We continue our exploration of the historical events that inspired HBO’s series House of the Dragon with a brief account of the Civil War between Stephen and Matilda. Because we are considering it in as much as it inspired a television show, this is hardly a detailed and academic account of the historical equivalent of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen’s quest for her father’s throne. Instead, it covers the major themes and significant events of the period, leading to a terrible war of succession with a disappointing lack of dragons.
The King's Heir
When we last left Empress Matilda, the barons had been summoned to Westminster to swear oaths of allegience to her in front of the king. On the 1st January 1127, after celebrating a courtly Christmas, Henry I gave a speech to the convened barons in which he designated Matilda as his heir. He extolled her good qualities and her excellent maternal lineage which directly linked her to relatively recent dynasty of Anglo-Saxon kings. He did not draw attention to her paternal lineage, even though she was his only legitimate child. Henry I’s elder brother from whom he had taken the Dukedom of Normandy was still alive, as was said brother’s son, William Clito. If Henry were going to start talking about primogeniture, he’d be undermining his own claim as well as his daughter’s.
Primogeniture, that is the tradition of the eldest male relative inheriting by birth right, wasn’t yet the all-prevailing standard it would come to be. A King could designate his heir and it may not be his eldest son. Henry I was banking on this tradition paving the way of acceptance for his daughter to take the throne. All the barons (including Stephen of Blois) had to swear individually so they couldn’t later renage on their vow, and all swore that in the event of the king’s death they would uphold Matilda’s claim.
Henry I wasn’t blind to the fact that Matilda wasn’t going to have the easiest succession and things would go much smoother if she already had sons to pass the throne to. To that end, Henry I arranged a second marriage for his daughter. Before his death on the White Ship, William Adelin had been married to the daughter of the Duke of Anjou. This alliance was now revisited and Matilda was to be married to the Duke’s son; Geoffrey of Anjou.
The match was not a welcome one and Matilda was among the first to object. She who styled herself Empress for her first husband and had ruled over the largest European empire, was now betrothed to a Count’s thirteen year old son. On a political level, Anjou was Normandy’s greatest rival and this marriage threatened the power of the barons in a way the previous marriage with the Duke of Anjou’s daughter did not. But the marriage was necessary and so Matilda acquiesced, marrying Geoffrey when he reached the age of fourteen the following year in June 1128.
The marriage did not get off to a stellar start. In order to raise Geoffrey’s station to one a little more suited to a widowed Empress, Henry I knighted him. The Duke of Anjou also arranged for Geoffrey to immmediately succeed him while he packed up for the Holy Land. Unfortunately, the new Duke of Anjou had little understanding of the position he had been elevated to and didn’t want to be commanded by his older wife. Likewise, Matilda knew all too well what was expected of her husband and was frustrated by his immaturity. By Autumn 1129, the couple separated and Matilda returned to her father.
On the 8th September 1131, Henry I confirmed (again) that Matilda was his chosen heir, and she returned to her husband’s side. Both were a little more agreeable to the other and within a year, Matilda had fallen pregnant. She gave birth to their first son, Henry, in March 1133. Henry was followed by a brother, Geoffrey, a year later and the couple found common ground in the desire to advance their sons.
Henry I was delighted and, with Matilda having both an heir and a spare, the succession seemed to be secure.
The King is Dead. Long Live the... ????
Relations between Henry I and his daughter became strained during 1135. Anjou and the king were at odds over Matilda’s dower castles and Henry blamed Anjou for alienating him from his daughter. By this time, Matilda was pregnant for the third time, after almost dying in childbed with her second son.
As 1135 drew to a close, Henry I was in Normandy. The story goes that he over-indulged in lampreys despite his physicians warning him that they would make him ill. (He likely had a seafood allergy). They made him more than ill, within a week, on the 1 December 1135, Henry died.
Matilda was with her husband in Anjou and had no idea of her father’s passing. Stephen of Blois, however, was much more conveniently placed in Bolougne. When he heard of Henry’s death, he immediately returned to England. The barons accompanying Henry I had sworn an oath that they would remain in Normandy until Henry was laid to rest and unlike certain other oaths (like, say, those to recognise Matilda as queen) they actually kept this one. As a result, there weren’t actually that many men of consequence in England when Stephen arrived.
