Rout of Winchester

September 14, 1141

After Empress Matilda's summer of supremacy, her half-brother Robert of Gloucester was captured by King Stephen's queen's forces during a retreat through Winchester. Matilda exchanged Robert for Stephen. The Anarchy settled into a grinding stalemate that neither side could break for another twelve years, reducing much of southern England to a landscape of unlicensed castles, burned villages, and extorted peasants.