270 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
And now Baldwin spent all his energies in fomenting discord 
among the king’s subjects in Normandy. By representations of 
the wrongs he had suffered, and aided by Matilda, he succeeded 
in rallying around him many of the great barons, who placed 
themselves under his command, and petty warfare of a most 
harassing kind followed throughout Normandy. In every direction 
the people were plundered, and suffered from fire and sword; no 
act of violence or rapine was unpractised. The presence of the 
king was necessary to subdue this outbreak, and early in Lent, 
1137,* he followed envoys he had unwillingly sent, and succeeded 
in restoring tranquillity, concluding a peace with King Louis VIL. 
of France, his son Eustace doing homage to the French mon- 
arch for Normandy as a fief of his crown, and making a truce 
with the Count of Anjou, to whom he agreed to pay 5,000 marks 
annually. We do not find that Baldwin profited by these trans- 
actions. We may suppose that he remained with the empress 
steadfast to her cause ; but in 1139 we find him again in England. 
With a brave and reckless band he landed at Wareham, in Dorset, 
and, doubtless by pre-arrangement with the enemies of the king, 
was put into possession of Corfe Castle, said by Henry of 
Huntingdon (from whose and other chronicles I have mainly 
collected these later particulars) to be one of the strongest places 
in England. Stephen lost not a moment in besieging the castle; 
but his efforts to take it were unavailing. After spending much 
time and treasure in the attempt, he raised the siege, and suffered 
Baldwin to retain possession. We may suppose that this incursion 
of Baldwin’s was in connection with the landing of Matilda and 
Robert of Gloucester, which took place soon after, at the end 
of September, 1139. We next hear of him at the siege of 
Winchester, which ended in a disastrous rout, resulting in the 
release of Stephen, and terminating the eight months’ reign of 
Matilda. We have no further account of his deeds, unless he was 
the Fitz Gilbert who, according to William of Malmesbury and 
Henry of Huntingdon, while holding the castle of Marlborough 
for the empress, enticed the ruffian Robert Fitz Hubert thither, and 
handed him over to Robert of Gloucester, who caused him to be 
hanged at Devizes. In all probability he was with Henry upon 
his landing in the winter of 1152. Upon the accession of Henry 
he was restored to all his possessions and honours, which he 
* Henry of Huntingdon. 
