Anarchy: Battle of Wilton, 1143
Who Fought
King Stephen's army stationed at Wilton Abbey versus an army led by Robert Earl of Gloucester
History & Significance
The Battle of Wilton was a battle of the civil war in England known as The Anarchy. It was fought on 1 July 1143 at Wilton in Wiltshire. An army under King Stephen was stationed at Wilton Abbey, where it was attacked by an army led by Robert Earl of Gloucester. Although King Stephen's army was defeated, the king himself escaped capture.
On 1 January 1127, King Henry I of England designated his daughter, the Empress Matilda, as heir to the throne. However, when Henry died in 1135, his nephew Stephen of Blois crossed the Channel from Boulogne to England and claimed the throne. He quickly gained the support of London's magnates and the church, and seized control of the treasury at Winchester. He was crowned king on 22 December 1135.
By 1138, Matilda had gathered enough support to challenge Stephen for the throne. Her supporters were led by her half-brother Robert Earl of Gloucester.
The ensuing civil war lasted until 6 November 1153 when, by the Treaty of Wallingford, Stephen recognised Matilda's son Henry as heir to the throne.
By 1142 both sides had become cautious of risking open battle, and the civil war became a war of sieges as each side attempted to capture strongholds held by the other. With Matilda's strongholds mainly confined to south west England, most of the sieges took place around that area.
In 1143, Stephen embarked on a new campaign to strengthen his position in the west country. He marched on Wareham, the port used by Matilda's party to maintain communications with Normandy. Wareham was too strongly defended for the king to capture, so he turned towards Salisbury instead. On his way there, he occupied Wilton Abbey while waiting for reinforcements from Winchester.
While King Stephen was stationed at Wilton, mustering his forces for an attack on Salisbury, Earl Robert mounted a surprise attack at sunset on 1 July 1143. Stephen attempted to break out from the siege, but his army was forced back and dispersed by a cavalry charge from Earl Robert's army. In the darkness, Stephen escaped from the burning abbey while his steward William Martel fought a rearguard action to delay the pursuers. After the battle, Earl Robert's forces looted and burned houses in Wilton.
King Stephen surrendered Sherborne Castle to Earl Robert as ransom for the captured William Martel. Sherborne had been an important strategic outpost for the king in the west country. As a result of its surrender, Earl Robert's power extended from the Bristol Channel to the south coast of Dorset. The civil war settled into a stalemate, with Stephen unable to extend his power into the west country, while Matilda was unable to extend hers beyond that region.
The ground they fought on
The site of Anarchy: Battle of Wilton, 1143 lies on White Chalk Subgroup, bedrock that formed in the Maastrichtian. The rock here is chalk.
In the darkness following the sunset assault, King Stephen fled the burning Wilton Abbey whilst his steward William Martel sacrificed his own freedom fighting a rearguard action to slow Earl Robert's pursuers, an act of loyalty that ultimately cost Martel his liberty and Stephen the strategically vital Sherborne Castle, surrendered as ransom for the captured steward.
- William Martel, Stephen's steward, was captured. No specific casualty figures are recorded in the sources.
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