[426] "In loco qui Stolibricge dicitur a Flammensibus cum comite Warrennensi captus" (Cont. Flor. Wig., p. 135). Cf. p. 134, and Will. Malms. (pp. 753, 758, 759), Gesta (p. 84), Sym. Dun. (ii. 311), Hen. Hunt. (p. 275). As in Matilda's flight from London, so in her flight from Winchester, the author of the Gesta appears to advantage with his descriptive and spirited account.
[427] "Hæc audiens domina, vehementer exterrita atque turbata, ad castellum quo tendebat de Ludkereshala tristis ac dolens advenit, sed ibi locum tutum quiescendi, propter metum episcopi, non invenit. Unde, hortantibus suis, equo iterum usu masculino supposita, atque ad Divisas perducta" (Cont. Flor. Wig., p. 134).
[428] "Castellum quod vocatur Divise, quo non erat aliud splendidius intra fines Europæ" (Hen. Hunt., p. 265). "Castellum ... multis et vix numerabilibus sumptibus, non (ut ipse præsul dictabat) ad ornamentum, sed (ut se rei veritas habet) ad ecclesiæ detrimentum, ædificatum" (Will. Malms., pp. 717, 718). It had been raised by the Bishop of Salisbury, and it passed, at his fall, into Stephen's hands. It is then described by the author of the Gesta (p. 66) as "castellum regis, quod Divisa dicebatur, ornanter et inexpugnabiliter muratum." It was subsequently surprised by Robert fitz Hubert, who held it for his own hand till his capture, when the Earl of Gloucester tried hard to extort its surrender from him. In this, however, he failed. Robert was hanged, and, soon after, his garrison sold it to Stephen, by whom it was entrusted to Hervey of Brittany, whom he seems to have made Earl of Wilts. But on Stephen's capture, the peasantry rose, and extorted its surrender from Hervey. Thenceforth, it was a stronghold of the Empress (see for this the Continuator and the Gesta).
[429] "Cum nec ibi secure se tutari posse, ob insequentes, formidaret, jam pene exanimis feretro invecta, et funibus quasi cadaver ligata, equis deferentibus, sat ignominiose ad civitatem deportatur Glaornensem" (Cont. Flor. Wig., 134). The author of the Gesta (p. 85) mentions her flight to Devizes ("Brieno tantum cum paucis comite, ad Divisas confugit"), and incidentally observes (p. 87) that she was "ex Wintoniensi dispersione quassa nimis, et usque ad defectum pené defatigata" (i.e. "tired to death;" cf. supra). John of Hexham merely says: "Et imperatrix quidem non sine magno conflictu et plurima difficultate erepta est" (Sym. Dun., ii. 310).
[430] Camden, in his Britannia, gives the story, but Knighton (De eventibus Angliæ, lib. ii., in Scriptores X.) seems to be the chief offender. Dugdale follows with the assertion that "she was necessitated ... for her more security to be put into a coffin, as a dead corps, to escape their hands" (i. 537 b). According to Milner (History of Winchester, p. 162), "she was enclosed like a corpse in a sheet of lead, and was thus suffered to pass in a horse-litter as if carried out for interment, through the army of her besiegers, a truce having been granted for this purpose." Even Edwards, in his introduction to the Liber de Hyda (p. xlviii.), speaks of "the raising of the siege; a raising precipitated, if we accept the accounts of Knighton and some other chroniclers who accord with him, by the strange escape of the Empress Maud from Winchester Castle concealed in a leaden coffin." Sic crescit eundo.
[431] Will. Malms., p. 754.
[432] See donation of Miles (Monasticon, vi. 137), stated to have been made in their presence, and in the year 1141, in which he speaks of himself as "apud Bristolium positus, jamque consulatus honorem adeptus." Brian had escorted the Empress in her flight, but Miles, intercepted by the enemy, had barely escaped with his life ("de solâ vita lætus ad Glaornam cum dedecore fugiendo pervenit lassus, solus, et pene nudus."—Cont. Flor. Wig., p. 135).
CHAPTER VII.
THE SECOND CHARTER OF THE KING.
The liberation of the king from his captivity was hailed with joy by his adherents, and not least, we may be sure, in his loyal city of London. The greatness of the event is seen, perhaps, in the fact that it is even mentioned in a private London deed of the time, executed "Anno MCXLI., Id est in exitu regis Stephani de captione Roberti filii regis Henrici."[432]