THIS WAS the Gesta Stephani's assessment of episcopal conduct during the civil war. Similar, if more moderate, views were held until relatively recently. Paul Dalton has now shown, however, that some bishops were committed to peace-keeping, and it has also been argued that their relations with King Stephen were better and more constructive than is often allowed. Here, another facet of the civil war bishops' office is explored which has been little addressed beyond the exceptional case of Durham: engagement and integration with local political, religious and social dynamics and networks. Case studies are drawn from the three dioceses of Chester, Hereford, and Lincoln because bishops of all three are named in the Gesta Stephani. Bishop Robert de Bethune of Hereford exceptionally, ‘manfully set himself like a shield of defence against the enemies of the catholic peace’. Bishops Alexander of Lincoln and Roger de Clinton of Chester, however,