Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

STEPHEN (1097?-1154)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 882 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

STEPHEN (1097?-1154)  , See also:king of See also:England, was the third son of See also:Stephen See also:Henry, See also:count of See also:Blois and See also:Chartres, and, throughhis See also:mother Adela, a See also:grandson of See also:William the Conqueror . See also:Born some See also:time before 1lot, he was still a boy when he was taken into favour by his See also:uncle, Henry I. of England . From Henry he received the See also:honour of See also:knighthood and the See also:county of See also:Mortain . In 1118 he severed his connexion with Blois and Chartres, renouncing his hereditary claims in favour of his See also:elder See also:brother See also:Theobald . But he acquired the county of See also:Boulogne by marrying See also:Matilda (c . 1103-1152), the heiress of Count Eustace III. and a niece of Henry's first wife . The old king arranged this match after the untimely loss of his son, William Atheling, in the tragedy of the See also:White See also:Ship; until 1125 Stephen was regarded as the probable See also:heir to the See also:English See also:throne . But the return of the widowed empress Matilda (q.v.) to her See also:father's See also:court changed the situation . Henry compelled Stephen and the See also:rest of his barons to acknowledge the empress as their future ruler (1126) . Seven years later these oaths were renewed; and in addition the ultimate claims of Matilda's See also:infant son, Henry of See also:Anjou, were recognized (1133) . But the See also:death of Henry I. found the empress absent from England . Stephen seized the opportunity .

He hurried across the Channel and began to See also:

canvass for supporters, arguing that his oaths to Matilda were taken under See also:coercion, and that she, as the daughter of a professed See also:nun, was illegitimate . He was raised to the throne by the Londoners, the See also:official baronage and the See also:clergy; his most influential supporters were the old See also:justiciar, See also:Robert, See also:bishop of See also:Salisbury, and his own brother Henry, bishop of See also:Winchester . See also:Innocent II. was induced by Bishop Henry to ratify the See also:election, and Stephen thus cleared himself from the stain of See also:perjury . Two charters of liberties, issued in rapid See also:succession, confirmed the King's See also:alliance with the See also:Church and earned the See also:good will of the nation . But his supporters traded upon his notorious facility and the unstable nature of his See also:power . Extortionate concessions were demanded by the See also:great barons, and particularly by See also:Earl Robert of See also:Gloucester, the See also:half-brother of the empress . The clergy insisted that neither their goods nor their persons should be subject to See also:secular See also:jurisdiction . Stephen endeavoured to See also:free himself from the See also:control of such interested supporters by creating a See also:mercenary See also:army and a royalist party . This led at once to a rupture between himself and Earl Robert (1138), which was the See also:signal for sporadic rebellions . Soon afterwards the king attacked the bishops of Salisbury, See also:Ely and See also:Lincoln—a powerful See also:family clique who stood at the, See also:head of the official baronage—and, not content with seizing their castles, subjected them to See also:personal See also:outrage and detention . The result was that the clergy, headed by his brother, the bishop of Winchester, declared against him (1139) . In the midst of these difficulties he had See also:left the western See also:marches at the See also:mercy of the Welsh, and the See also:defence of the See also:northern shires against See also:David of See also:Scotland had devolved upon the barons of See also:Yorkshire .

Stephen was thoroughly discredited when the empress at length appeared in England (See also:

Sept . 30, 1139) . Through a misplaced sense of See also:chivalry he declined to take an opportunity of seizing her See also:person . She was therefore able to join her half-brother at Gloucester, to obtain recognition in the western and See also:south-western shires, and to contest the royal See also:title for eight years . Stephen's initial errors were aggravated by See also:bad See also:general-ship . He showed remarkable See also:energy in hurrying from one centre of See also:rebellion to another; but he never ventured to attack the headquarters of the empress . In 1141 he was surprised and captured while besieging Lincoln See also:Castle . The empress in consequence reigned for six months as "See also:Lady (Domino) of the English"; See also:save for her faults of See also:temper the cause of Stephen would never have been retrieved . But, later in the See also:year, his supporters were able to procure his See also:release in See also:exchange for the earl of Gloucester . After an obstinate See also:siege he expelled Matilda from See also:Oxford (Dec . 1142) and compelled her to fall back upon the See also:west . The next five years witnessed anarchy such as England had never before experienced .

