MUCH is known about the damage to Winchester and the cathedral in the English Civil Wars of the mid-17th century, but the city was the setting for another violent conflict 500 years earlier. In 1141 it was in the centre of the Siege of Winchester which resulted in parts of the walled city being destroyed by fire. There are, however, no contemporary or archaeological reports of damage to the cathedral itself.
The conflict was between troops and supporters of Bishop Henry of Blois and those of Empress Matilda who was contesting the crown of England with Henry’s older brother King Stephen. She was the daughter of Henry I and should have succeeded him in 1135. She was thwarted by Stephen of Blois, who staged a coup d’état, and took the English crown instead. This period is known as The Anarchy and lasted from 1138 until 1153, when a permanent truce was brokered between King Stephen and his successor, Empress Matilda’s son Henry Plantagenet who became Henry II.
This was a time of many Matildas and Mathildes. William the Conqueror’s wife was Matilda. Their son Henry I of England married Edith-Matilda of Scotland and their two children included Matilda who is the one of the main characters of the 12th century civil war. However, King Stephen married Mathilde of Boulogne and it was she who led the forces that besieged Winchester in 1141. It can be challenging to follow the various Matildas/Mathildes in this turbulent time.
Our Matilda was born in 1102 and, at the age of eight was betrothed to Henry V (or Heinrich V), the Holy Roman Emperor. She left her family at that time and did not return to them until Henry V’s death in 1125. By this time, her younger brother William Adelin had been drowned in the White Ship disaster of 1120. Their father, devastated by the loss of his heir, made Matilda his successor and swore his court to support her. However, when Henry I died in Normandy in 1135 it was his nephew Stephen of Blois who seized the English throne. Stephen’s brother Henry became Bishop of Winchester in 1129 and held this appointment until his death in 1171.
The siege came about in early August 1141 when Empress Matilda and her half-brother and champion Robert of Gloucester returned to Winchester Castle after reports that Bishop Henry of Blois had been reinforcing and provisioning Wolvesey Palace. Earlier in the year the bishop transferred his support to Matilda after his brother King Stephen was defeated and captured at the Battle of Lincoln. Stephen was imprisoned in Bristol Castle, but the bishop soon became disenchanted with Matilda. She, like his imprisoned brother, wanted more control over the affairs of the church and sought to reduce the number of castles that bishops controlled.
Henry, one of the richest and most politically powerful men in England, controlled more castles and fortified palaces than all other bishops. They included Merdon Castle, near Winchester, Bishop’s Waltham Palace, Downton Castle, south of Salisbury, Farnham Castle and a three-storey keep in Taunton with massive walls. His favourite was probably Wolvesey Castle in Winchester.
Empress Matilda summoned Henry to the castle but he fled to Farnham Castle. Both called for support and Winchester became a battleground with the empress’s forces attacking Wolvesey Castle and the bishop’s men defending it.
Matilda’s force started their attack on August 1. The well-provisioned Wolvesey garrison responded by shooting lighted brands ‘with which they reduced to ashes the greater part of the city.’ Contemporary chronicles reported that the outcome was widespread devastation including the loss of at least one abbey, that of the nuns of St Mary’s (Nunnaminster), close to Wolvesey Castle (This is now the site of Abbey Gardens). Hyde Abbey, outside the city walls, was also burnt. It was also claimed that up to 23 churches and many houses were destroyed or damaged. Conflagrations were not uncommon in the early medieval period as houses were constructed of wood with thatched roofs, which enabled the rapid spread of urban fires.
There has been debate as to whether the bishop’s troops were based in Wolvesey Palace or the Royal Palace, which is considered to have been to the west of the cathedral, probably in the area of Great Minster Street and extending to the High Street or close to it. In either place, the cathedral was very close to the fighting and the subsequent damage.
While Empress Matilda’s troops sought to suppress the bishop’s troops, the Empress was outflanked by supporters of King Stephen, led by his wife Queen Mathilde of Boulogne, who surrounded Winchester’s walls and controlled much of the central Hampshire countryside. They were able to defeat troops who were coming to assist the Empress, which left her stranded in the western side of the city.
The castle was attacked from inside the city and from outside the walls. There was not enough food in Winchester for Matilda’s force and its horses. After six weeks of stalemate, the Empress had three choices – starve, surrender, or try to break out. She chose to break out through the West Gate on September 14 and head for Stockbridge to cross the River Test and head towards the comparative safety of the West Country. The withdrawal soon turned into a series of attacks by Queen Mathilde’s forces, ending in a rearguard action at the Test crossing while the Empress made an ignominious escape to Ludgershall, Devizes and finally Gloucester. She was carried on a horse-borne litter for the final two days.
These actions became known as the Rout of Winchester and were effectively the end of Empress Matilda’s campaign to gain the throne of England. King Stephen was released soon after from Bristol Castle in exchange for Robert of Gloucester who was captured in a rearguard action at the River Test crossing.
The cathedral had little or no damage. Its sanctified position appears to have been respected by both sides. Other churches and buildings, however, were looted and damaged by the victorious forces of Queen Mathilde. Recent archaeological evidence indicates that the dramatic story of conflagration engulfing Winchester may have been over-stated. According to research by archaeologist Martin Biddle and Derek Keene, the Winchester survey of 1148 showed ‘little evidence of any devastation which may have been caused by the siege’.
By 1153, Winchester had been rebuilt sufficiently to retain its role as a royal centre of administration, particularly for the treasury. After further conflict between Stephen and Empress Matilda’s son Henry Plantagenet over succession, an agreement, known as the Treaty of Winchester, was concluded in the cathedral on November 6 that year. In it, Stephen formally established Henry as his successor and Henry swore to accept him as his liege man and to protect him. Stephen undertook to govern with the advice of his successor. Henry was to be guided by Bishop Henry. The chronicler Henry of Huntingdon wrote, ‘what boundless joy, what a day of rejoicing, when the king himself led the illustrious young prince through the streets of Winchester itself’.
After this time Bishop Henry gave more attention to Winchester. Around 1160, it is widely believed that he commissioned the great bible known as the Winchester Bible. All four volumes are on display in the Kings & Scribes exhibition at the cathedral. The bishop had already founded the Hospital of St Cross between 1132 and 1136.
To read more about Empress Matilda who could (and should) have been England’s first Queen, Catherine Hanley’s recent Matilda – Empress Queen Warrior (Yale University Press, 2019) is recommended.
Tom Watson
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