Even as the royal troops listened to the exhortations of Stephen's lieutenant, Baldwin fitz Gilbert, the advancing enemy was heard and soon the disinherited Angevin knights charged the cavalry of the five earls.

On the left Earl William Aumale of York and William Ypres charged and smashed the poorly armed, 'but full of spirits', Welsh division but were themselves in turn routed 'in a moment' by the well-ordered military might of Earl Ranulf who stood out from the mass in 'his bright armour'.

No rest, no breathing time was granted them, except in the quarter where stood that most valiant king, as the foe dreaded the incomparable force of his blows.

[5] This battle is featured in the historical novel The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, and is described almost as it happened, including the capture of King Stephen and his subsequent exchange.

The Battle of Lincoln is also an important plot element in Dead Man's Ransom, a novel in the Brother Cadfael series by Edith Pargeter (writing as Ellis Peters).

An older novel, The Villains of the Piece (aka Oath and the Sword), by Graham Shelby, also has a chapter in it describing the First Battle of Lincoln.

The first battle of Lincoln is also represented in the 2021 Microsoft video game Age of Empires 4 as a campaign mission.