Stephen secured the city of London and the treasury at Winchester. He had the support of his brother, the Bishop of Winchester, and produced a witness who had been at Henry’s deathbed and seen how, in his death throes, the king had released his barons from their oath to support Matilda. His witness hadn’t been anywhere near Henry at the time of his death but his testimony allowed Stephen to renege on his oath and on the 22 December, he was crowned and annointed King of England.
Back in Normandy, the barons, including Robert of Gloucester, Henry I’s eldest illegitimate son, were meeting to decide whether they were going to support Matilda or whether the crown should go to the deceased king’s closest male relative; Theobold of Blois. Gloucester had himself been offered the crown but he refused. He was a known to all as a man of impeccable honour. In the first place, he felt his legitimacy (or lack of it) barred him from the throne and secondly, he had sworn to support his half-sister. It was shortly after this meeting that the news came of Stephen’s coup.
Matilda, who had done everything that her father had asked of her in the expectation that she would receive the support that had been sworn, was still in France when she discovered that Stephen had assumed the throne. She was now in the awkward position of being unable to call herself Queen Matilda, as Stephen’s wife (Matilda) had been crowned such. Instead, Matilda settled on Matilda, Empress, Daughter of the King of the English, and settled in Normandy, ready to challenge for her birthright.
The Anarchy
The war for the English crown didn’t so much rage for fifteen years as it did exist. The pregnant Matilda could hardly don armour and march on England, while Stephen was immediately occupied by skirmishes with Scotland (on Matilda’s behalf) and Wales (on Wales’ behalf). Although regional rebellions would break out in support of her, it would be another four years before Matilda (who was successfully delivered of her third son, William) actually left Normandy and set sail for England.
In September 1139, Matilda landed at Arundel castle at the invitation of her stepmother, Adeliza. Matilda and Adeliza had always been friends and remained so after Henry’s death. Adeliza remarried (and had several children with her new husband) and now lived at Arundel from where Matilda could begin her campaigns.
When Stephen discovered that Matilda was in the country, he immediately moved to surround her and demanded her surrender. What followed was an exercise in courtly manners that would put Downton Abbey’s etiquette consultant to shame.
A flurry of messages passed between Stephen and Arundel Castle. Adeliza’s husband was mortified that his wife had put them in this position but Adeliza protested her innocence. She was not a traitor harbouring the king’s enemies. She was a stepmother entertaining a beloved stepdaughter. Under the laws of hospitality, she could not be expected to hand Matilda over to Stephen’s custody. The same courtly morays also allowed Matilda’s gender to work in her favour for the first time. Stephen as a king and knight could not harrass a lady. Even more so, her claim to the throne aside, Matilda was the highest ranking lady in the country, second only to Stephen’s own wife. As a lady, and a high ranking one at that, she was practically guaranteed safe passage unless Stephen were to show himself a tyrant and ignore the demands of chivalry.
Stephen’s own father had broken his vows while on crusade and never lived down the igmony. Stephen was very much keen to avoid any association with his father’s cowardice. Preserving his image as an honourable man, he allowed Matilda to leave Arundel Castle and establish a base at Bristol. Stephen even offered to have her escorted to guarantee her safe passage.
Stephen has been criticised for giving up his earliest and greatest chance to capture his primary rival but it wasn’t just good manners that prevailed. He could ill afford a long siege against Arundel Castle while Matilda’s supporters rebelled in the country behind them, and allowing Matilda to proceed to Bristol would put her in the same place as her other commanders.
By the end of the following year, 1140, the two sides were cemented. Stephen controlled London, the South-East, the Midlands, and the North of England. Matilda controlled the South-West, and South Wales. Both claimed that they were the rightful ruler of England and they minted coins to this effect. But there was little else either could do. They were locked in a stalemate.
