s, and put a
stop to all trade by plundering the merchants and travellers. Those who
dwelt in the open country they forced into their castles, and after
pillaging them of all their visible substance, these tyrants held them
in dungeons, and tortured them with a thousand cruel inventions to
extort a discovery of their hidden wealth. The lamentable representation
given by history of those barbarous times justifies the pictures in the
old romances of the castles of giants and magicians. A great part of
Europe was in the same deplorable condition. It was then that some
gallant spirits, struck with a generous indignation at the tyranny of
these miscreants, blessed solemnly by the bishop, and followed by the
praises and vows of the people, sallied forth to vindicate the chastity
of women and to redress the wrongs of travellers and peaceable men. The
adventurous humor inspired by the Crusade heightened and extended this
spirit; and thus the idea of knight-errantry was formed.

[Sidenote: A.D. 1138.]

[Sidenote: A.D. 1139.]

[Sidenote: A.D. 1141.]

Stephen felt personally these inconveniences; but because the evil was
too stubborn to be redressed at once, he resolved to proceed gradually,
and to begin with the castles of the bishops,--as they evidently held
them, not only against the interests of the crown, but against the
canons of the Church. From the nobles he expected no opposition to this
design: they beheld with envy the pride of these ecclesiastical
fortresses, whose battlements seemed to insult the poverty of the lay
barons. This disposition, and a want of unanimity among the clergy
themselves, enabled Stephen to succeed in his attempt against the Bishop
of Salisbury, one of the first whom he attacked, and whose castles, from
their strength and situation, were of the greatest importance. But the
affairs of this prince were so circumstanced that he could pursue no
council that was not dangerous. His breach with the clergy let in the
party of his rival, Matilda. This party was supported by Robert, Earl of
Gloucester, natural son to the late king,--a man powerful by his vast
possessions, but more formidable through his popularity, and the courage
and abilities by which he had acquired it. Several other circumstances
weakened the cause of Stephen. The charter, and the other favorable
acts, the scaffolding of his ambition, when he saw the structure raised,
he threw down and contemned. In order to maintain his troops, as