y to London, where he was joyfully received as
king. The London citizens felt that their chief interest lay in the
maintenance of peace, and they thought that a man would be more likely
than a woman to secure order. The barons chose Stephen king at
Winchester, where his brother, Henry of Blois, was the bishop. Shortly
afterwards some of these very barons rose against him, but their
insurrection was soon repressed. More formidable was the hostility of
David, king of the Scots. David was closely connected with the family
of Henry I., his sister having been Henry's wife, the Empress Matilda
being consequently his niece. He also held in right of his own wife
the earldom of Huntingdon. Under the pretext of taking up Matilda's
cause he broke into the north of England. Though he himself carried on
the work of introducing English civilisation into Scotland, his Celtic
followers were still savage, and massacred women and infants. In
=1137= Stephen drove David back. In =1138= David reappeared, and this
time the aged Thurstan, Archbishop of York, sent the levies of the
North against him. In the midst of the English army was a cart bearing
a standard, at the top of which the banners of the three great
churches of St. Peter's of York, St. John of Beverley, and St. Wilfrid
of Ripon, waved round the consecrated Host. The battle which ensued,
near Northallerton, has consequently been known as the battle of the
Standard. The Scots were completely defeated, but Stephen, in spite of
the victory gained for him, found himself obliged to buy peace at a
heavy price. He agreed that David's son, Henry, should hold
Northumberland, with the exception of the fortresses of Bamborough and
of Newcastle, as a fief of the English Crown. David himself was also
allowed to keep Cumberland without doing homage.

[Illustration: Keep of Castle Rising. Built about 1140-50.]

13. =Civil War.=--It would have been well for Stephen if he had learnt
from the men of the North that his strength lay in rallying the
English people round him against the great barons, as the Red King and
Henry I. had done when their right to the crown had been challenged by
Robert. Instead of this, he brought over mercenaries from Flanders,
and squandered treasure and lands upon his favourites so as to have
little left for the hour of need. He made friends easily, but he made
enemies no less easily. One of the most powerful of the barons was
Robert, Earl of Gloucester, an illegitimate