The king, outraged beyond endurance, at once ordered his arrest, and his foes rushed upon him.[629] The actual seizure of the earl appears to have been attended by circumstances of which we are only informed from a somewhat unexpected quarter. Mathew Paris, from his connection with St. Albans, has been able to preserve in his _Historia Anglorum_ the local tradition of the event. From this we learn, firstly, that there was a struggle; secondly, that there was a flagrant violation of the right of sanctuary. The struggle, indeed, was so sharp that the Earl of Arundel, whom we know to have been an old opponent of Geoffrey (see p. 323), was rolled over, horse and all, and nearly drowned in "Holywell." The fact that this tussle took place in the open would seem to imply that the whole of this highly dramatic episode took place out of doors.[630] As to the other of these two points, it is clear that there was something discreditable to Stephen, according to the opinion of the time, in his sudden seizure of the earl. William of Newburgh observes that he acted "non quidem honeste et secundum jus gentium, sed pro merito ejus et metu; scilicet, quod expediret quam quod deceret plus attendens." Henry of Huntingdon similarly writes that such a step was "magis secundum retributionem nequitiæ consulis quam secundum jus gentium, magis ex necessitate quam ex honestate."[631] The Chronicle of Walden, also, complains of the circumstances of his arrest;[632] and even the panegyrist of Stephen is anxious to clear his fame by imputing to the barons the suggestion of what he admits to be a questionable act, and claiming for the king the credit of reluctance to adopt their advice.[633] But there was a more serious charge brought against the king than that of dishonourable behaviour to the earl. He was accused of violating by his conduct the rights of sanctuary of St. Albans, though he had sworn, we are told, not to do so, and had taken part so shortly before in that council of London at which such violations were denounced. The abbot's knights, indeed, went so far as to resist by force of arms this outrage on the Church's rights.[634] It is clearly to the contest thus caused, rather than (as implied by Mathew) to the actual arrest of Geoffrey, that we must assign the struggle in which the Earl of Arundel was unhorsed by Walchelin de Oxeai, for Walchelin was one of the abbey's knights, and was, therefore, fighting in her cause.[635]