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The Anarchy

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: British History 1500 and
before (including Roman Britain)

   The Anarchy is the preferred name in English history that pertains to
   the period of civil war and unsettled government, often known as The
   Nineteen Year Winter, that occurred during the reign ( 1135– 1154) of
   King Stephen of England. Stephen was a favourite nephew of King Henry I
   of England (reigned 1100– 1135), whose only legitimate son died in 1120
   in the " White Ship" disaster. Henry then named his daughter Matilda as
   heir to his throne. He forced his barons, including Stephen, to swear
   allegiance to her several times, but it went against the grain—no woman
   had ever ruled over all England in her own right. To make matters
   worse, Matilda had married Geoffrey of Anjou, who did not enjoy a good
   reputation in England. This was mainly because he hailed from Anjou,
   whose rulers were resented by the Normans for their unashamed attempts
   to conquer the duchy of Normandy.

   On Henry's death in 1135, Stephen rushed to England. Despite the fact
   that the barons already seemed to be leaning towards the election of
   his elder brother, Theobald, who was Count of Blois, with great speed
   he entered London and was elected king by the townspeople, who saw it
   as their ancient right to decide upon the king. From here he moved to
   Winchester, where, with the support of his younger brother Henry, who
   was the bishop, he secured the treasury and the support of both the
   archbishop William Corbeil, and the Chief Justiciar, Roger of
   Salisbury. The barons preferred Stephen to Matilda and so ratified the
   usurpation, the main opposition coming from Matilda's illegitimate
   half-brother, Robert of Gloucester, who never supported Stephen
   whole-heartedly since he, Robert, was the half brother of Matilda and
   thus the main rival to Stephen in terms of landed wealth. The
   Archbishop of Canterbury and Pope Innocent II sided with Stephen.
   Matilda's best hope, her uncle, King David I of Scotland, invaded
   Northumberland, nominally on her behalf. Little actual fighting took
   place, but Thurstan, Archbishop of York, won the Battle of the Standard
   on Stephen's behalf in August 1138.

   Later in the same year, Robert of Gloucester changed sides and allied
   himself with Matilda, also known as the Empress Maud. Stephen,
   meanwhile, made a series of poor decisions that caused resentment
   amongst his former supporters. His own brother, Henry, Bishop of
   Winchester, turned against him due to his arrest of prominent bishops
   in the land, which Henry perceived as an attack on the church itself,
   and in 1139, Matilda entered England and made a stand at Arundel
   Castle. Stephen allowed her to travel to Bristol to meet up with Robert
   of Gloucester, in order to try to contain any enemies in one area.
   Another prominent opposing earl, Ranulf of Chester, had moved to
   Lincoln and proceeded to capture the castle. Despite making apparent
   peace with Ranulf, Stephen responded to a plea from the citizens of
   Lincoln to attack the castle he held. Ranulf got wind of this, and
   managed to escape and muster a force of knights, in conjunction with
   his father-in-law, Robert of Gloucester. Thus the stage was set for
   battle. In the only major battle of the struggle, Stephen suffered
   defeat on February 2, 1141. He was made a prisoner at Bristol, and
   Matilda temporarily ruled from London. However, her haughty manner soon
   made her enemies there, and she felt obliged to leave the capital for
   Oxford. In September of 1141, Robert of Gloucester fell into enemy
   hands following the rout of Winchester at the hands of Stephen's wife,
   Matilda of Boulogne, and his mercenary captain, William of Ypres.
   Matilda decided to get Robert back via an exchange for Stephen, who
   returned to the throne. He now held most of the country and besieged
   Matilda at Oxford Castle. Her escape by night in the snow to
   Wallingford has become legendary.

   Unrest continued throughout Stephen's reign, even after Matilda had
   returned to Anjou following Robert's death in 1147. The Peterborough
   Chronicle offers an eye-witness account of the civil war and its
   suffering. According to its author, Stephen was a "softe and gode" man
   who "no iustice didde," and "Crist and alle his sayntes slept". These
   things, and "mare thanne we cunnen sæin, we tholeden xix wintre for ure
   sinnes" ("more than we can say, we suffered 19 winters for our sins").
   It is because of the lack of rule, the lack of security, and the lack
   of safety that the era is referred to as "the Anarchy."

   Stephen himself was in poor health by this time, and he suffered a
   further blow when his eldest son, Eustace, died suddenly in 1153 —
   Stephen had wanted Eustace crowned during his own lifetime, but the
   Pope had refused to allow it and even put England under an interdict
   for a time during the squabble. Matilda's son, the future Henry II of
   England, had by now grown up into a skilled military tactician and a
   determined opponent, and he arrived in England with the intention of
   conquest. By the Treaty of Winchester (also known as the Treaty of
   Wallingford), which the two men signed in November 1153, Stephen
   recognised Henry as heir to the throne. The rumours which for years had
   been circulating that Stephen was Henry II's biological father were
   reinforced by his agreement to let Henry succeed him although he had
   another surviving son ( William of Blois), but no evidence supporting
   that story has ever emerged. Matilda never ruled in her own right.

The Anarchy in fiction

                                                    Image:saints_slept.JPG

   Although not traditionally a popular period with historical novelists,
   the Anarchy has furnished the background of five major fictional
   portrayals in recent years.
     * Cecelia Holland's The Earl, also published as "Hammer for Princes"
       (1971) gives a vivid description of the last year of the struggle,
       Prince Henry's invasion of England and his eventual recognition as
       King Stephen's heir.
     * Ellis Peters set her series of Brother Cadfael books (published
       1977– 1994) against the background of the Anarchy.
     * Ken Follett's novel The Pillars of the Earth (published in 1989) is
       also set during this time.
     * Sharon Kay Penman's 750-page novel, When Christ and His Saints
       Slept (published in 1995), gives a comprehensive and informative
       view of the entire power struggle.
     * Jean Plaidy's Passionate Enemies (c. 1976) from her multi volume
       treatment of the British monarchy captures the mood of the period
       and the personalities of Matilda and Stephen.

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