In June 1139, when Empress Matilda was rumoured to be on the point of invading England to press her claim to the throne, King Stephen arrested Roger Bishop of Sahsbury(de facto Chief Justiciar), Nigel Bishop of Ely(the treasurer of the Exchequer) and Alexander Bishop of Lincoln, who were all important figures in the politics and administration of the kingdom. About a hundred years ago, William Stubbs wrote that this incident had two major consequences Firstly, it is said to have ruptured the alliance between the Church and the Crown which had lasted since the accession of Stephen in 1135 Secondly, it is supposed to have destroyed the sophisticated administrative machinery which had been developed under the direction of Roger of Salisbury and Nigel of Ely in the reign of Henry I As a result, Stubbs regarded the arrest of the bishops as a trigger for the subsequent "anarchy". Although some qualifications have been voiced about Stubbs' statement, modern historians such as R H C Davis and Edward J Kealey still hold similar views In spite of their arguments, however, closer scrutiny of various chronicles and charters makes it clear that the traditional view can no longer be upheld The Church seems to have continued to support Stephen even after the arrest of the bishops (June 1139) and at least until the Battle of Lincoln (February 1141), as virtually all the English and Welsh bishops (excepting only that of Ely) attended the king's court between these two incidents. Likewise, the charter evidence shows that in this period many local administrators were still attending the king's court and the king seems to have had enough officials to maintain the royal government relatively in order. In short, the effect of the arrest of the bishops was not so serious as has been supposed It was, in fact, after the capture of Stephen at the Battle of Lincoln that the royal government stopped functioning and the Church, though reluctantly, deserted the king for the first time The common belief of ecclesiastics in those days was the Gelasian view which stressed co-operation between Church and State Therefore, even after the arrest of the bishops, the ecclesiastics could not oppose the anointed king out of hand, nor did the royal officials, the majority of whom were clergy, find it inconsistent with their order to serve him in government.
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