cessors. He is said to have borne

"Gules, three sagittaries or;" but it has been conjectured that this is a mistake, and that he should be represented as bearing two lions, the sagittary being his cognizance.

Stephen is by the Saxon Chronicler represented as

a "good man;" but it is Arms ascribed added that he "did not to Stephen. execute justice;" thus chargeable with neglect of the imperative duty of a ruler, his claim to the appellation "good" is extremely doubtful. He, however, seems to have been of a placable temper, as he received into favour many who had most strongly opposed him, or deserted him; and he is not recorded to have dealt hardly with any of his opponents when they fell into his power.

A.D. 1135.

Stephen of Blois declares that Henry had disinherited his daughter Maud, and coming to London is received as king. He is crowned, Dec. 26b. Maud is acknowledged in Normandy.

A.D. 1136.

A great council at Oxford, at which Stephen issues a charter, promising to respect the privileges of the Church, to do away with all injustices and exactions, to give up the forests formed by Henry, and to observe "the good and ancient laws and just customs, in murders, pleas, and other causes."

David, king of Scotland, invades England in February, but at Durham

agrees to a truce.

Robert, earl of Gloucester, comes to England, and takes a conditional oath of allegiance to Stephen. The bishops also swear fealty to him "so long as he should maintain the liberty of the Church."

Baldwin de Rivers, and other nobles, declare in favour of Maud, and receive aid from David of Scotland.

The nobles who adhere to Stephen extort lands and honours from him, and build castles at their pleasure.

A frightful state of confusion ensued. The nobles of both parties "cruelly oppressed the wretched men of the land with castle-work, and when the castles were made, they filled them with devils and evil men." They threw people into dungeons, and inflicted on them unutterable tortures. Every man robbed another who could. "Never yet was there more wretchedness in the land; nor ever did heathen men worse than they did; for after a time they spared neither church nor churchyard, but took all the goods that were therein, and then burned the church and all together." "They said openly, that Christ slept, and all His saints. The bishops and learned men cursed them continually, but the

The years of his reign are reckoned from this day. "Much had King Henry gathered, gold and silver; but no good did men for his soul with it." These citations are from the Saxon Chronicle.

William of Malmesbury also says, "There were many castles throughout England, each defending its neighbourhood, or, more properly, laying it waste;" his picture of the sufferings of the people is substantially the same as in the text.

effect thereof was nothing to them, for they were all accursed, and forsworn, and abandoned "."

The king summons the bishops of Salisbury, Ely, and Lincoln to a council at Oxford, at Midsummer, and compels them to surrender their castles; he also deprives the bishop of Ely of his see'.

A.D. 1139.

A council held at Winchester, under Henry of Blois, the bishop (Stephen's brother), as papal legate, in which the king's dealings with the bishops are condemned, Aug. 29.

Maud and her brother Robert of Gloucester land at Portsmouth, September 30.

Maud is besieged in Arundel castles by Stephen, but is allowed to retire to Bristol.

Robert of Gloucester takes the field, whilst Maud remains, assuming royal

state, at Gloucester.

Richard de Clare, earl of Hertford, is killed by the Welsh.

A.D. 1140.

Stephen passes part of the year in the Tower of London, attended only by the bishop of Seez, "for the others disdained or feared to come to him." Henry of Blois attempts to induce Stephen and Maud to come to terms, but without success.

A.D. II141.

Stephen grants honours to Ralph de Gernon, earl of Chester, and entrusts to him the castle of Lincoln. Afterwards, at the instigation of the people of Lincoln, he besieges him there, occupying the cathedral as a fortress.

Ralph escapes, and procures succour from Robert of Gloucester, when Stephen is attacked and captured, Feb. 2; he is carried prisoner to Bristol. The citizens of Lincoln are slaughtered by the victors.

Henry of Blois joins Maud, and receives her into Winchester, March 3.

• It is remarkable, however, that a greater number of religious houses was founded in this than in any preceding reign.

Roger, bishop of Salisbury, had been the minister of Henry I.; Nigel of Ely and Alexander of Lincoln were his nephews. The strong castles of Sherborne, Salisbury, Malmesbury, Devizes, Newark, and Sleaford were in their hands. The bishop of Salisbury died Dec. 4, 1139; but his

Maud quarrels with Henry of Blois. He retires to Winchester, makes an agreement with Matilda, the wife of Stephen, and absolves his friends.

Winchester, but is herself besieged in Maud besieges him in the castle of the palace, by William of Ypres, the general of Matilda.

Winchester is burnt by the combatants, Aug. 2.

Maud makes her escape from the city during the truce on Holy Crossday (Sept. 14), but Robert of Gloucester is captured in covering her retreat.

Robert of Gloucester is exchanged for Stephen, Nov. 1, and joins Maud at Gloucester.

