[605] "Obsides poposcit sigillatim ab his qui optimates videbantur, secum in Normannia ducendos, vadesque futuros tam comiti Andegavensi quam imperatrici quod omnes, junctis umbonibus ab ea, dum ipse abesset, injurias propulsarent, viribus suis apud Oxeneford manentes" (Will. Malms., p. 764). The phrase "junctis umbonibus" revives memories of the shield-wall. See also Appendix S.
[606] "Civitatem ... ita comes Gloecestrie fossatis munierat, ut inexpugnabilis præter per incendium videretur" (ibid., p. 766).
[607] Gesta, pp. 87, 88.
[608] Gesta, p. 88.
[609] "Tribus diebus ante festum Sancti Michaelis" (Will. Malms., p. 766).
[610] See the brilliant description of this action in the Gesta Stephani, pp. 88, 89.
[611] "Mox igitur optimates quidem omnes imperatricis, confusi quia a domina sua præter statutum abfuerant, confertis cuneis ad Walengeford convenerunt," etc. (Will. Malms., p. 766).
[612] Dr. Stubbs has erroneously placed his landing in 1141 instead of in the autumn of 1142. See Appendix Y, on "The First and Second Visits of Henry II. to England."
[613] Will. Malms., pp. 767, 768.
[614] See, for the story of her romantic escape, the Gesta Stephani (pp. 89, 90), William of Malmesbury (pp. 768, 769), John of Hexham (Sym. Dun., ii. 317), William of Newburgh (i. 43), and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (p. 384). This last is of special value for its mention of her escape from the tower of the castle. It states that Stephen "besæt hire in the tur," and that she was on the night of her escape let down by ropes from the tower ("me læt hire dun on niht of the tur mid rapes"). It is difficult to see how this can mean anything else than that she was lowered to the ground from the existing tower, instead of leaving by a gate.