ABSTRACT
On 30 September 1139, a squadron of ships from Normandy bearing the Empress Mathilda and Earl Robert of Gloucester arrived on the west Sussex coast near Arundel. 1 The landing point was not a matter of accident. 2 The empress, the earl and their not inconsiderable military escort (including some Angevin knights) were received openly at the castle, a formidable fortress in the possession of the queen dowager, Adeliza of Louvain, recently married to Stephen's stalwart supporter William d'Aubigné (created earl of Lincoln on the marriage). They knew, it is clear, that the queen would not arrest her stepdaughter and hand her over to King Stephen, indeed William of Malmesbury believed that Adeliza had been in correspondence with the empress for some time before the crossing. The landing seems to have been part of a carefully co-ordinated military operation, for the empress and her half-brother were attempting a dangerous adventure: Stephen had ordered all the harbours of the south coast to be closed and watched. 3
