in 1136. Stephen dithered for two years, while Bishop Henry lobbied the pope for it. Ultimately however, fearing his brother’s increasing power, Stephen ignored his requests, and instead invited Theobald, prior of Bec in Normandy, to England. It was Theobald, and not Henry, who was consecrated archbishop on 8 January 1139.
But in the capital, Matilda antagonised Londoners, who resented her appointment of earls and levying of taxes. She was heavy-handed where she could have been conciliatory. Meanwhile Stephen’s wife, losing patience with the fruitless negotiations, raised an army and camped on the south bank of the River Thames, just outside the city of London. Londoners, besieged by two Matildas – one threatening pernicious taxes and assaults on their unique rights, and the other threatening them with battle – now decided for Stephen’s queen instead of their ‘Lady of the English’. On 24 June, while Matilda and her followers were celebrating with a feast at Westminster, Londoners declared for Stephen’s queen and attacked. They rang the city’s bells which notified its citizens to strike, and the queen presumptive abandoned her banquet and fled for her life to Oxford. Gerald of Wales left us with a damning comment on her failure: ‘She was swollen with insufferable pride by her success in war, and alienated the affections of nearly everyone. She was driven out of London.’ She was condemned for her pursuit of independent female power, no longer ‘Matilda the Good’.
Meanwhile Bishop Henry oscillated, disgusted at Matilda’s harsh treatment of Eustace. In the end, he did little to win the pope over for Matilda. When Innocent II ordered him to return to his erstwhile support for his brother, he deserted Matilda for Stephen’s queen.
Matilda retaliated with an army, which she took to Winchester, to besiege the bishop’s castle. But she was defeated. She fled, riding astride for speed, with her half-brother Reginald and Brian Fitz Count, while Robert stayed to cover her flight. Disaster ensued; Robert was caught by Flemish mercenaries loyal to the royalist William of Warenne, earl of Surrey, and was sent, a prisoner, by Stephen’s wife to Rochester Castle.
Had Matilda not estranged Londoners, but instead mollified them, pressing the claim of her young son, she might have been queen. Now, however, she was in a dreadful predicament. She had lost her most powerful ally.
Matilda determined to get him back, and although Robert begged his sister not to make a bargain, she insisted on swapping prisoners. On 1 November Stephen was released, in exchange for Robert’s freedom two days later. He hurried to his sister at Oxford where she had, once more, established her court.
Stephen’s capture at Lincoln, although it ultimately did nothing