Henry of Blois holds a council at Westminster, in which he excommunicates Maud's adherents, Dec. 7; an emissary of Maud openly reproaches him "with great harshness of language," for his inconstancy.

A.D. 1142.

Maud removes to the castle of Oxford, while Robert seeks ineffectually aid from her husband Geoffrey.

Olaf does homage to Magnus V. of Norway, for Man and the Isles; he is killed by his nephews, June 29. Godred, his son, succeeds.

nephews regained their possessions when Stephen himself was made prisoner in 1141.

It was the property and residence of Adelais of Louvain, her stepmother.

Ralph had married Robert's daughter, and she was then in the castle.

í Also called Mandeville. Some writers say that he had already received the title from Stephen A.D. 1136.

Maud is besieged in Oxford by Stephen, in September.

Robert returns, bringing with him Prince Henry, and some troops, but is unable to relieve the castle.

north of England, but without success and soon returns to Normandy.

Madoc prince of Powys, and the earl of Chester, invade North Wales; they are defeated by Owen at Consilt,

A.D. 1143.

Maud retires to Gloucester, and is generally acknowledged as sovereign in the western counties; Stephen holds

London and the eastern and central counties; David, king of Scotland, rules beyond the Tees.

The partisans of Stephen and Maud devastate the country between them. The Normans storm St. Asaph. Gilbert is consecrated its bishop by Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury. Godred of Man invades Ireland.

A.D. 1144.

A.D. 1150.

A.D. 1152.

Normans.

A.D. 1145.

Sigfrid, bishop of Chichester, is driven from his see*.

The castle of Tenby captured by the Welsh.

A.D. 1153.

David of Scotland dies, May 24. He is succeeded by his grandson, Malcolm IV.°

marthen and Mold from them.

A.D. 1146.

Bernard of Clairvaux preaches a new crusade, which is headed by the emperor Conrad and Louis VII. of France", but effects nothing of im

portance.

A.D. 1147.

Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, oppressed by Henry of Blois, the papal legate, and driven into exile. He returns, and places the king's demesnes under an interdict.

A.D. 1149.

Henry, the son of Maud, visits Scotland, and is there knighted by King David. He makes an inroad on the

Eustace, the son of Stephen, dies,

made, Nov. 7, which provides for the succession of Henry to the throne on the death of Stephen. Fealty is accordingly sworn to him as the future king. He remained some time in England, and the Saxon Chronicler remarks, " "All men loved him, for he did good justice, and made peace." Eystein, king of Norway, ravages the coast of England, and destroys Scarborough.

A.D. 1154.

Henry returns to Normandy after Easter.

Stephen dies at Dover Priory, Oct. 25, and is buried at Feversham P.

Henry is summoned from Normandy; he lands in England Dec. 7.

He was deposed by a synod, (on what charge is unknown,) and died in 1151.

She was in peril of shipwreck on her voyage, and she founded a religious house on the spot where she landed, near Cherbourg.

The king of France was accompanied by his wife, Eleanor of Guienne, but he divorced her soon after his return, and she then married Henry

of Anjou, (afterwards Henry II.) n See A.D. IIII.

• His son Henry, earl of Huntingdon, had died shortly before.

P At the suppression of the monastery in the time of Henry VIII. the tomb was destroyed, the leaden coffin stolen, and the king's bones thrown into the sea.

EVER since Norman times a peculiar organization has been given to certain towns on the south-east coast of England, which appeared best situate for the defence of the country from foreign invasion. Proceeding from east to west, these towns are, Sandwich, Dover, Hythe, New Romney, and Hastings, and though to these there have since been added the "ancient towns" of Winchelsea and Rye, the old appellation of the Cinque Ports is retained. The organization as a whole appears only to date from the time of King John, but most, if not all, of the ports had separate charters of privilege long before. The district in which they are situate, extending from the mouth of the Thames as far westward nearly as Brighton, is in reality a county palatine, presided over by a high officer of State, the lord-warden, in whose hands are still placed much of the civil, military, and naval powers elsewhere entrusted to several individuals.

This district has, however, suffered vast changes in the course of ages that have elapsed since the Norman invasion. Its duty of guarding the coast has been assumed by the general government, and, as a necessary consequence, its peculiar privileges have almost entirely passed away. But a more serious disaster has happened from another cause, for the sea has receded, and not a single safe natural harbour is now to be found along the whole line of coast.

Sandwich, Dover, and Romney are mentioned in Domesday Book, and it is clear that Sandwich was once the head of the confederacy; Hastings succeeded, but was in turn supplanted by Dover, which last has long been regarded as the principal port. The great duty of the Cinque Ports was to provide a fleet for the defence of

As already remarked (p. 5), there appears good reason for believing that something similar existed under the Romans. We, however, find no mention of anything of the kind during the Saxon period, and the mode of government by mayors or bailiffs and jurats, which prevailed until recently in each town, is confessedly of Norman origin.

the narrow seas, and we learn from an ordinance of Henry III., in 1229, the relative importance of each town at that time. Dover is ordered to provide twenty-one ships, having twenty-one men and one boy on board each of them; Winchelsea ten; Hastings six; Sandwich, Hythe, Romney and Rye five each; these vessels were to serve for fifteen days at the expense of the towns, but to be paid by the king if required beyond that time. The total number was 57 ships and 1,254 men and boys; and this arrangement continued until the abolition of the feudal system.

