King Stephen arrested Bishop Roger of Salisbury, the justiciar, and his nephews the bishops of Lincoln and Ely at Oxford in 1139, seizing their castles and stripping them of their administrative functions. The arrests were prompted by a brawl involving Roger's retainers, but the underlying cause was Stephen's fear of the bishops' enormous power. The episode alienated the English Church, contributed to the defection of Henry of Blois, and is often identified as the point at which Stephen began to lose the political initiative.
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