shelter of the fens.

Hither flocked the partisans of Maud; hither came Stephen, filled with
warlike fury. He lacked the qualities that make a king, but he had those
that go to make a soldier. The methods of the Conqueror in attacking
Hereward were followed by Stephen in assailing his foes. Bridges of
boats were built across the fens; over these the king's cavalry made
their way to the firm soil of the island; a fierce conflict ensued,
ending in the rout of the soldiers of Baldwin and Lenior. The bishop
fled to Gloucester, whither Maud had now proceeded.

Thus far the king had kept the field, while his rival lay intrenched in
her strongholds. But her party was earnestly at work. The barons of the
Welsh marches, whose castles had been damaged by the king, repaired
them. Even the towers of the great churches were filled with war-engines
and converted into fortresses, ditches being dug in the church-yards
around, with little regard to the fact that the bones of the dead were
unearthed and scattered over the soil. The Norman bishops, completely
armed, and mounted on war-horses, took part in these operations, and
were no more scrupulous than the barons in torturing the English to
force from them their hoarded gold and silver.

Those were certainly not the days of merry England. Nor were they days
of pious England, when the heads of the church, armed with sword and
spear, led armies against their foes. In this they were justified by
the misrule of Stephen, who had shown his utter unfitness to rule. In
truth, a bishop ended that first phase of the war. The Bishop of Chester
rallied the troops which had fled from Ely. These grew by rapid
accretions until a new army was in the field. Stephen attacked it, but
the enemy held their own, and his troops were routed. They fled on all