Alexander of Lincoln - Reign of Stephen

Reign of Stephen

After Henry's death in 1135 the succession was disputed between the king's nephews—Stephen and his elder brother Theobald II, Count of Champagne—and Henry's surviving legitimate child Matilda, usually known as the Empress Matilda because of her first marriage to the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry V. King Henry's only legitimate son, William, had died in 1120. After Matilda was widowed in 1125 she returned to her father, who married her to Geoffrey, Count of Anjou. All the magnates of England and Normandy were required to declare fealty to Matilda as Henry's heir, but after Henry I's death in 1135 Stephen rushed to England and had himself crowned, before Theobald or Matilda could react. The Norman barons accepted Stephen as Duke of Normandy, and Theobald contented himself with his possessions in France. But Matilda was less sanguine and secured the support of the Scottish king, David, her maternal uncle, and in 1138 that of her half-brother, Robert, Earl of Gloucester, an illegitimate son of Henry I.

The election of Theobald of Bec to the Archbishopric of Canterbury was announced at the Council of Westminster in 1138. The medieval chronicler Gervase of Canterbury writes that 17 bishops attended the council, which implies that Alexander was present. After a failed expedition to Normandy in 1137, the influence of Alexander's uncle, Roger of Salisbury, waned at the court of King Stephen, but the king took no action against the family that might incite them to rebel. In early 1139 Stephen may have named William d'Aubigny as Earl of Lincoln, perhaps in an effort to limit Alexander's influence in Lincolnshire.

In June 1139 a knight was killed during a fight in Oxford between a party of Roger of Salisbury's men and a group of noblemen. The king ordered Roger to attend his court to explain the circumstances of the incident and to surrender custody of his castles, which Roger refused to do, resulting in his and Alexander's arrest; Roger's other nephew, Nigel, evaded capture. Another possible explanation for the arrests is offered by the Gesta Stephani, a contemporary chronicle, which reported the king's fear that Roger and his nephews were plotting to hand their castles to the Empress Matilda. Stephen may alternatively have been attempting to assert his rights over the castles, and demonstrate his authority over powerful subjects. Alexander was imprisoned in Oxford, in conditions described by some medieval chroniclers as bad.

Since the work of Henry of Huntingdon, who wrote in the years before 1154 and who regarded Stephen's actions as treachery against the clergy that earned him punishment from God, Alexander's arrest has been seen by many historians as a turning point in Stephen's reign. Writing in the 1870s, the historian William Stubbs felt that the arrest destroyed the royal administration, but modern historians have advanced differing explanations for the troubles that followed, not all of which are related to the bishop's arrest.

After Roger and Alexander's arrests Nigel defied the king. The bishops' castles refused to surrender to the king, therefore Stephen threatened to starve Alexander and Roger until they did. Sleaford and Newark surrendered and were given into the custody of Robert, the Earl of Leicester. Earl Robert also seized some of Lincoln's episcopal estates that had been disputed between the earl and the bishop. Alexander subsequently excommunicated Earl Robert when the earl refused to return the castle to Alexander's custody. Alexander then successfully applied to Pope Innocent II in 1139 for support in his efforts to recover Newark castle from Earl Robert.

Stephen's brother, Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester and one of the king's main supporters, had recently been appointed papal legate. Henry objected to Stephen's actions in arresting the bishops and confiscating their property, as they were in contravention of canon law. Henry called a legatine council, a church council convened by a papal legate, at Winchester to discuss the issue, which ended in nothing being done, although both sides threatened excommunication and stated they would appeal to Rome and the papacy for support. Alexander did not attend the council of Winchester, but his uncle did. He seems to have borne Stephen no ill will over the arrest, and worked with the king during Stephen's later reign.

In 1141 Alexander and the citizens of the town of Lincoln requested that Stephen come to Lincoln and intercede with Ranulf de Gernon, the Earl of Chester, who was attempting to enforce what he regarded as his rights to Lincoln Castle. Stephen arrived and besieged Ranulf's wife and half-brother in the castle, but the earl escaped and sought aid from Robert of Gloucester, Matilda's half-brother and leading supporter. Following Robert's arrival in Lincoln a battle took place there on 2 February 1141, during which Stephen was captured by Matilda's forces. Alexander was present at Oxford in July 1141, when the Empress Matilda held court and attempted to consolidate her hold on England. The citizens of London objected to Matilda's rule when she arrived in their city, and drove her away; Robert of Gloucester was captured shortly afterwards. This reversal of the Empress' fortunes resulted in Stephen's release, after he was exchanged for Robert. The next few years, until 1148, saw a period of civil war in England, often called The Anarchy, when neither Matilda nor Stephen controlled the country.