King's defeat and imprisonment, reduced without any difficulty the
whole Duchy of Normandy to his obedience.

The legate himself, although brother to King Stephen, received her at
Winchester with great solemnity, accepted her oath for governing with
justice, redressing grievances, and supporting the rights of the Church,
and took the old conditional one of fealty to her; then in an assembly
of bishops and clergy convoked for the purpose, he displayed the
miscarriages of his brother, and declared his approbation of the Empress
to be Queen; to which they unanimously agreed. To complete all, he
prevailed by his credit with the Londoners, who stood out the last of
any, to acknowledge and receive her into the city, where she arrived at
length in great pomp, and with general satisfaction.

But it was the misfortune of this Princess to possess many weaknesses
that are charged to the sex, and very few of its commendable qualities:
she was now in peaceable possession of the whole kingdom, except the
county of Kent, where William d'Ypres pretended to keep up a small party
for the King; when by her pride, wilfulness, indiscretion, and a
disobliging behaviour, she soon turned the hearts of all men against
her, and in a short time lost the fruits of that victory and success
which had been so hardly gained by the prudence and valour of her
excellent brother. The first occasion she took to discover the
perverseness of her nature, was in the treatment of Maud, the wife of
King Stephen, a lady of great virtue, and courage above her sex, who,
coming to the Empress an humble suitor in behalf of her husband,
offered, as a price of his liberty, that he should resign all
pretensions to the crown, and pass the rest of his life in exile, or in
a convent: but this request was rejected with scorn and reproaches; and
the Queen finding all entreaties to no purpose, writ to her son Eustace
to let him understand the ill success of her negotiation, that no relief
was to be otherwise hoped for than by arms, and therefore advised him to
raise immediately what forces he could for the relief of his father.

Her next miscarriage was towards the Londoners, who presented her a
petition for redressing certain rigorous laws of her father, and
restoring those of Edward the Confessor. The Empress put them off for a
time with excuses, but at last discovered some displeasure at their
importunity. The citizens, who had with much difficulty been persuaded
to rece