Two cousins waged war for the future of England. Only one could win.
This is the story of Stephen and Matilda, and the civil war remembered
as The Anarchy.
The Anarchy was the first civil war in post-Conquest England, enduring
throughout the reign of King Stephen between 1135 and 1154. It
ultimately brought about the end of the Norman dynasty and the birth of
the mighty Plantagenet kings. When Henry I died having lost his only
legitimate son in a shipwreck, he had caused all of his barons to swear
to recognize his daughter Matilda, widow of the Holy Roman Emperor, as
his heir and remarried her to Geoffrey, Count of Anjou. When she was
slow to move to England on her father's death, Henry's favorite nephew
Stephen of Blois rushed to have himself crowned, much as Henry himself
had done on the death of his brother William Rufus.
Supported by his brother Henry, Bishop of Winchester, Stephen made a
promising start, but Matilda would not give up her birthright and tried
to hold the English barons to their oaths. The result was more than a
decade of civil war that saw England split apart. Empress Matilda is
often remembered as aloof and high-handed, Stephen as ineffective and
indecisive. By following both sides of the dispute and seeking to
understand their actions and motivations, Matthew Lewis aims to reach a
more rounded understanding of this crucial period of English history and
asks to what extent there really was anarchy.
