Page:The Queens of England.djvu/48

36 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. where Matilda, the wife of Stephen, supported by her son Eustace, and William d'Ypres, maintained his cause. The news of Stephen's defeat also enabled the Earl of Anjou, without much difficulty, to prevail upon the Normans to acknowledge Matilda for their queen. The next step of the empress was to gain over Stephen's brother, the Bishop of Winchester, which she effected by prom- ising him the disposal of all church preferment. By him Matilda was put in immediate possession of Winchester Castle, with the royal treasure, including the sceptre and crown. Possessed of these ensigns of royalty, she caused herself to be proclaimed queen, and was led in procession to the cathedral by the bishop, who, as the pope's legate, walked on her right hand, while the Bishop of St. David's, as Primate of Wales, attended on her left ; the Bishops of Ely and Bath, and many temporal barons, following. The legate then proceeded to absolve the friends of Matilda, and to excommunicate her enemies ; and when deputies arrived to petition for the liberation of Stephen, it was refused by this prelate. Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, next swore allegiance to Matilda. She now advanced to Wilton, Reading, and Ox- ford, and received at the later place the keys of the city and the homage of the people. London at last declared for her, and she entered with great magnificence. All opposition was now at an end. Preparations were commenced for her coronation, and she took up her residence at the palace of Westminster. But the empress, elated with her prosperity, laid the founda- tions of her own downfall ; she treated those who had been her enemies with disdain and insolence ; displeased the clergy, and offended her friends by her haughtiness, and by the rudeness with which she refused their requests. She seemed to think v the English a subdued nation upon whom she might trample at pleasure. Vain of her own opinion, she even slighted the ad- vice of her uncle, David, King of Scotland, who came to visit her, and that of her brother, to whom she owed her present success. When Matilda, the wife of Stephen, wrote to her, interceding for her husband's freedom, and engaging that he should re- nounce his pretensions to the crown, depart the kingdom, and pass the remainder of his life in a monastery, the new queen disdainfully rejected these proposals, and forbade the unhappy wife to make further application. Thus did the empress create