Gesta Stephani

Deeds of King Stephen or Acts of Stephen or Gesta Stephani is a mid-12th-century English history by an anonymous author about King Stephen and his struggles with his cousin Matilda of England, also known as the Empress Maud. It is one of the main sources for this period in the history of England.

Some historians think the author may have been Robert of Bath (also known as Robert of Lewes), Bishop of Bath from 1136 to 1166.

The Gesta Stephani was first published in Paris in 1619, from a manuscript in the episcopal library at Laon which was subsequently lost. A fuller manuscript has recently been found, and since published, in the Municipal Library at Valenciennes, having been transferred from the nearby abbey of Vicoigne. The Latin text tells in 120 chapters of the Anarchy of King Stephen's reign, and ends with the accession of King Henry II.

The Gesta Stephani was written in two books and historian R.H.C. Davis believes that the first twelve years of Stephen's reign—which comprise book I—were written in about 1148, while the subsequent account, taken up to the accession of Henry II, was written after 1153. Davis examined the places named in the texts and found that most of them were in the South-West of England; unusually detailed descriptions of Bristol and Bath, as well as scornful comments about the former, suggest that the author may have been writing in or near Bath. This contrasts with an earlier statement by K.R. Potter that there is "no clear indication of any local attachment". However, Davis points out that comparisons with the chronicles of other writers based elsewhere in the country reveal considerable south-west bias in the Gesta, which had been overlooked by historians who compared it only with the account of William of Malmesbury, who was also writing in the south-west.

The authorship of the Gesta is not known. According to Richard Howlett, writing in 1886, the author was not from a monastery, and Davis agreed with this in his analysis of the author, because, while he does show a local bias, his knowledge of Exeter, London, Pevensey and Bedford all show that he was a man who travelled. Nonetheless, he was not an itinerant, and his writing reveals little knowledge of the north or East of England or the leading baronial families in those parts of the kingdom, while he placed too much emphasis on the exploits of relatively minor barons associated with the south west, including the de Tracy family. The writer appears to have been a scholar, and his work omits dates and extraneous detail for the sake of literary effect, while employing classical terms to offices and positions rather than their Mediaeval Latin equivalents. Scholars agree that he was a supporter of Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester. However, historians differ over their exact relationship: Howlett suggested the author was Henry's chaplain, but Davis believes that the criticism he gave to Henry in the Gesta makes this unlikely. Davis instead suggests that he was a bishop, based on his style of writing, his perspectives on the events he writes about and the places he visited; he goes further to speculate that it may have been Robert of Lewes, Bishop of Bath, who was the author. Robert Bartlett states that he was "perhaps" the author and Hushcroft writes that it was written either by him "or someone close to him".

...
Wikipedia