Page:The Queens of England.djvu/55

 MATILDA OF BOULOGNE. 43 tilda even joined with Adelais in obtaining from Stephen a safe conduct for the Empress Matilda to Bristol, when she was besieged by him in Arundel Castle. Indeed, in every case Queen Matilda appears in the character of a noble and generous intercessor. Whilst the Earl of Gloucester, the empress's half-brother, was contesting with Stephen his sister's right to the crown, in one fierce battle after another, Matilda the queen was in France, negotiating a marriage for her son ; and during her absence it was that Stephen, hitherto successful, was destined to experience a reverse of fortune. He was defeated in the battle of Lincoln, taken prisoner, and confined in Bristol Cas- tle ; his brother, Henry of Blois, having joined his enemies. At this crisis of affairs Matilda returned from France, and the first step she took was to obtain the interference of the citizens of London for her husband's liberation. But the appeal of the good citizens, with whom Stephen and his queen had ever been very popular, was ineffectual. She then addressed a letter to the synod, but in vain. She urgently petitioned the haughty empress, and implored her to grant her husband's freedom. The plea of affection in distress ever prevails with the high- minded and generous spirit, but the daughter of Matilda "the Good," had not the sympathies of her departed parent, and she rudely repulsed the unhappy queen. Matilda now no longer hoped for the clemency of the em- press, but acting with the vigor and prudence which so often characterized her conduct, she courageously ordered her troops to pass the Thames, and lay waste the country. The people of London were induced to return to the allegiance of Stephen through her persuasions, for she had gained their affections by her mild virtues — virtues which even her enemies were compelled to respect, and by a courage which misfortune could not subdue ; whilst the empress, who had become unpopular from the tyranny of her disposition, was deserted by her party, and hastily withdrawing, abandoned a crown at the very mo- ment it was about being secured to her. The wife of the cap- tive king entered London, and fortune again seemed to smile upon him. His son, Prince Eustace, now joined his mother with some foreign troops, and thus assisted, Matilda raised a new army of two thousand men and gave the command to William d'Ypres. The queen and her son led on these forces to Winchester, and thence the empress fled, as has been al-