He reigned, then, thirty-five years, and from the nones of August to the kalends of December, that is, four months, wanting four days. Engaged in hunting at Lihun, he was taken suddenly ill. His malady increasing, he summoned to him, Hugo, whom, from prior of Lewes, he had made abbat of Reading, and afterwards archbishop of Rouen, who was justly indebted to him and his heirs for such great favours. The report of his sickness quickly gathered the nobility around him. Robert, too, his son, the earl of Gloucester, was present; who, from his unblemished fidelity and matchless virtue, has deserved to be especially signalized throughout all ages. Being interrogated by these persons, as to his successor, he awarded all his territories, on either side of the sea, to his daughter, in legitimate and perpetual succession; being somewhat displeased with her husband, as he had irritated him both by threats and by certain injuries. Having passed the seventh day of his sickness, he yielded to nature about midnight. I waive describing his magnanimous character in this place, as I have been diffuse upon it in the fifth book of my Regal History. In how Christian a manner he departed, the following epistle of the aforesaid archbishop of Rouen, will testify.
[A.D. 1093.] DEATH OF HENRY I.
“To his lord and father, pope Innocent, due obedience from his servant, Hugo, priest of Rouen. I have deemed it proper to write to your fatherly affection concerning the king my master, never to be remembered but with grief: for, being seized with sudden sickness, he wished for me to console his sufferings, and sent messengers as soon as possible for that purpose. I went, and passed three melancholy days with him. Agreeably to my suggestion, he confessed his sins, he beat his breast, and he laid aside all his animosities. Through the grace of God, and through our advice and that of the bishops, he promised to attend to the amendment of his life. Under this promise, according to our office, on the third day, and three days successively, we gave him absolution. He devoutly adored the cross of our Lord, received his body and blood; bestowed his alms thus; saying, ‘Let my debts be paid, let the wages[547] and stipends which I owe be discharged, let the remainder be distributed to the poor.’ I wish they who held, and do hold, his treasures had done thus. At last I earnestly stated to him our duty concerning the unction of the sick, which the church adopted from the apostle St. James, and, at his own devout request, I anointed him with holy oil. Thus he rested in peace; and may God grant him the peace he loved.” These circumstances relating to the faith of king Henry when dying, were truly attested by the aforesaid archbishop of Rouen.
The body, royally attended and borne by the nobility in turn, was brought to Rouen; where, in a certain retired part of the principal church, it was embowelled, lest, through time, becoming putrid, it should offend the senses of those who approached it. The intestines were buried in the monastery of St. Mary des Prees, near the city, which, as I hear, he had honoured with no mean presents, as it had been begun by his mother. His body was kept at Caen, till the season, which was then very boisterous, became more tranquil. In the meantime, Stephen earl of Moreton and Boulogne, nephew of king Henry, as I have before said, who, after the king of Scotland, was the first layman that had sworn fidelity to the empress, hastened his return into England by Whitsand. The empress, from certain causes, as well as her brother, Robert earl of Gloucester, and almost all the nobility, delayed returning to the kingdom. However, some castles in Normandy, the principal of which was Danfrunt, espoused the party of the heiress. Moreover, it is well known, that, on the day on which Stephen disembarked in England, there was, very early in the morning, contrary to the nature of winter in these countries, a terrible peal of thunder, with most dreadful lightning, so that the world seemed well-nigh about to be dissolved. He was received, however, as king, by the people of London and of Winchester, and gained over also Roger bishop of Salisbury, and William Pont de L’Arche, the keepers of the royal treasures. Yet, not to conceal the truth from posterity, all his attempts would have been vain, had not his brother, Henry bishop of Winchester, who is now legate of the papal see in England, granted him his entire support: allured indeed by the fullest expectation that Stephen would follow the example of his grandfather William in the management of the kingdom, and more especially in the strictness of ecclesiastical discipline. In consequence, when Stephen was bound by the rigorous oath which William archbishop of Canterbury required from him, concerning restoring and preserving the liberty of the church, the bishop of Winchester became his pledge and surety. The written tenor of this oath, I shall be careful hereafter to insert in its proper place.
