The British nation a history / by George MWrong . n up, andEngland fell into so cruel an anarchy that pious minds feared that Christ and his saints were asleep. Every one, it was said, did what Avas wrong in his own The terrible ©yes. To realize the state of the countryis to understand the horrors of baronial dis-order. Eobber barons built hundreds of adulterine castles, where they were safe, for the military skill of the time was almost heljjless against such strongholds. They plundered the helpless peasantry and invented new tortures to force concealed treasures from their victims. Nottingha
The British nation a history / by George MWrong . n up, andEngland fell into so cruel an anarchy that pious minds feared that Christ and his saints were asleep. Every one, it was said, did what Avas wrong in his own The terrible ©yes. To realize the state of the countryis to understand the horrors of baronial dis-order. Eobber barons built hundreds of adulterine castles, where they were safe, for the military skill of the time was almost heljjless against such strongholds. They plundered the helpless peasantry and invented new tortures to force concealed treasures from their victims. Nottingham, Winches-ter, Lincoln, and other towns were burned or sacked. The plunder-ers destroyed even the crops in the fields. You might go, says a writer of the time, a days journey and not find an inhabited village or an acre of tilled land. The disorder lasted in varying degree for nearly seventeen years, and Stephen was growing old when his son Eustace, for whose interests he had been working, died. Thus was removed the last obstacle to compromise. PoRCHESTEB CaSTLE, BUILT ABOUT 1150. Note the few , to lessen danger fromattack. 92 THE BRITISH NATION DOMINIONS ot- HEXRY II. NDICATED BY SHADJ^ with Matilda, and iStepheu accepted Matildas sou Henryas his heir. In this year, writes an annalist in 1154,The construct- P^^^ed away King Stephen to the place toive forces of which liis deserts led. The writer showsthe period. ^j^^ ^.^^^ ^^ j.|^^ ^-^^^ against a bad ruler. Yet Stephens reign was not v>^holly fruitless. Misfortuneis the Churchs opportunity, and in those years her powergrew. She alone could offer a secure haven amid the pre-vailing anarchy, and one hundred and nineteen monas-teries were built during the reign. While the functions of the state were para-lyzed, she held her syn-ods and kept up herown discipline. Itwas, too, in the law-less days of Stephenthat Yacarius camefrom Italy to Englandto lecture upon lawand to teach new con-ceptions of order. One truth all bu
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