The Continuator states that she reached Winchester shortly before the 1st of August.[396] He also speaks of the siege having lasted seven weeks on the 13th of September.[397] If he means by this, as he implies, the siege by the queen's forces, he is clearly wrong; but if he was thinking of the arrival of the Empress, this would place that event not later than the 27th of July. We know from the date of the Oxford charter that it cannot well have been earlier. The _Hyde Cartulary_ (Stowe MSS.) is more exact, and, indeed, gives us the day of her arrival, Thursday, July 31 ("pridie kal. Augusti"). According to the _Annals of Waverley_, the Empress besieged the bishop the next day.[398]
Of the struggle which now took place we have several independent accounts. Of these the fullest are those given by the Continuator, who here writes with a bitter feeling against the legate, and by the author of the _Gesta_, whose sympathies were, of course, on the other side. John of Hexham, William of Malmesbury, and Henry of Huntingdon have accounts which should be carefully consulted, and some information is also to be gleaned from the _Hyde Cartulary_ (Stowe MSS.).
It is John of Hexham alone who mentions that the bishop himself had commenced operations by besieging the royal castle, which was held by a garrison of the Empress.[399] It was in this castle, says the Continuator, that she took up her quarters on her arrival.[400] She at once summoned the legate to her presence, but he, dreading that she would seize his person, returned a temporizing answer, and eventually rode forth from the city (it would seem, by the east gate) just as the Empress entered it in state.[401]
Though the Continuator asserts that the Empress, on her arrival, found the city opposed to her, William of Malmesbury, whose sympathies were the same, asserts, on the contrary, that the citizens were for her.[402] Possibly, the former may only have meant that she had found the gates of the city closed against her by the legate. In any case, she now established herself, together with her followers, within the walls, and laid siege to the episcopal palace, which was defended by the legate's garrison.[403] The usual consequence followed. From the summit of the keep its reckless defenders rained down fire upon the town, and a monastery, a nunnery, more than forty (?) churches, and the greater part of the houses within the walls are said to have been reduced to ashes.[404]