Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (2 of 6): England (04 of 12) Stephan Earle Of Bullongne — Reading Companion

Oaths Broken and Divine Punishment

The chronicle repeatedly emphasizes the consequences of perjury. Holinshed notes that many who swore to support Matilda later consented to Stephen, but he asserts that this breach was “worthilie punished afterward.” Bishops and nobles, he claims, either died an evil death or were afflicted with calamities. The bishop of Salisbury protested that the oath was void because Matilda married without the lords' consent, yet Holinshed frames such rationalizations as self-deception. The narrative returns to this theme: Robert Marmion, who robbed an abbey church, was slain by falling into his own trap—a ditch he had dug for enemies. Holinshed explicitly links these events to scripture: “The wicked and bloudthirstie man shall not liue halfe his daies.” This providential pattern, supported by marginal citations, gives the chronicle a moralizing structure.

Siege, Strategy, and Shifting Alliances

Military action dominates the account. Stephen besieges Lincoln, but the earl of Chester, seeing the king's thin ranks, sallies forth and kills eighty workmen before retreating. Later, Stephen builds a castle at Wallingford opposite his adversaries' stronghold. The earl of Chester eventually makes peace with Stephen, only to be “craftilie taken at a parlement” and forced to surrender Lincoln. Holinshed records these events with specific details: the number of workmen slain, the construction of trenches, and the use of Londoners in the king's army. The chronicle also notes Welsh raids into Cheshire and the building of a castle at Faringdon, which Stephen captures after sharp assaults. These passages illustrate the fragmented, localized nature of the conflict, where control of fortresses and cities shifts rapidly.

Marginal Annotations and Source Layering

Holinshed's method is visible in the margins, where he cites authorities such as Matth. Paris, Wil. Mal., Simon Dun., and Hen. Hunt. These abbreviations signal a composite narrative built from multiple medieval chronicles. For instance, the account of the child crucified by Jews at Norwich in 1144 is attributed to Matthew Paris and Simon Dun. The chronicler also includes moralizing commentary, as when he writes, “Thus we see how Gods iudgement hunteth and pursueth the wicked.” The interplay between event and interpretation is central: Holinshed does not simply list facts but shapes them into a providential history. Readers attentive to the margins will notice how he harmonizes or juxtaposes different sources, creating a layered text that invites scrutiny of its own construction.

This portion of the Chronicles rewards readers who attend to the marginal apparatus and the moral framework. Holinshed's habit of linking earthly events to divine judgment—and his careful citation of earlier writers—turns the reign of Stephen into a case study in the consequences of political expediency. The narrative is dense with sieges, betrayals, and sudden reversals, but its coherence comes from the chronicler's persistent moral vision.

Reading of Stephen’s broken oath and the sieges that followed, I thought of my grandfather’s old copy of The history of England, from the accession of Henry III. to the death of Edward III. (1216-1377) — Story, Setting & Ideas, which I’d read by lamplight as a boy. Both books share that same ache of watching promises dissolve into mud and siege-lines, yet somehow, the chronicler’s calm margin notes feel like a hand on my shoulder.