And so to the second siege of Norwich Castle … 1136: King Stephen, having survived a brush with death by arse-gravy, entered the city, probably still walking a little gingerly and set out his siege lines.
At which point rebel Earl Hugh Bigod bravely surrendered and pledged fealty to his new sovereign. As you shall learn in coming chapters, the Bigods made an almost obsessional habit of switching sides the wrong way and yet somehow they always managed to survive.
Stephen accepted Hugh's surrender but promptly booted him out of Norwich Castle and replaced him with his own son, William of Blois, who now moved in - via Hugh's recently completed flat-roofed porch extension - and was named the new Earl of Norfolk.
The citizens of Norwich had their liberties and benefits removed by King Stephen, which was hardly fair as they hated the Bigods for having robbed them blind for years.
Hugh Bigod was given the meaningless title Earl of the East Angles, deprived of his old income and sent to the family home of Bungay Castle to skulk and sulk.
Three years later, in 1139, Stephen eased up a bit on the citizens of Norwich, granting their liberties back for a bribe of twenty-five pounds, so desperate was he for cash as Matilda had just invaded.
The good folk of Norwich ponied up and breathed a big sigh of relief, but they sighed too soon, as Hugh Bigod, understandably hacked off at having to live in Bungay, declared for Empress Matilda against the king. Stephen immediately seized back the liberties of Norwich and the citizens rolled their eyes and probably said some nasty words and muttered and rhubarbed amongst themselves.
Their revolt - the first of many … we're pretty revolting around here - will feature in a future chapter.
Meanwhile, King Stephen stomped off to Bungay Castle and took it from Hugh Bigod. Amazingly, Hugh managed to retain his head but was now drafted into the king's army and the next we hear of him he is fighting on the king's side at the First Battle of Lincoln two years later.
Bit of a bummer for Hugh then, that the king lost that one …
King Stephen by all accounts behaved with honour and bravery that day. After hours of terrible bloodshed and slaughter Stephen was overwhelmed and surrounded, his earls and knights - including with yawning predictability, Hugh Bigod - abandoning him and fleeing the field; the king himself rather heroically berserking on foot until his sword broke and then, having grabbed a battle axe, laying about him until he broke that as well.
Eventually, bloodied, battered and knackered, someone hit him over the head with a rock. All very chivalrous. King Stephen was captured, carted off to Gloucester and then on to Bristol Castle where he was held in chains by Empress Matilda.
Next time: The Matilda versus Matilda Smackdown!
Sources:
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (various): C. Clark (ed): 1970
Historia Novella: William of Malmesbury. In translation as William of Malmesbury's Chronicle of the Kings of England from the Earliest Period to the Reign of King Stephen: J. A. Giles: 2016
Historia Anglorum: Henry of Huntingdon: In translation as The History of the English People, 1000 - 1154: Diana Greenway: Oxford World Classics: 2009
The Chronicle of John of Worcester, Volume 3: 1067 - 1140: In translation by R. R. Darlington: Oxford Mediæval Texts: 1995
Gesta Stephani: In translation by K. R. Potter and R. H. C. Davis: Oxford Mediæval Texts: 1976
Feudal Documents from Bury St. Edmunds: British Academy Records of the Social and Economic History of England and Wales: Donald C. Douglas: 1932
Francis Blomefield: An Essay Towards a Topographical History of the
County of Norfolk: Volume 3: The History of the City and County of
Norwich: 1753 to 1775
The Oxford History of England: 1087-1216: From Domesday to Magna Carta: Austin L. Poole (ed): 1951
The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign: Edmund King (ed): 1994
Norwich Castle Keep: Romanesque Architecture and Social Context: T. A. Heslop: 1994
Stephen and Matilda : The Civil War of 1139 - 1153: Jim Bradbury: 2005
The Pipe Roll Society: Archive Editions (various): online resource
2 comments:
You need to write
Wait, scratch that.
I need you to write an updated version of "A History of the English Speaking Peoples."
Hee hee, Petrea … Now I'm on furlough I may do just that. A Horrid History of the English Speaking Peoples sounds a splendid idea.
Post a Comment