Check out Matthew Lewis' fabulous book — Stephen and Matilda: Cousins of Anarchy #History @MattLewisAuthor

Stephen and Matilda

Cousins of Anarchy

By Matthew Lewis

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 favourite 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.

Excerpt

In August 1139, Empress Matilda had apparently decided on a radical adjustment in her efforts, though her husband seems to have kept at arms’ length from her new and risky activities. Matilda did not lack an adventurous spirit and demonstrated a willingness to take the fight right to the enemy’s door in an act of daring that would almost certainly have been loudly applauded in a man. It was not a distinction or restriction she was ever to fully acknowledge, at least not for many years. Baldwin de Redvers was sent to secure Wareham Castle in Dorset on the south coast to provide a secure landing spot in England for the empress. Baldwin failed and was forced back to Corfe Castle slightly further inland. His connections in the south-west were letting him down.

Changing her focus, on 30 September 1139, Empress Matilda landed at Arundel Castle near Worthing, further east than Wareham. The castle belonged to William d’Aubigny, who had been created Earl of Sussex (though often referred to as Earl of Arundel) in 1138. William had married Queen Adeliza, the young widow of Henry I who was Empress Matilda’s stepmother. Adeliza was a year younger than her stepdaughter, and it is possible the two had a reasonably good relationship, though they are unlikely to have been close. William was a devoted supporter of King Stephen, so his reception of two of Henry’s children seems odd unless it was at his wife’s instigation. She may have believed she was simply receiving a visit from her stepchildren, or have thought her responsibility still lay in finding a reconciliation between the arguing factions that were emerging. That had been her role as a queen, and she might have believed she could help now, with her husband’s closeness to the king and her own relationship with Henry I’s children.

The Gesta Stephani stated that Robert ‘landed at the castle of Arundel, as though he were merely to be a guest there, and was admitted with a strong body of troops.’ William of Malmesbury says Robert brought with him ‘no more than 140 knights’. It seems that Robert’s early reports did not bode well for them. His intelligence suggested that the overwhelming majority were not seeking to abandon their allegiance to Stephen and that only a small handful could be relied on to uphold the oath they had sworn to Empress Matilda. Almost as soon as they had arrived at Arundel Castle and the empress had been safely installed there, Robert left with a dozen knights to ride west towards his power base at Bristol. He was met along the way by Brian Fitz Count, who rode out of his castle at Wallingford to meet the earl. Brian is the man William of Malmesbury believed had been consulted alongside Robert about Matilda’s marriage to Geoffrey, and he may have been a softer target because of that. He could have been reminded that whatever release others believed they had secured from their oaths, Robert and Brian could not claim the same breach and so remained honour-bound to help the empress.

Robert’s departure from Arundel was timely, perhaps deliberately so. Stephen, with his characteristic speed and vigour, arrived outside the walls with an army threatening to lay siege to the fortress. Robert may have expected, and planned for, precisely this. The ease with which the king was able to raise men and travel unhindered through the kingdom was in itself a setback for the empress’s cause that showed a realm united behind their leader rather than one ripe for rebellion. Had Robert been at Arundel, Stephen would have been justified in immediately launching into hostilities. His diffidatio meant that he was not one of Stephen’s subjects and was not entitled to any protection that came with that status. Having been deprived of all of his lands and offices, Robert’s arrival could have been viewed by Stephen as nothing less than a hostile invasion. In hindsight, that was what it undoubtedly was. The Gesta Stephani offers further weight to the notion that it was Robert’s arrival, not Empress Matilda’s, that was causing the greatest consternation. ‘England at once was shaken and quivered with intense fear, affected in different ways, because all who secretly or openly favoured the earl were keener than usual and more eager to trouble the king, while those who obeyed the king were brought low as though cowering beneath a dreadful thunderclap.’ The impression the chronicler gained was that Robert was the man inspiring those who considered opposing Stephen and worried those who would remain loyal to the king. Arriving at Arundel to find Queen Adeliza and Empress Matilda changed the complexion of the

confrontation completely for Stephen.

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Stephen and Matilda

Cousins of Anarchy

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Matthew Lewis

Matthew Lewis was born and grew up in the West Midlands. Having obtained a law degree, he currently lives in Shropshire with his wife and children. History and writing have always been a passion of Matthew's, with particular interest in the Wars of the Roses period. His first novel, Loyalty, was born of the joining of those passions.

Connect with Matthew: Website • Facebook • Twitter.

We are celebrating ten years of being an author with #HistoricalFiction author, Judith Arnopp #amwriting #HistoricalFiction @JudithArnopp

Author of twelve historical fiction novels Judith is celebrating her tenth year as a published author. To honour the anniversary of her first published novel, Peaceweaver has been given a wash and brush up to make it look more at home alongside her later books.

