The Anarchy in English history commonly names the period of civil war and unsettled government 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. England is the largest and most populous of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom. ... Events January - Byland Abbey founded Stephen of Blois succeeds King Henry I. Empress Maud, daughter of Henry I and widow of Henry V opposed Stephen and claims the throne as her own Owain Gwynedd of Wales defeats the Normans at Crug Mawr. ... Events King Stephen of England dies at Dover, and is succeeded by his adopted son Henry Plantagenet who becomes King Henry II of England, aged 21. ... Stephen (1096 – October 25, 1154), the last Norman King of England, reigned from 1135 to 1154, when he was succeeded by his cousin Henry II, the first of the Angevin or Plantagenet Kings. ... Henry I of England (c. ... Events William II of England dies in a hunting accident - Henry I becomes King of England King Henry I proclaims the Charter of Liberties, one of the first examples of a constitution. ... Events Welcher of Malvern creates a system of measurement for the earth using degrees, minutes, and seconds of latitude and longitude. ... The White Ship, a 12th century vessel, sank in the English Channel near the Normandy coast off Barfleur, on November 25, 1120. ... Empress Matilda (February, 1101 – September 10, 1167) (Saxon form Maud or Maude) – was the daughter and dispossessed heir of King Henry I of England. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the United Kingdom (light green), with the Republic of Ireland (blue) to its west Languages English Capital London Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population –mid-2004... Geoffrey V (August 24, 1113 – September 7, 1151), Count of Anjou and Maine, and later Duke of Normandy, called Le Bel (The Fair) or Geoffrey Plantagenet, was the father of King Henry II of England, and thus the forefather of the Plantagenet dynasty of English kings. ...

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. Events January - Byland Abbey founded Stephen of Blois succeeds King Henry I. Empress Maud, daughter of Henry I and widow of Henry V opposed Stephen and claims the throne as her own Owain Gwynedd of Wales defeats the Normans at Crug Mawr. ... Theobald II of Champagne was Count of Champagne from 1125 to 1152. ... Blois is a city in France, the préfecture (capital) city of the Loir-et-Cher département, situated on the banks of the lower river Loire between Orléans and Tours. ... For other uses, see London (disambiguation). ... William de Corbeil (d. ... Roger (d. ... Robert of Gloucester also frequently refers to the historian Robert_of_Gloucester Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester (~1090 - October 31, 1147) was an illegitimate son of Henry I of England, and one of the dominant figures of the English Anarchy period. ... Arms of the see of Canterbury The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior clergyman of the established Church of England and symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. ... Innocent II, born Gregorio Papareschi (b. ... King David I (or Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim; also known as Saint David I or David I the Saint) (1084 – May 24, 1153), was King of Scotland from 1124 until his death, and the youngest son of Malcolm Canmore and of Saint Margaret (sister of Edgar Ætheling). ... Northumberland is a traditional, ceremonial and administrative county in northern England. ... Thurstan, or Turstin (d. ... Arms of the Archbishop of York The Archbishop of York, Primate of England, is the metropolitan bishop of the Province of York, and is the junior of the two archbishops of the Church of England, after the Archbishop of Canterbury. ... The monument on the battlefield at Grid reference SE360977 The Battle of the Standard took place on 22 August 1138 near Northallerton in Yorkshire. ... Events Robert Warelwast becomes Bishop of Exeter. ...

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. Henry of Blois (1111-1171) was bishop of Winchester from 1129 to his death. ... Events Alphonso I (Afonso Henriques) becomes first king of Portugal Second Council of the Lateran Births Emperor Konoe of Japan Deaths Henry the Proud, Duke of Bavaria and Saxony Categories: 1139 ... Arundel Castle Arundel Castle in West Sussex, England, is one of the most impressive and complete castles remaining in Britain. ... Bristol (IPA: brĭstəl) is a city, unitary authority and ceremonial county in South West England, 115 miles (185 km) west of London at , . With a population of 400,000, and metropolitan area of 550,000, it is Englands sixth, and the United Kingdoms ninth, most... Ranulph de Blondeville (1172-1232) was one of the old school of Anglo-Norman barons whose loyalty to the Angevin dynasty was consistent but contingent on the receipt of lucrative favours. ... February 2 is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events February 2 - Battle of Lincoln. ... Oxford is a city and local government district in Oxfordshire, England, with a population of 134,248 (2001 census). ... Matilda I of Bolougne (1105 – May 3, 1152), also nicknamed Maud, was queen consort of England, the wife of King Stephen. ... Ancient plan of Oxford Castle. ... Map sources for Wallingford at grid reference SU6089 Wallingford is a small town in Oxfordshire in southern England. ...

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." Anjou is a former county (c. ... Events King Afonso I of Portugal and the Crusaders capture Lisbon from Muslims First written mention of Moscow. ... The Peterborough Chronicle (also called The Laud Manuscript) is one of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles that contains unique information about the history of England after the Norman Conquest. ...

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. Eustace IV (c. ... Events January 6 - Henry of Anjou arrives in England. ... The word interdict usually refers to an ecclesiastical penalty in the Roman Catholic Church. ... Henry II of England (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189) ruled as Count of Anjou, Duke of Normandy, and as King of England (1154–1189) and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland, eastern Ireland, and western France. ... The Treaty of Wallingford of 1153, also known as the Treaty of Winchester, effectively ended The Anarchy, a dispute between Empress Matilda and her cousin Stephen of England over the English crown. ... William of Blois (c. ...

The Anarchy in fiction

Although not traditionally a popular period with historical novelists, the Anarchy has furnished the background of five major fictional portrayals in recent years. A historical novel is a novel in which the story is set among historical events, or more generally, in which the time of the action predates the lifetime of the author. ...

• 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.

Note: Cecelia Holland's book can help fans of the Cadfael series who are interested in the historical background and who feel frustrated that (due to the writer's lamented death) the last Cadfael book ends with a failed reconciliation effort by the Church after which the Civil War breaks out again. The Earl completes the historical picture and describes how the war ended, and though it of course does not have Cadfael it does have many of the historical figures who appear in the Cadfael books, such as King Stephen, the Bishop of Wincester, Stephen's brother, and Ranulf, Earl of Chester. (This book also has a murder mystery of a sort!) Cecelia Anastasia Holland is an American historical novelist. ... Edith Mary Pargeter (September 28, 1913 - October 14, 1995) was a prolific British author of works in many categories, especially history and historical fiction, and was also honored for her translations of Czech classics; she is probably best known for her murder mysteries, both historical and modern. ... Brother Cadfael is the fictional detective in a series of murder mysteries by the late Edith Pargeter writing under the name Ellis Peters. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal. // Events January Bill Clinton January 1 : North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect. ... Ken Follett (born June 5, 1949) is a British author of thrillers and historical novels. ... The cover art of Pillars of the Earth, US edition The Pillars of the Earth is a historical novel by Ken Follett about the building of a cathedral in Kingsbridge (a fictional town located roughly in the area of the present-day town of Marlborough, Wiltshire in England). ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sharon Kay Penman (born 1945) is an American author of fiction, born in New York, but her ancestors were Anglo-Irish. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jean Plaidy was a pen name of British author Eleanor Hibbert, also known as Philippa Carr and Victoria Holt. ...