Royal Rivalries: The Anarchy of Stephen and Matilda

Of all the civil conflicts to mark and shape Britain’s history, the period known as the Anarchy is perhaps the most overlooked. Officially beginning in 1135 with the death of King Henry I, second son of William the Conqueror, the Anarchy is often regarded as England’s first true civil war. It concerns the crisis of succession and usurpation that occurred between Empress Matilda and Stephen of Blois. But to understand this conflict, we must first explore who these people were, and how they staked their claims to the throne of England.

Matilda and Stephen

Empress Matilda was the only legitimate daughter of King Henry I, and by the time of his death, the only direct heir to the throne. Of all of England’s kings, Henry I had the most children, siring at least twenty in his time. But Matilda and her brother William were his only legitimate heirs, and when William drowned in the White Ship disaster of 1120 – a sinking that would kill approximately three hundred people, including several of their illegitimate half-brothers – Matilda found herself holding the last claim to the throne.

Matilda was no stranger to power. When she was only eight years old, in 1110, she was crowned Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, officially marrying Emperor Henry V four years later. Aged twelve, with a husband who was at least twenty-eight, she would have been thoroughly educated on the Empire’s institutions in order to fulfil the expectations placed upon a German empress, training her to participate in both ceremony and government. Throughout her teenage years, she accompanied her husband on diplomatic travels around Europe, witnessing several important charters and encountering many major political figures. When only sixteen, Matilda was left in Italy to govern her husband’s territories, receiving a portion of his armed forces and exercising independent authority to successfully maintain peace. By the time her husband died, Matilda was only twenty-three years old, but had already over a decade worth of experience as Empress under her belt by the time she returned to England in 1126, having spent sixteen years away from home and missing the death of her only brother.

Despite this, one key barrier stood in the way of Matilda’s succession: she was a woman. England had never had a Queen regnant – nor any independent female ruler since Aethelflaed of Mercia in the early tenth century – and would not see another until Mary Tudor in 1553, more than four hundred years after Matilda’s claim. It is clear that this obstacle was anticipated, as in the winter of 1126-7, King Henry would have his clergy and noblemen swear oaths of loyalty to Matilda, declaring her as Lady of the English, reaffirming her position with yet more oath-taking in 1131. But a Lady of the English is not a Queen of the English, and whilst it was clear that Henry intended his daughter to take his place, these oaths were still not enough to dissuade uncertainty in the wake of his death, with their vagueness inviting reinterpretation as soon as the King was no longer able to clarify his meaning.

And so, enter Stephen.

Stephen of Blois was King Henry’s nephew, descended from William the Conqueror through his mother, Adela of Normandy. The youngest of three sons, he stood to inherit little in his homeland, but was a well-liked young man, and in 1113, aged either seventeen or twenty-one (his exact birth date is uncertain) Stephen was sent to the English court, forming a strong bond with his uncle Henry in Matilda’s absence. Whilst in England, Stephen was granted titles and gifted lands, becoming one of the wealthiest and most popular men at court. He also managed to avoid the White Ship disaster due to stomach complaints, narrowly missing the catastrophic sinking that would purge England of most of its potential heirs. Later marrying Matilda of Boulogne, this match gave him control over the main trade route between London and the European continent, and his brother, another Henry, was also Bishop of Winchester, meaning Stephen’s influence was consolidatedacross both England and France.

The Usurpation

On 1 December 1135, King Henry I died (likely from an illness caused by the excessive consumption of lamprey eels) and the race for the throne began. Stephen was well-positioned in Boulogne, one of the northernmost points on the French coast, and was able to move quickly, arriving in possibly as little as a week. Matilda was not so fortunate. In 1128, she had been remarried to Geoffrey of Anjou in a match she appears to have resented, not only because her husband was only fourteen at the time, but because the marriage reduced her status to that of a Countess (although she persisted in going by Empress). Despite their marriage warming over the years, by 1135 it placed Matilda in Anjou, not only far from London but pregnant with her third son, and most likely ill from it too. There is evidence that Matilda and Geoffrey had begun moving towards England before word of what Stephen was about to do could reach them, indicating that Matilda had every intention of claiming her birth right. But by then it was already too late.

When considering Stephen’s usurpation of Matilda, it is important to establish the situation at hand following the death of King Henry. Prior to 1272, there was no mechanism in place to ensure an instant transference of power from one monarch to the next, meaning that government – and by extension law and order – largely ceased to function in the void between rulers. Conditions in England were dire, with Scottish and Welsh forces taking advantage of the chaos to infringe on the borders, but Normandy was even worse, with reports of pillaging, murder, and arson characterising the December of 1135. It is likely that a key motivator in placing Stephen on the throne was simply that he had been the first to arrive, and as such presented an immediate solution to the chaos, whereas waiting for the pregnant Matilda to arrive would only extend it further.

