The party that favored the empress had become so powerful by the autumn of 1140 that, had she acted promptly, she would certainly have gained the prize she sought. But she did not enter England until Stephen had taken possession of the castles as well as of the great wealth of three bishops who had opposed him.
Consequently, when she took up her abode at Arundel Castle, Stephen might perfectly well have made her his prisoner; but he remembered what a debt of gratitude he owed to her father, and spared her for the sake of his benefactor. When she expressed her desire to remove to the Castle of Bristol, he was even so gallant as to offer his brother, the Bishop of Winchester, as escort, and to pledge his word that she should not be molested by the way.
[Original]
The Earl of Gloucester was still fighting for his sister's rights when Queen Matilda went, with her son Eustace, to France for the purpose of strengthening her husband's cause by the aid of her foreign relations. While there, a marriage was negotiated between Constance, sister of Louis I., and little Eustace, who was just four years old.
Matilda was still in France when the battle of Lincoln, so disastrous to Stephen's cause, was fought.