Neither side had an advantage in the skirmishes which meant neither could secure a definitive victory. Castles were fortified, alliegences were changed and changed back, but the only thing the relentless battles managed to achieve was the devastation of the English countryside. Occasionally peace talks were held but these proved fruitless as both sides wanted the same thing without leverage to secure it.
The stalemate continued until February 1141 when Stephen and Matilda’s forces met at the Battle of Lincoln. Matilda was victorious, Stephen was captured, and in the aftermath Matilda made for London to finally be crowned Queen of England. Stephen’s brother, Bishop Henry now quickly pledged his loyalty to Matilda and worked to get other churchmen on board.
Entire books have been written about why Matilda fell at this critical hurdle but ultimately it came down to, wait for it… Her gender. I’ll give you a moment to get over the shock.
The issue was that the idea of kingship (as we would recognise it) hadn’t long been established and was still finding its footing. We’ve already seen that there was no strict custom regarding who could inherit a throne and those vaguaries extended to the throne itself. And if the concept of kingship was in its infancy, queenship was merely a twinkle in the royal milkman’s eye. Even the word ‘queen’ meant ‘wife of a king’. There was barely a precedent for kings in England, the idea of a queen regnant was beyond the realms of imagination. Matilda, whose mother’s legacy had been to define medieval queenship; very demure, very mindful, did not consider herself in relation to men. She was not there to take the throne on behalf of her young son. She was not there as the Countess of Anjou, ruling for her husband. She acted, to all intents and purposes, as a king and her contemporaries couldn’t handle it. I don’t say that as a criticism of their character, they quite literally could not comprehend a woman acting this way. Matilda was driven out of London before her coronation by an army headed by the other Queen Matilda (who was excused the command of an army because she had exhausted all forms of feminine intervention) and Bishop Henry returned to his brother. Matilda retaliated by laying siege to Winchester from which she was also driven.
1141 had started with promise for Matilda but in September she was roundly defeated in what would be called the Rout of Winchester. Robert of Gloucester was captured but ultimately exchanged for Stephen and both sides went right back to their stalemate. Another round of peace talks were held in the summer of 1146 but as the situation remained largely the same, nothing was achieved.
The only real change during these years after Matilda’s almost-coronation was a subtle one. Focus shifted from Matilda’s claim to the throne to that of her eldest son, Henry. It was starting to become clear that Matilda would never rule as a queen in her own right. In early 1148, Matilda seems to have accepted this and withdrawn entirely from England. Robert of Gloucester, her greatest and most loyal supporter had died and she was no closer to the throne than she had been in the early stages of her campaign over a decade earlier. She returned to Normandy and while it was not the end of her campaigns, it seems to have been the end of her campaign on her own behalf. Matilda would not return to England, focusing instead on the governance of Normandy. To steal a phrase from House of the Dragon she was the Queen that Never Was.
A Challenger Appears
Throughout the latter years of Henry I’s reign, the king had asserted that the throne was to pass to Matilda’s sons. At the time of his death, Matilda’s eldest son was two years old. Stephen could be, and indeed was, excused taking the throne from an infant but by 1148, when Matilda departed England, Henry was a man (by the standards of the time) of fourteen. His age alone would make him a contender for the throne but to add even more problems for Stephen; Henry was showing himself to be more than up to the task of kingship.
In 1149, sixteen year old Henry boldly landed in England, challenging for the crown in person in a way Matilda could not. As a woman, Matilda could only direct her forces from a place of safety; Henry could ride into battle himself. So he did. And how.
Henry’s campaign wasn’t successful. Ultimately, he had to return to his Normandy and, in an amusing twist, asked Stephen for the funds to do so. Stephen agreed, probably to get his principal rival the hell out of his country. Henry may not have succeeded in winning the war but he had demonstrated that he was a capable leader and willing to fight. Unfortunately for Stephen, Henry would only go from strength to strength.
In September 1151, Anjou died and the now eighteen year old Henry was the undisputed Count of Anjou and Maine, as well as the Duke of Normandy. The following May he married Eleanor of Aquitaine, the most eligible lady in Europe. The acquisition of Aquitaine and Eleanor’s territories meant that Henry now ruled the vast majority of Western France. In fact, he controlled more of France than the King of France.
