CHAPTER XIV
THE DREADFUL STORY OF STEPHEN AND HIS AUNT MATILDA (OR MAUD)
The moment Stephen came to the throne it was realized that he was a mistake and had been christened wrong; thus everything was thrown into confusion.
Stephen himself felt quite uncalled for, and even his Aunt Matilda was able to take him in when she began announcing that she was the real King. Stephen, however, soon discovered that she had been malchristened, too, and was unable to say for certain whether her name was Matilda or Maud.
After this Stephen and Matilda (or Maud) spent the reign escaping from each other over the snow in nightgowns while ‘God and His Angels slept.’
Lax State of Affairs
Taking advantage of this lax state of affairs, the Barons built a surfeit of romantic castles, into which they lured everybody and then put them to the torture; nor is it recorded that the Sword was once sheathed, right to the bottom, during the whole of this dreadful reign. Hence the memorable greeting so common among the Barons of the time—“Merrie Englande!”