The district had many peculiar courts and important privileges, and the inhabitants were so jealous of these, that no man was allowed to be a freeman in any other town; a record at Sandwich shews that, in 1532, a man was disfranchised for suing in the "foreign courts" at Westminster; and in 1668 another was fined for preferring an indictment at the quarter sessions of the county. A participation in their privileges was eagerly sought_by "foreigners," and these "advocants," or clients, in time became so numerous that a regulation forbidding any more to be received was passed in a general assembly of the Ports in 1434; before this, however, several places had been accepted as subordinate members, or "limbs," of the chief ports, some of them lying considerably inland'.

Most of the courts of the Cinque Ports have fallen into disuse, although legal process from the courts of Westminster has still to be executed by the bodar of Dover Castle, who is an officer of the lord-warden. The courts of Brotherhood and Guestling, held in turn yearly in each port, used to determine the mode of rendering the naval service to which they were

Of these "limbs" Seaford was probably once the most important, as it also sent barons to parliament. Each coast-town from Pevensey to Faversham is a member, as also is Brightlingsea, in Essex, and, among other places, Tenterden, Lydd, Sarr, Fordwich, and Grange, or Grenche, near Chatham, which are remote from the sea.

bound, and still meets occasionally, for certain purposes, at New Romney; the court of Shepway was the only one in which their freemen could be impleaded, and was originally held at Shepway-cross, near Hythe, but afterwards removed to various places, all, however, within the jurisdiction; the court of Chancery, now disused, was held at Dover; and in that town are still held the court of Admiralty, and the court of Lodemanage, for regulating pilots. The Admiralty court was once held on the open shore at Sandwich, but was removed to Dover at least as early as the thirteenth century.

The ships of the Cinque Ports formed for many ages a most important part of every English fleet; the records of each reign shew how well they performed their duty, and accordingly we find them frequently rewarded by charters and immunities. As one instance, Edward I., by his charter of May 20, 1277, gave them jurisdiction over the distant port of Yarmouth, in return for their aid against Llewelyn; but this supremacy was strenuously resisted, was by a charter of Elizabeth, 1576, limited to a co-ordinate jurisdiction, and has long been abandoned, (in 1663); the last great charter (that of Charles II., Dec. 23, 1668,) gives the limit of their rule as from Shore-beacon, Essex (at the mouth of the Thames), to the Red Cliff, at Seaford. They had, however, almost a monopoly of the trade with France and Spain, and down to a comparatively late period they were careful to distinguish their ships and men from any others. Thus in the Cinque Ports' Register, under the year 1514, we

read, "Every person that goeth into the navie of the pcrtis shall haue a cote of white cotyn, with a red crosse, and the armes of the portis underneathe, that is to say, the halfe lyon and the halfe ship." They looked on themselves as peculiarly "King's Men"-the Royal Navy of the time and assumed a superiority over the mariners of other ports, which often led to fierce battles. The Ports continued distinct from other places until the passing of the Municipal Corporations Reform Act, by the operation of which many of the peculiarities of their local government, and most of their exclusive privileges, have been abolished.

The office of lord warden of the Cinque Ports has ever been held by men of high rank, and some of the first names in English history are to be found on the roll; but, like the Ports themselves, it has now ceased to have any political importance, and is generally bestowed on the prime minister for the time being on the occasion of a vacancy. Thus it has been held by William Pitt, and the earl of Liverpool, and, more appropriately, by the late duke of Wellington; it is now enjoyed by Earl Granville, whose official residence is Walmer Castle, near Deal.

Of the present state of the Ports little need be said. They return eight members to parliament, who are still styled barons, and have the right (not exercised, however, of late) to an important place at coronations; and they are yet distinct from the counties in which they are situate, and have gaols, coroners, &c., of their own; but as far as commerce and navigation are concerned, they have long been the mere shadows of what they once were, being in many cases eclipsed by their members, which have risen in proportion as the head Ports have decayed. For instance, Margate and Ramsgate have ten times the population and trade of their legal superior, Sandwich, though Ramsgate is still governed by a deputy from the mayor of that town. Dover, Hythe, and Hastings, however, enjoy some importance as seabathing. resorts.

recently, they have been broken up and sold, but a few of the bells are to be found preserved in the town-halls of one or two of the ports.. The barons were formerly sixteen in number, but they were reduced one half by the operation of the Reform Act of 1832.