94 PAPERS, ETC. 



(1139), the King stormed Dunster Castle, and put down 

 effectually the barbarities of its owner, William de 

 Mobun.* 



It would appear that King Stepben, baving taken pos- 

 session of Gary Castle, held and garrisoned it for some 

 time, tili at lengtb, in 1153, it was recovered to the 

 Percevals, by the assistance of the Earl of Gloucester, of 

 which circumstance the following is the account given by 

 the same author of the Acts of Stephen, who was quoted 

 before. Under the year 1153, (the last of Stephen's 

 reign) he says " Robert, the great Earl of Gloucester, died 

 (at Bristol) September 1147, and was succeeded by bis 

 son, William, who was somewhat advanced in years, but 

 efFeminate — a Chamber knight, rather than a brave soldier. 

 However, soon after Coming to the earldom, he happened, 

 for once, to obtain a more brilliant success than any one 

 would have given him credit for ; for Henry de Tracy, 

 on the King's side, had fortified the Castle of Cary,f to 

 straighten more conveniently the Earl of Gloucester, and 

 extend his own power in the district; upon which, the 



* N.B. — Froru the Gesta Stepliani, by an anonymous author of tho 

 period, translated froin the original Latin by Mr. Forester, in Boli^s 

 Antiquarian. Library. 



t Collinson and Phelps, in their account of this siege, represent de Traci 

 as being the besieger, and not the besieged. It is scarcely reasonable to 

 suppose that Stephen, having, after a protracted siege, possessed himself of 

 tho Castle of Cary, would immediately have given it up to his rebellious 

 vassal again. Henry de Traoi therefore held it, probably, in the king's 

 interest, tili, in this siege of 1153, it was recovered by the Earl of Glouces- 

 ter, and restored to the Lovells. The original words of the Gesta Stephani, 

 in the British Museum, are these : — " Henricus uarnque de Traicio, vir 

 bellicosus, et in militari exercitio expertissimus, qui et regis partibus 

 parebat, ante castellum quod Cari dicitur, et aliud firmabat, quo et 

 Comitem Glaorrise per hoc facilius arceret, (et) diffusioris provincico 

 dominium possideret; cum, ecce, ipse Comes, talibus, famä intimante, 

 perceptis, cum immen^o repente supervenit exercitu, incoeptumque Henrici 

 municipium fundo tenus, ipsumque, cum suis, inglorium cedere coegit." 



P. 132, Sewell's edition. 



