History… the interesting bits!

In December 1135, leaving his wife and children in the relative safety of Boulogne, Stephen of Blois took what must have been the biggest gamble of his life. After landing in England, he made his way to the capital, where he was met ‘with acclamation’ as London, though ‘mourning the grievous loss of its protector Henry, it revelled in exultant joy as though it had recovered him in Stephen’. According to the Gesta Stephani, a counsel was summoned to choose Henry’s successor and ‘on their own initiative, they agreed unanimously to choose a king’. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle concurs, stating that ‘Stephen of Blois had come to England, and came to London, and the London people received him and sent for the archbishop William Corbeil and consecrated him as king on midwinter’s day’.

Henry of Huntingdon was far more critical of the accession of Stephen than the Gesta Stephani, for, although Stephen was ‘a man of great valour and boldness’, as he had ‘sworn the English realm’s oath of fealty to the daughter of King Henry, he tried God’s patience by seizing the crown of the kingdom’. Huntingdon was highly disapproving of the ease with which the leaders of the English church broke their oaths to Matilda in order to crown Stephen:

‘Roger, the great Bishop of Salisbury, who had been the second to take the oath, and had urged everyone else to do so, brought the royal crown to Stephen, as well as the strength of his support. For this reason, by the just judgement of God, he was later arrested and tormented by the very man he had made king, and pitiful ruin became his lot. In short, all those who had sworn the oath – whether bishops, earls or magnates – gave their approval to Stephen and paid homage to him. It was a bad sign that all England was subjected to him so speedily, without hindrance or difficulty, as ‘in the twinkling of an eye’.

Henry of Huntingdon: The History of the English People 1000-1154

It is, of course, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that made the most famous assessment of the years following Stephen’s seizure of the throne: ‘Wherever men tilled, the earth bore no corn because the land was all done for by such doings; and they said openly that Christ and His saints slept. Such things, and more than we know how to tell, we suffered nineteen years for our sins.’ The destruction was perhaps not as widespread as has been thought previously, however, and there is currently a reappraisal of the devastation wrought during the Anarchy. Even so, the chronicles of the time show that it was horrendous for the people living through it. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle goes into great detail, denouncing the period as ‘this evil time’ and lamenting, ‘They did not spare the land of bishops nor of abbots nor of priests, but robbed monks and clerks; and every man who was stronger [robbed] another. If two or three men came riding to a village, all the villagers fled because of them – imagined that they were robbers. The bishops and the clergy always cursed them but that was nothing to them, because they were all accursed and forsworn and lost.’

Such desolation was in the future. In December 1135, Stephen, with the backing of so many, may have thought the future was bright with possibilities. After receiving the support and acclamation of the Londoners, he hastened to Winchester to secure the royal treasury where he was reunited with his younger brother Henry, Bishop of Winchester, ‘on whom his enterprise entirely depended’. Bishop Henry, ‘overjoyed at his brother’s success, came to meet him with the Winchester citizens’. William de Pont de l’Arche, the royal treasurer, ‘on learning that the king had arrived, whether influenced by fear of him or affection for him, he came to meet him cordially, and delivered over to his disposal, together with the castle, King Henry’s very rich treasury, which the whole of England had abundantly filled from the time of the most ancient kings’.

It was the support of Pont de l’Arche that ensured Stephen’s success, along with the help of Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, Henry I’s Lord Chancellor and, after the king, the most powerful man in the kingdom. The role of Stephen’s brother, Bishop Henry of Winchester, was also seen as critical, especially by the Gesta Stephani. Stephen was then crowned at Westminster Abbey by Archbishop William Corbeil on 22 December 1135, according to the same rites used in the coronation of Henry I, providing a sense of continuity in the monarchy. Before the coronation, Stephen made promises to ensure that he would be accepted by the lay and clerical magnates alike. To the church, he agreed to follow what it defined as best practice in church–state relations, including the guarantee of canonical election to senior church offices. The compromises made to the lay barons were not as significant, but Stephen did make a limited concession on the extent of the royal forest (lands over which the king held exclusive hunting rights), and was reported to have promised wider reforms, including the abolition of geld.

The coronation was a religious ceremony, giving the king power and sacramental authority for the rest of his life. During the proceedings, Stephen promised to maintain ‘all the liberties and good laws of King Henry’. Following this, those present, standing for the community of the realm, accepted Stephen as their king. There then came the ceremonial anointing and investing with the symbols of royal power. He was then crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, followed by High mass and the kiss of peace. News of Stephen’s coronation spread throughout the kingdom and, according to the Gesta Stephani,

‘When at last these things were known and spread over England freely by word of mouth almost all the chief men of the kingdom accepted him gladly and respectfully, and having received very many gifts from him and likewise enlargement of their lands they devoted themselves wholly to his service by a voluntary oath, after paying homage.’

