es of a Grandfather_. Writing, as he often did, from general
impressions, in describing the gallant charge of Prince Henry, he states
that he broke the English line "as if it had been a spider's web."
Hoveden, the historian to whom Scott alludes, applies this strong image
to the scattering of the men of Lothian: "For the Almighty was offended
at them, and their strength was rent like a cobweb."]

The issue of the battle of the Standard might have given rest to England
if Stephen had understood the spirit of his age. In 1139 he engaged in a
contest more full of peril than the assaults of Scotland or the
disturbances of Wales. He had been successful against some of the
disaffected barons. He had besieged and taken Hereford Castle and
Shrewsbury Castle. Dover Castle had surrendered to his Queen. Robert,
Earl of Gloucester, kept possession of the castles of Bristol and Leeds;
and other nobles held out against him in various strong places. London
and some of the larger towns appear to have steadily clung to his
government. The influence of the Church, by which he had been chiefly
raised to sovereignty, had supported him during his four years of
struggle. But that influence was now to be shaken.

The rapid and steady growth of the ecclesiastical power in England, from
the period of the Conquest, is one of the most remarkable
characteristics of that age. This progress we must steadily keep in view
if we would rightly understand the general condition of society. All the
great offices of the Church, with scarcely an exception, were filled by
Normans. The Conqueror sternly resisted any attempts of bishops or
abbots to control his civil government. The "Red King" misappropriated
their revenues in many cases. Henry I quarrelled with Anselm about the
right of investiture, which the Pope declared should not be in the hands
of any layman, but Henry compromised a difficult question with his usual
prudence. Whatever difficulties the Church encountered, during seventy
years, and especially during the whole course of Henry's reign, wealth
flowed in upon the ecclesiastics, from king and noble, from burgess and
socman; and every improvement of the country increased the value of
church possessions. It was not only from the lands of the Crown and the
manors of earls that bishoprics and monasteries derived their large
endowments. Henry I founded the Abbey of Reading, but the _mimus_ of
Henry I built the priory and hospital of St. Bartholomew.