[A.D. 1135.] STEPHEN, KING OF ENGLAND.
Stephen, therefore, was crowned king of England on Sunday the eleventh[548] before the kalends of January, the twenty-second day after the decease of his uncle, anno Dom. 1135, in the presence of three bishops, that is, the archbishop, and those of Winchester and Salisbury; but there were no abbats, and scarcely any of the nobility. He was a man of activity, but imprudent: strenuous in war; of great mind in attempting works of difficulty; mild and compassionate to his enemies, and affable to all. Kind, as far as promise went; but sure to disappoint in its truth and execution. Whence he soon afterwards neglected the advice of his brother, befriended by whose assistance, as I have said, he had supplanted his adversaries and obtained the kingdom.
In the year of our Lord 1135, on the prevalence of gentler gales, the body of king Henry was, immediately after Christmas, put on ship-board, and brought to England; and, in the presence of his successor in the kingdom, was buried at the monastery of Reading, which he had liberally endowed, and filled with an order of monks of singular piety. Shortly after, a little before Lent, king Stephen went into Northumberland, that he might have a conference with David king of Scotland, who was said to entertain hostile sentiments towards him. From David he readily obtained what he wished; because, being softened by the natural gentleness of his manners, or by the approach of old age, he willingly embraced the tranquillity of peace, real or pretended.
In the same year, after Easter, Robert earl of Gloucester, of whose prudence Stephen chiefly stood in awe, came to England. While he was yet resident in Normandy, he had most earnestly considered, what line of conduct he should determine upon in the present state of affairs. If he became subject to Stephen, it seemed contrary to the oath he had sworn to his sister; if he opposed him, he saw that he could nothing benefit her or his nephews, though he must grievously injure himself. For the king, as I said before, had an immense treasure, which his uncle had been accumulating for many years. His coin, and that of the best quality,[549] was estimated at a hundred thousand pounds; besides which, there were vessels of gold and silver, of great weight, and inestimable value, collected by the magnificence of preceding kings, and chiefly by Henry.[550] A man possessed of such boundless treasures, could not want supporters, more especially as he was profuse, and, what by no means becomes a prince, even prodigal. Soldiers of all kinds, and light-armed troops, were flocking to him, chiefly from Flanders and Brittany. These were a most rapacious and violent race of men; who made no scruple to violate church-yards,[551] or rob a church. Moreover, not only would they drag men of the religious order from their horses, but also make them captive: and this was done not merely by foreigners, but even by the native soldiers, who had abhorred the tranquillity of king Henry’s time, because it subjected them to a life of poverty. All these most readily resorted to the prince whom they could easily incline to their purposes, pushing their fortune at the expense of the people. Stephen, indeed, before he came to the throne, from his complacency of manners, and readiness to joke, and sit, and regale, even with low people, had gained so much on their affections, as is hardly to be conceived: and already had all the nobility of England willingly acknowledged him. The most prudent earl therefore was extremely desirous to convince them of their misconduct, and recall them to wiser sentiments by his presence; for, to oppose Stephen’s power, he was unable, from the causes aforesaid: indeed he had not the liberty of coming to England, unless, appearing as a partaker of their revolt, he dissembled for a time his secret intentions. He did homage to the king, therefore, under a certain condition; namely, so long as he should preserve his rank entire, and maintain his engagements to him; for having long since scrutinized Stephen’s disposition, he foresaw the instability of his faith.
[A.D. 1135.] KING STEPHEN’S CHARTER.
In the same year, soon after the earl’s arrival, the bishops swore fidelity to the king, “so long as he should maintain the liberty of the church, and the vigour of its discipline.” He himself also swore according to the tenor of the following instrument.