Gesta Stephani

After the coronation, the king had to get down to the actual business of ruling and establishing his authority over his dominions. The first document issued by the chancery was a charter in which Stephen granted ‘to all his barons and men of England’ all the liberties and good laws of his uncle, King Henry, along with ‘the laws of Edward the Confessor’. The Liber Eliensis at Ely recorded a version of Stephen’s accession in which he was supported by King Henry I. Though the provenance of the information within it has been lost, it seems entirely possible that it is copied from an official narrative sent out by Stephen’s administration:

‘While King Henry sickened unto death, a great number of powerful and noble men gathered about him, sorrowfully contemplating the last hours of their lord, and increasingly concerned about what dispositions he would make about himself and the kingdom. To them at the last he indicated what ought to happen. ‘To you,’ he said, ‘great and wise men, I give as king the worthy knight Stephen, my count, my most dear kinsman, a virtuous nobleman, yet firm in his faith in the Lord, for you to receive from me by right of inheritance, and you are all to be witness of this.’ Immediately thereafter the king breathed his last. The count took up his commission, and having gathered a large body of knights, he hastened to England and came before the Londoners. Since he was a renowned count and valiant knight, of proven integrity and greatly loved, and was descended from the stock of kings, and with the great men and the citizens won over by rewards and promises and the clergy fearing great disorder should he be turned away, he was received by the English as king of England. It greatly aided him in achieving this outcome that, just as the king his uncle had ordered, Hugh Bigod swore on the holy gospels before the clergy and people that he had been present at the king’s deathbed, and had heard him conceding the kingdom to Stephen his nephew, and had been sent by him to witness this within England.’18

Liber Eliensis

Hugh Bigod’s claim that Henry had changed his mind at the last, and left the throne to Stephen, was enough to satisfy those who had sworn the oath to Matilda but were afraid of a future ruled by a woman. No one seems to have looked deeply into the suggestion that, after all Henry had done to secure his daughter’s accession, the wars he had fought and oaths he had extracted, he would just pass her – and his grandson, little Henry of Anjou – over at the last moment and leave everything to his favourite nephew. It seems more likely that it was not that Bigod’s statement was believed to be true but that it was hoped that it was – that was all the barons needed to turn their backs on their oaths to Matilda.

Stephen’s coronation was immediately followed by his Christmas court, which was held in London. One of his first acts in the New Year was to attend the funeral of his predecessor, Henry I, who was laid to rest at his own foundation of Reading Abbey on 5 January 1136. According to Henry of Huntingdon, ‘King Stephen came there from his court, which he had held in London at Christmas itself, to meet his uncle’s body, together with William, Archbishop of Canterbury, and many bishops and nobles, and they buried King Henry with the respect due to so great a man.’

It was the beginning of a period of great instability for England. Richard of Hexham gives a clear impression of the unrest and uncertainty that Stephen’s accession caused, and the challenges it presented: ‘The beginning and course of his reign was overwhelmed by so many and such violent commotions, that how to describe them, or how they may be concluded, no one yet knows.’ Stephen had stolen the march on his cousin, Empress Matilda, but she was not going to simply accept that he had won…

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Sources:

Donald Matthew, King Stephen; Robert Bartlett, England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings; David Williamson, Brewer’s British Royalty; the History Today Companion to British History; Dan Jones, the Plantagenets; englishmonarchs.co.uk; The Oxford Companion to British History; Mike Ashley, The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens; Alison Weir, Britain’s Royal Families, the Complete Genealogy; S.P. Thompson, Oxforddnb.com, Mary [Mary of Blois], suo jure countess of Boulogne (d. 1182), princess and abbess of Romsey; Anglo_Saxon Chronicles, edited by Michael Swanton; Gesta Stephani; Liber Eliensis; Henry of Huntingdon: The History of the English People 1000-1154; William of Malmesbury, Chronicles of the Kings of England, From the Earliest Period to the Reign of King Stephen c. 1090-1143; The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy by Ordericus Vitalis.

Images:

Courtesy of Wikipedia

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Coming 15 January 2024: Women of the Anarchy

On the one side is Empress Matilda, or Maud. The sole surviving legitimate child of Henry I, she is fighting for her birthright and that of her children. On the other side is her cousin, Queen Matilda, supporting her husband, King Stephen, and fighting to see her own son inherit the English crown. Both women are granddaughters of St Margaret, Queen of Scotland and descendants of Alfred the Great of Wessex. Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how these women, unable to wield a sword, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It show how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other.

Available for pre-order from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK.

Coming on 15 June 2024: Heroines of the Tudor World

Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. These are the women who made a difference, who influenced countries, kings and the Reformation. In the era dominated by the Renaissance and Reformation, Heroines of the Tudor World examines the threats and challenges faced by the women of the era, and how they overcame them. Some famous, some infamous, some less well known, including Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth Barton, Catherine de Medici, Bess of Hardwick and Elizabeth I. From writers to regents, from nuns to queens, Heroines of the Tudor World shines the spotlight on the women helped to shape Early Modern Europe.

Heroines of the Tudor World is now available for pre-order from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK.

Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:

King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady. Nicholaa de la Haye was the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Her strength and tenacity saved England at one of the lowest points in its history. Nicholaa de la Haye is one woman in English history whose story needs to be told… King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is now available from Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon.

Defenders of the Norman Crown: The Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey tells the fascinating story of the Warenne dynasty, of the successes and failures of one of the most powerful families in England, from its origins in Normandy, through the Conquest, Magna Carta, the wars and marriages that led to its ultimate demise in the reign of Edward III. Defenders of the Norman Crown: Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey is now available from Pen & Sword Books, Amazon in the UK and US, and Bookshop.org.

Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England looks into the relationships of the various noble families of the 13th century, and how they were affected by the Barons’ Wars, Magna Carta and its aftermath; the bonds that were formed and those that were broken. It is now available in paperback and hardback from Pen & Sword,  Amazon, and Bookshop.org.

Heroines of the Medieval World tells the stories of some of the most remarkable women from Medieval history, from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Julian of Norwich. Available now from Amberley Publishing and Amazon, and Bookshop.org.

Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest traces the fortunes of the women who had a significant role to play in the momentous events of 1066. Available now from Amazon,  Amberley Publishing, and Bookshop.org.

Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.

Podcast:

Have a listen to the A Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Elizabeth Chadwick, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.

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