Phoenix-squares

England See also:

north of the Ribble and the See also:Tyne had passed into the hands c f David of Scotland and his son, See also:Prince Henry; Ranulf earl of See also:Chester was constructing an See also:independent principality; on the west the raids of the Angevin party, in the See also:east and midlands the excesses of such rebels as See also:Geoffrey de See also:Mandeville, earl of See also:Essex, turned considerable districts into wildernesses . Meanwhile Geoffrey of Anjou, the See also:husband of the empress, completed the See also:conquest of See also:Normandy (1144) . In 1147 the situation improved for Stephen; Robert of Gloucester, the ablest of the Angevin partisans, died, and the empress left England in despair . But her son soon appeared in England to renew the struggle (1149) and conciliate new supporters . Soon after his return to Normandy Henry was invested by his father with the duchy (1150) . He succeeded to Anjou in 1151; next year he acquired the duchy of See also:Aquitaine by See also:marriage . Stephen struggled hard to secure the succession for Eustace, his elder son . But he had quarrelled with See also:Rome respecting a vacancy in the see of See also:York; the See also:pope forbade the English bishops to consecrate Eustace (1151) ; and there was a general unwillingness to prolong the See also:civil See also:war . Worn out by incessant conflicts, the king bowed to the inevitable when Henry next appeared in England (1153) . Negotiations were opened; and Stephen's last hesitations disappeared when Eustace was carried off by a sudden illness . See also:Late in 1153 the king acknowledged Henry as his heir, only stipulating that the earldom of See also:Surrey and his private estates should be guaranteed to his surviving son, William: The king and the See also:duke agreed to co-operate for the repression of anarchy; but Stephen died before this See also:work was more than begun (Oct . 1154) .

On his great See also:

seal Stephen is represented as tall and robust, bearded, and of an open countenance . He was See also:frank and generous; his occasional acts of duplicity were planned reluctantly and never carried to their logical conclusion . High spirited and proud of his dignity, he lived to repent, without being able to undo, the ruinous concessions by which he had See also:con-ciliated supporters . In warfare he showed courage, but little generalship; as a statesman he failed in his dealings with the Church, which he alternately humoured and thwarted . He was a generous See also:patron of religious See also:foundations; and some pleasing anecdotes suggest that his personal See also:character deserves more See also:commendation than his See also:record as a king . See the Gesta See also:Stephan, See also:Richard of See also:Hexham, "Eked of Rievaux' Relatio de Standardo, and the See also:chronicle of Robert de Torigni, all in R . Howlett's See also:Chronicles of the Reins of Stephen, &c . (4 vols., See also:London, 1884—1889) ; Ordenc Vitalis s Historia ecclesiastica, ed . Le See also:Prevost (5 vols., See also:Paris, 1838—1855) ; William of See also:Malmesbury's Historia novella, ed . W . See also:Stubbs (London, 1889) ; See also:John of See also:Worcester's Continuation of See also:Florence, ed . J .

H . See also:

Weaver (Oxford, 19o8); the See also:Peterborough Chronicle, ed . C . Plummer (1892—1899) . Of See also:modern See also:works see See also:Miss K . Norgate's England under the Angevin See also:Kings, vol. i . (London, 1887) ; O . RSssler's Kaiserin Mathilde (See also:Berlin, 1897) ; J . H . See also:Round's Geoffrey de Mandeville (London, 1892) ; H . W . C. avis's " The Anarchy of Stephen's Reign" in Eng .

Hist . See also:

Review for 1903 . (H . W . C .

End of Article: STEPHEN (1097?-1154)
[back]
STEPHEN
[next]
STEPHEN (ISTVAN) BATHORY (1533-1586)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.