However, this was far from the only reason. Upon arrival in London, Stephen was quick to dismiss the oaths he had made to Matilda twice over. He claimed that because they had been imposed by the King and not given freely, they were therefore invalid, despite earlier accounts suggesting that he had been in active competition against Matilda’s half-brother, Robert of Gloucester, to take the oath first in an outward display of loyalty. His control over England’s trade routes is also worth considering, as some historians have suggested that the acceptance of Stephen was partially motivated by a fear that he could have restricted England’s trade in retaliation had he not been crowned king. And so, on the 22 December 1135, Stephen was made King of England, all whilst Matilda was still attempting to reach London and claim the birth right that Stephen himself had sworn to.

The Anarchy

News of Stephen’s usurpation halted Matilda’s journey at Normandy, where she would remain for the next four years. But this did not mean peace was secured. From the moment he had claimed the throne, Stephen was forced to deal with incursions by King David I of Scotland, who had invaded and occupied several areas of northern England, including Carlisle and Newcastle. At first merely taking advantage of the chaos of the interregnum, as Matilda’s maternal uncle, David found another reason to antagonise England’s new king, becoming an important ally to the would-be-Queen in the years to come.

In 1138, the Scottish forces would invade again, overwhelming Stephen as Robert of Gloucester also rebelled in the South, and the civil war truly began. The following year, Matilda landed at Arundel, and alongside her brother began to amass land in the West, claiming supporters that Stephen had alienated through his battlefield decision-making and flimsy relationship with the church.

One such defector was the Earl of Chester, who would go on to take Lincoln Castle in 1141, prompting a subsequent battle that February, where Stephen would be taken prisoner and held in the West for several months. During this time, Matilda finally made it to London, six years after her father’s death, but her proposed taxation policies were unpopular with the people, and the bishops did not warm to her. They refused to crown her until the battle at Winchester in September saw her facing troops rallied by Stephen’s wife, Matilda of Boulogne, which forced the Empress to escape back to the West. Robert of Gloucester, however, was taken prisoner at Winchester until November, when a hostage exchange saw him returned to Matilda’s side and Stephen restored to the throne.

Stephen’s Successor

From 1142 until 1145, a period of unrest unfolds, earning the Anarchy period its name and rivalling the chaos Stephen’s coronation had hoped to end, but Matilda herself would not leave the West again until 1148, when she ended her campaign for the throne. Struck by the loss of Robert of Gloucester the previous year, her half-brother and greatest ally, as well as her eldest son Henry’s first failed attempt at claiming the throne for himself, at the age of just fourteen, Matilda returned to Normandy. Here, she would eventually turn to strengthening her son’s claim, clearly having lost hope for her own. In 1151, Geoffrey of Anjou died suddenly, making Henry the new Count, and within the year he was married to Eleanor of Aquitaine, the recently annulled former wife of King Louis VII of France.

But Stephen had his own heir in mind. His eldest son, Eustace of Boulogne, was set to succeed him as King, and in 1152, Stephen attempted to persuade the church to allow the premature coronation of Eustace to ensure he would receive the throne, reflecting clear anxieties that Matilda’s heir would usurp him, the way Stephen had done to Matilda. Unsurprisingly, the church denied him this, and in 1153, Matilda’s son Henry crossed the Channel, defeating Stephen’s resistance and resulting in the Treaty of Wallingford. This treaty ensured that Stephen would retain the throne until his death, but upon passing would automatically pass the crown to Henry. As it turned out, Eustace would die suddenly shortly after this agreement was struck, but it nevertheless ensured that none of Stephen’s surviving children would have any remaining claim, restoring the crown to the initial line of succession that had been established under Henry I.

In 1154, King Stephen fell ill and died, which saw King Henry II and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine crowned England’s reigning monarchs. Matilda would go on to live for another thirteen years, bearing considerable influence over the early years of her son’s reign. But one injustice remains glaringly clear. Matilda had all the experience, education, and understanding needed to be Queen (years of ruling that Stephen could never have claimed) yet it was her gender that would lead to her undoing. Had her brother William survived, he would never have had to prove his achievements or make his case for the throne – he simply would have received it, by virtue of being the King’s son. Historians have long debated what the reign of Matilda may have been like, but ultimately, we will never know.

For the crime of being a woman, Matilda was denied, and in the years of conflict that would follow, countless lives were lost – all of which could have been avoided, had Stephen and the other men of court held true to their oath.

Bibliography

Hanley, Catherine, Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior (Yale University Press, 2019)

King, Edmund, King Stephen (Yale University Press, 2011)

Lewis, Matthew, Stephen and Matilda’s Civil War: Cousins of Anarchy (Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2019)

Roberts, Stephen, ‘The Anarchy: The first English civil war, 1135-1153’, The Past (July 2025) < https://the-past.com/feature/the-anarchy-the-first-english-civil-war-1135-1153/ >