Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 16.djvu/81

Rh party, named William de Keynes, laid hold on his helmet, and immediately cried out to his fellows, "I have got the king." Then the rest ran in, and he was taken prisoner.

The king being thus secured, was presented to the empress, then at Gloucester, and by her orders conveyed to Bristol; where he continued in strict custody nine months, although with honourable treatment for some time, until either upon endeavouring to make his escape, or in malice to the Londoners, who had a great affection for their king, he was, by express command from the empress, laid in irons, and used with other circumstances of severity.

This victory was followed by a general defection of almost the whole kingdom; and the earl of Anjou, husband to the empress, upon the fame of the 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