Nigel (Bishop of Ely) - Arrest of The Bishops

Arrest of The Bishops

In 1139, supporters of Roger and his family brawled in public with some men who supported Alan of Brittany. The brawl may have been provoked by the Beaumonts, for Alan was often associated with them. At a court held at Oxford in June 1139, Stephen required Roger of Salisbury, Alexander of Lincoln, and Nigel to surrender their castles as a consequence of the brawl. When Roger and his family delayed, the king ordered their arrest. Nigel managed to escape arrest by fleeing to the castle of Devizes, and the king followed and began a siege. The king threatened to hang Roger in front of the castle unless it capitulated, and Nigel, under pressure from Roger's wife, surrendered the castle after the siege had lasted three days. All three bishops then submitted and surrendered their secular offices and castles. They were, however, allowed to retain their dioceses. Nigel surrendered Newark Castle and Sleaford Castle, both of which had been constructed by Alexander. Stephen promptly gave Newark to Robert, Earl of Leicester, who was in turn excommunicated by Alexander of Lincoln.

Stephen's brother, Henry of Blois, who was Bishop of Winchester and papal legate in England, called an ecclesiastical council at Winchester on 29 August 1139, and summoned the king to answer charges that he had unlawfully arrested clergy. The king refused to attend, and sent a representative instead. After meeting for a few days, the council was dismissed on 1 September without deciding anything except to appeal to the pope in Rome. In the end, the appeal never reached Rome. Part of the problem confronting the assembled bishops was that Stephen had not expelled Roger's family from their ecclesiastical offices, merely their secular ones. Stephen's representatives argued that the bishops had given up their castles and money voluntarily to avoid secular charges. The defence taken by the king was not novel; it had been used before by William I and William II against Odo of Bayeux and William de St-Calais, respectively.

Traditionally, the arrest of the bishops has been seen as a turning point in Stephen's reign, and the event that turned the ecclesiastical hierarchy against him. Recent historians have held a lively debate on the issue; a few still hold to the traditional interpretation, but most have decided that reactions in the English church were more ambivalent. One modern historian, David Crouch, believes that the arrest of the bishops signalled the beginnings of the Anarchy, not because of any alienation of the church, but through court politics, where Stephen showed himself incapable of manipulating the factions of his court. The ascendency of the Beaumonts was marked by the placement of one of their protégés, Philip de Harcourt, as Chancellor.

Roger died in December 1139 while in the king's custody. After the death of his uncle, Nigel, then in East Anglia, revolted. In January 1140, he fortified the Isle of Ely, but was soon besieged and forced to flee. Even his own cathedral chapter refused to support him, and his revolt collapsed in January. Nigel took refuge at the court of Stephen's rival, the Empress Matilda, who had landed in England in the south on 30 September 1139 in a bid to take the throne. The revolt stood little chance of succeeding, for there were no supporters of Matilda close to East Anglia, and it is likely that Nigel reacted more out of fear and anger at his uncle's death than anything else. It appears likely that Nigel appealed to Pope Innocent II at this time, for in October 1140 Innocent issued a papal bull, or papal instruction, ordering the restoration to Nigel of the lands of his bishopric, and it appears that after the capture of Stephen, Matilda managed to restore Nigel to Ely briefly. In 1141, Nigel, along with his brother Alexander, was one of the supporters of Matilda who, after the capture of Stephen by Matilda's forces, reached an agreement with Henry of Blois to replace Stephen with Matilda on the throne. Ultimately, this agreement came to nothing when Matilda's chief supporter, her half-brother Robert of Gloucester, was captured and later exchanged for Stephen. Stephen's release meant that the king was free to send Geoffrey de Mandeville against Nigel, and Nigel submitted to the king, probably in 1142.