POLITICAL HISTORY 



Of Bedford nothing more is said by the historians of the war. That Miles 

 was committed to the party of the empress is clear, for we find him attesting 

 her charters at Oxford, 25 July 1141,'* in the hour of triumph, and at 

 Devizes, 7-14 June 1 142," when the tide had for some months been ebbing. 

 But chance evidence has survived, which seems to point to a later siege. 

 When Henry invaded England in 1153 he attacked Crowmarsh," which 

 had been built and held by Stephen as a check upon Wallingford, and then 

 marched to Stamford and laid siege to it." Among the documents in the 

 Newnham Cartulary is a charter dated ' at Stamford during the siege,' in 

 which ' Henry, Duke of Normandy,' &c., makes known that he has granted 

 to St. Paul's, Bedford, the house-tax due from Bedford to the amount of ^8,** 

 for the restoration of the destruction and damage he has done to the church, 

 with land to the value of 40J. ; and he takes church and canons under his 

 protection. He adds that this is his gift for the present ; when he recovers 

 his kingdom he will increase it.*' 



Bedford would naturally lie on Henry's route to Stamford, and this 

 charter points to some recent disturbance there, while the entry in the Pipe 

 Roll of 1 156, 'the burgesses of Bedford owe 20 marks because they were in 

 the castle against the king,' cannot refer to the siege of 1 137—8, when the 

 castle was held by Maud's supporters against Stephen.™ 



With regard to the degree to which Bedfordshire was affected by the 

 disorder of Stephen's reign, Mr. Hewlett argues that except for a few weeks 

 in 1 141 Stephen had the nucleus of a kingdom, small but compact, including 

 Bedfordshire and the surrounding counties, within which judicial and fiscal 

 business was carried on much as usual," though Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, 

 and the Isle of Ely, endured for a time considerable hardship.'^' Bedford- 

 shire must indeed have suffered terribly in the end of 1 1 44, when Geoffrey 

 de Mandeville turned to bay in the Fen country, seized Ely and Ramsey, and 

 carried havoc far and wide." While he plundered the possessions of Ely 

 within the Isle, Stephen did the same for those without." If the lands of 

 Ramsey suffered a like fate, the marauders must have spread over Bedford- 

 shire from Cranfield in the west, to Barton and Shillington, Pegsdon, and 

 Holwell in the south, and Little Barford in the north-east. 



" Round, Geoff, de Mandeiille, 1 24, 3 1 J. " Ibid. 



« Hen. of Huntingdon, op. cit. 287. " Ibid. 288. 



" ' Hagaflam (haw-gafol) Bedfordie pro octo libris.' ' Hagable ' rents = ' quit-rents ' were paid by 

 iiolden of corporation lands to the corporation in the 17th century ; see Rec. of Corp. 27, 79 ; and a 'quit- 

 rent' is still paid to the vicar of St. Paul's by the corporation ; ibid. 16. As at Cambridge, it comprised 

 land and house gafol ; cf. Maitland, Township and Bor. 48, 70, 186, &c. ; Dom. Bk. and Beyond, 204-6. 



" ' Cum autem Deo volente ius meum Angl [ie] adeptus fuero feodum ecclesie illius augmentabo.' 



'" It is just possible that there was a third siege between these two. Blomefield {Hist. Norf. ed. 1 806, 

 iii, 28) tells of a meeting of Norfolk magnates about lijo, at which two knights were accused of holding 

 treasonable correspondence with the king's enemies in Bedford, which he was besieging, and a ' youth ' gave 

 evidence against them. Blomefield refers to the Registers of St. Edmund's, but Mr. Howlett {Chron. Stephen 

 &c. [Rolls Ser.], iii, p. xxxvi) failed to find the passage. If ' youth ' is to be taken strictly, the story can hardly 

 refer to the siege of 1 1 3 7-8, and it is possible that on Henry's visit to England in 1 149 the Beauchamps 

 rose and held Bedford for him against Stephen. There is no evidence of Stephen's presence near Bedford at 

 that time, but it may have been on his line of march to York. Mr. Dudley Cary Elwes, in his Bed. and 

 itt 'Neighbourhood, a book which contains much information of local interest, is in error in saying that 

 'during King Stephen's reign there may have been two sieges of the castle, one in 1 1 36, and another in 1 1 38 



the first against Miles de Beauchamp, and the second against the Scots.' Miles de Beauchamp was besieged 



in the castle in 1 1 37-8, and the Scots were nowhere near Bedford at any time ; the mistake arises from the 

 fact that Stephen was called away from the siege to check the Scottish invasion. 



" Howlett, Chron. Stephen, &c. (Rolls Ser.), iii, p. xlix. " Ibid, xlviii. 



" Round, Geoff, de Mandeville, 212. " Ibid. 215. 



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