Traditionally, the arrest of the bishops has been seen as a turning point in Stephen's reign, and the event that turned the ecclesiastical hierarchy against him. Recent historians have held a lively debate on the issue; a few still hold to the traditional interpretation, but most have decided that reactions in the English church were more ambivalent. One modern historian, David Crouch, believes that the arrest of the bishops signalled the beginnings of the Anarchy, not because of any alienation of the church, but through court politics, where Stephen showed himself incapable of manipulating the factions of his court. The ascendency of the Beaumonts was marked by the placement of one of their protégés, Philip de Harcourt, as Chancellor.