Henry was very much in ascendance and Stephen was rapidly losing support and justification for passing the throne to his own son, Eustace. Any argument he made for primogeniture would only strengthen Matilda’s claim for Henry. Nor were the barons particularly enthusiastic to swear an oath to uphold Eustace’s royal rights (which had worked out so well for Matilda back in the day).
Stephen therefore turned to French custom and attempted to crown Eustace as King of England himself, in Stephen’s own lifetime. This had never been attempted in England before and there was entirely no support for it. Stephen asked the Pope to intervene but even the Pope was against the idea. When the bishops refused Stephen’s request that they crown him anyway, Stephen had them all imprisoned.
As if to compound Stephen’s run of bad luck, while Henry was marrying Eleanor across the Channel, Stephen’s wife Matilda died of a fever. The blow to Stephen could not be understated. When Henry returned to England the following year, 1153, at the head of an army, Stephen was struggling to maintain his support base. His own reign wasn’t in question. Whether his son would succeed him very much was.
In August 1153, Stephen realised that his situation was now completely untenable. England had been at war for over a decade and the people wanted peace. So much so, the barons and church were meeting amongst themselves to bring the war to an end. Forced into talks, Stephen met with Henry with an eye to bring about peace. An agreement was drafted where Stephen would finish his reign but that Henry would succeed him upon his death.
While this agreement was met with relief for the people of England, Eustace was livid. Apparently, he was so angry he laid waste to the town of Bury St. Edmunds. He devastated the town and sacked the abbey which might have put paid to the peace talks if he hadn’t then promptly died. The specifics of Eustace’s death are unknown. It was so quick and unexpected that even the historical record is divided on the subject. Some say he succumbed to a seizure, others that he choked on a meal, others still that he fell ill with a fever. His death was so swift that many attributed it to the will of an angry God wreaking vengeance for the abbey at Bury St. Edmunds.
The suddeness of Eustace’s death makes him sound almost like a particularly angry Sim suffering a cardiac explosion but regardless of the specifics; Stephen’s eldest son and obvious heir was dead. Auspiciously, in Normandy, on the day of Eustace’s death, Eleanor of Acquitaine was delivered of Henry’s firstborn son.
A month later, on the 6th November 1153, the Treaty of Winchester was signed. Stephen would live out his reign but Henry would succeed him. All territory that had passed between the two sides would revert back to whomever had controlled it on the day of Henry I’s death almost twenty years earlier meaning that after all that fighting, absolutely nothing had changed.
Empress Matilda, Mother of the King
A victorious Henry returned to Normandy in Easter 1154. It was not the victory Matilda had hoped for. Her son would be king but Matilda would never assume the throne in her own right. She had probably had time to accustom herself to this inevitable realisation but the final proof might have been a bitter pill to swallow.
Henry was not to remain in Normandy long. Stephen died in October, less than a year after the Treaty of Winchester was signed. Henry returned to England to take the throne. He was crowned with Matilda’s own crown on the 19th December 1154. Matilda was not there to see it. She wouldn’t return to England, even after her son had assumed the throne, and instead remained in Normandy where she acted as regent for her son’s French territories.
Once her son became king, Matilda became a much more popular figure even among those who had opposed her reign as Queen of England. As the mother of the king and regent, she was seen as wise counsel for her son and she helped him through a number of diplomatic issues during his early reign. She even intervened during her son’s infamous falling out with his Archbishop; Thomas Becket. She showed that she might well have been a capable ruler for the English but simply wasn’t allowed to do so until her position was established in relation to a man.
Matilda died in 1167 at the age of sixty-five. She had never been recognised as queen and had not set foot in England since her retreat of 1148. Her epitaph, which has since been lost, read: “Great by birth, greater by marriage, greatest in her offspring: here lies Matilda, the daughter, wife, and mother of Henry“
For more anarchical tidbits including bibliographies and the unfortunate life of Matilda’s almost rival, William Clito you can find me behind the scenes at my Patreon.
