Stephen & Matilda: The Civil War of 1139-53 by Bradbury Jim

Author:Bradbury, Jim [Bradbury, Jim]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2011-10-20T23:00:00+00:00

THE ROUT OF WINCHESTER

There were two castles in Winchester: the royal castle, which Matilda had already claimed, and the bishop’s own stronghold, Wolvesey Castle, which has recently been reopened to public viewing. It was one of a series of magnificent buildings for which the bishop was responsible. Henry seems to have taken the first step in the conflict which was now to rage around his city, by besieging the royal castle, held for the empress. Then he waited to see her response. There was not long to wait. Matilda arrived with a besieging army on 31 July 1141. Bishop Henry, who had ‘often turned over in his own mind how he could rescue his brother’, had put his own castle into a position of defence in anticipation of a siege, and sent to Queen Matilda for aid.36 He did not wait to be caught there, and escaped on a swift horse from one gate, as the empress entered by another.37 But he left his men there to defy Matilda from within the town, while he, having gathered men from his own castles, joined the queen’s forces outside.

Matilda was able to enter the town, relieve the royal castle, and besiege that of the bishop. But now she became caught in her own trap. In August a second force arrived outside Winchester. Queen Matilda and William of Ypres, having claimed London, had marched on in pursuit of the Angevins. Now they proceeded to blockade the town. So there was a double siege: Wolvesey besieged by the empress, and the town surrounded by the royalists. ‘Everywhere outside the walls of Winchester the roads were being watched by the queen and the earls, to prevent provisions being brought in to the partisans of the empress.’38 Only a few supplies could be smuggled through the lines from the west, and many of those trying to sneak through, were killed or captured and tortured. The royalists on the other hand were well supplied from London and the east, and could afford to take their time.

On 2 August Winchester was fired, thus denying Matilda both shelter and provisions. Henry of Blois himself is said to have ordered the burning, which was probably started by his men from within Wolvesey Castle.39 Hyde Abbey and Saint Mary’s nunnery within the city were destroyed by the flames. A great jewel-encrusted cross given to the abbey by Cnut was roasted by the heat, and ‘began to sweat and grow black … and at the very moment of its catching fire a terrible crash of thunder cracked three times from the heavens’.40 By September the Angevins were feeling the pinch of the blockade. They were probably also outnumbered, since the queen’s army had been reinforced by volunteers from the city militia of London, as well as various barons who were returning to the royal allegiance, including Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex.

The sequence of events during the siege of Winchester has been a matter of debate, since the chronicles are not entirely in agreement, but the main outline and outcome are not in doubt.

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