ABSTRACT
Mutual exhaustion can resolve civil wars. Sooner or later, the accumulated human loss and material damage begin to put the conflict into a new perspective. Is it all worth the effort? Is any principle the excuse for such waste? Are there better ways of resolving the difficulty? This point was reached quite quickly in the wars of Stephen's reign. This may be a tribute to the shallowness of the ideological veneer the leaders put on the conflict. Ideas of loyalty and right heredity made for a thin sort of gloss when it was clear to everybody that individual and dynastic gain was really at issue. The gloss became almost a transparent membrane when it was stretched to cover the squabbling and greed of the magnates and opportunists who fought the wars in the field. With no great depth of conviction, the roots of partisan warfare could not supply enough hatred to keep the war flourishing and spreading.