Peaceweaver

By Judith Arnopp

When AElfgar, Earl of Mercia falls foul of King Edward the Confessorm Aelfgar forms an alliance with an old enemy, Gruffydd ap Llewelyn of Wales and to cement the alliance, offers his daughter, Eadgyth as Gruffydd’s wife.

Gruffydd is old enough to be Eadgyth’s grandfather, and the union is not a happy one. Eadgyth does her best to survive a life of exile but ultimately finds herself accused of fornication, incest and treason.

Alone in a foreign land, her life is forfeit until Gruffydd is killed during a surprise night attack by Earl Harold of Wessex, and Eadgyth is taken as his prisoner to the court of Edward the Confessor.

At the Saxon court she infiltrates the sticky intrigues of the Godwin family, and on the eve of his accession to the English throne, agrees to marry Harold Godwinson.

As William the Bastard assembles his fleet in the south, and Harald Hardrada prepares to invade from the North, their future is threatened, and the portentous date of October 14^th, 1066 looms.

Eadgyth’s tale of betrayal, passion and war highlights the plight of women in Anglo Saxon Britain.

Excerpt

Chester 1070

We watched him ride past today, the one they are calling The Conqueror. Eadgytha and I saw him ride through the city gate and, although he is just a man, I buried the faces of my young sons in my skirts to shield them from the sight. They did not see the sneer of the squint-eyed king as he clattered by, or the gaudy splash of colour cast by the splendour of his retinue against the sombre street.

Around us, the crowd stood silent in the rain, and although I am tall and feared that the hatred in my heart would knock him from his mount, the counterfeit king did not notice me.

The people dispersed slowly, muttering against the ravages of the Norman dog who, having laid waste to the south and north of England, now turns his attention to Chester, our place of refuge and the last Saxon stronghold. Many have been slaughtered and their homes destroyed, leaving ruins to smoke beneath the sulky sky and the destitute to huddle in the darker places of the street.

A ragged old fellow snorted and spat greenly into the mud where the Norman king’s horse had trod. “God’s curse be on ye, gutter shite,” he cried in cracked tones, shaking his feeble fist in the air. I patted his arm in mute sympathy before we turned away.

“Why are you trembling, Mother?” asked Harold as we hurried back to our lodging, heads bent against the driving rain.

“Your mother is chilled, that is all,” replied Eadgytha, hastily taking the child’s hand. “We have stood too long in the rain. Come, hurry along, Harold; make haste, Wulf.”

We climbed the steep castle hill, inhaling the acrid stench of fires newly quenched by sheeting rain.

Too close to the stronghold for comfort now it is in Norman hands, we need to move on. Chester is no longer a safe refuge for any Saxon, let alone women such as we.

Indoors, the fire has sunk low. Eadgytha stoops to feed it a few meagre sticks before warming a little goat’s milk for a nourishing drink. Then we sit knee to knee before the hearth, while the twins play with swords fashioned from two sticks. Anwen bursts through the door, accompanied by a flurry of wind and leaves.

“My, it’s cold out there. I’ve managed to find a few things for supper, nothing to drool over but better than nothing. I’ll get it going right away so we can dine and get ourselves early to our beds.”

She throws vegetables into a pot while Eadgytha and I, chilled more by circumstance than weather, begin to discuss our options. The invasion has been thorough and there are few places of refuge left in England. No Saxons are content beneath the Norman rule yet; most, eager to save their necks, collaborate, quelling their hatred to meekly bear the yoke.

A few have rebelled. Some rally to the call of Hereward, known as the Wake, in his hiding place in the Fens. Perhaps we should join them there but it is a far off place, haunted by the dispossessed, and the marshes are fraught with mischievous sprites; besides, there is no man now to protect or guide us. So we cower here in this dark place, two women alone. Our household is scattered and we are forced to look to ourselves.

It is not easy for women such as we to live in obscurity, raising our children and scratching a living from the dirt. Eadgytha’s sons are far away and her daughters are … well, we know not where. My family is scattered also; my older sons are across the dyke with their Welsh kin, and my brothers are lost.

We make an odd pairing, Eadgytha and I, but we have only each other now. Of all the women in the land, we are the two whom William of Normandy most desires to lay hands upon. If we are captured, he will put out our eyes and cut off our noses. If we are lucky, we may be shut away in a religious house, but my infant sons will be shown no mercy. He will kill them straight.

There is no one in this stricken land who flees King William more diligently than we, for Eadgytha, long time known as the Gentle Swan, was twenty years King Harold’s mistress, and I, also named Eadgyth, was Harold’s queen. I am mother to the Ætheling, Harold Haroldsson, who tumbles in play with his brother upon the dusty floor.

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Peaceweaver

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Judith Arnopp

Judith Arnopp is the author of ten historical novels including The Winchester Goose, The Beaufort Chronicle (three book series), The Kiss of the Concubine and A Song of Sixpence. You can find her on Facebook • Twitter • Website  • Blog.