ABSTRACT
Everyone had to declare Stephen's loyalty in defeat as well as in victory, and those who had proved constant to either the king or the empress exhibited a new self-confidence and esprit de corps. The situation was easier for Stephen's men than Matilda's, not only because he had eventually won, but also because he had behaved with dignity in his captivity, and while never forgetting that he was still king, had made no unreasonable demands on his subjects. Nothing could have been more tolerant, than the way in which he had allowed the Church to move with the times in April, and subsequently permitted it to return to his allegiance at a legatine council held by Henry of Blois at Westminster on 7 December 1141. It was a splendid combination of firmness and moderation. Though Stephen was not reconsecrated, he was recrowned in a ceremony which was taken as a precedent by Richard I after his release from captivity.
