Hello and welcome to The Passionate Enemies, the fourth episode in The Norman and Plantagenet
Series, which concludes the Norman Era. You can see the first three episodes in the
info cards above. Now in this fourth episode we will look at
the relationship between the two grandchildren of William the Conqueror, the cousins, Stephen
and Matilda.
Here is a simplified genealogy showing their descent from William the Conqueror.
Adela was the sister of Henry I and she married Stephen Henry, Count of Blois and Stephen
was their second son.
Matilda was the only surviving child of Henry I and when she was only 14, she was married
to Henry, the Emperor of Germany who was 40 years older than her and hereafter will be
called the Empress Matilda.
Jean Plaidy in The Lion of Justice discusses the death of Henry the First’s only legitimate
son and thus the Empress Matilda as his only surviving legitimate child, became his heir.
However, the fact that she was married to the German Emperor was somewhat troublesome.
Plaidy writes: ‘As the wife of the Emperor she would never be accepted as Queen of England.’
So, Henry considered making his nephew Stephen his successor.
And in this episode, The Passionate Enemies, we will discuss the rivalry between Stephen
and the Empress Matilda and of how the rivalry was resolved.
It makes for a fascinating story.
Henry the First in the year 1120 was 52 years old and was the master of both England and
Normandy when tragedy struck. William, his son and heir, had been drowned while crossing
from Normandy to England in the wreck of the White Ship.
Henry’s wife, Matilda of Scotland, called Edith, had died in 1118.
Less than three months after the death of his son and heir, Henry, for the sake of the
succession married Adelaide of Louvain, but the hoped-for heir was never born.
In 1125 the Emperor of Germany died and Henry recalled his daughter, the Empress Matilda,
back to the English court and made all the barons swear to accept her as their ruler
in the event of his dying without a male heir.
But in 1128 at the age of 27, she was reluctantly married to a 16-year-old boy, Geoffrey of
Anjou, for Henry was determined to continue the Angevin alliance. But the prospect of
being ruled by an Angevin did not please the Norman barons and Geoffrey was made well aware
of this fact. Geoffrey, when he assumed the title of Count of Anjou, wanted to consolidate
his power and claim to the English throne through his wife by asking Henry to give him
custody of some key Norman castles, but Henry refused to relinquish any of his power while
he lived.
So, when Henry died in 1135 Stephen, who was in Boulogne at the time, lost no time in returning
to England.
Jean Plaidy in The Passionate Enemies has Stephen explain to his wife: ‘I am going
to England not to put my cousin Matilda on the throne, but to take it myself.’
She reasoned with him, ‘But, Stephen, how can you? Matilda is the King’s daughter,
the rightful heir. Her father named her so.’ ‘Nay,’ he said, ‘she is a woman and
the people do not want a woman to rule them.’ ‘You have sworn fealty to her.’
‘She is no longer in England. She has a husband. Geoffrey of Anjou cannot be King
of England.’ ‘Nor would he. She would be Queen and he
would be her consort.’ ‘Nay,’ said Stephen, ‘the people do
not want them and it is the people who decide.’
He was going to take the crown although he had sworn fealty to his cousin Matilda and
as she was not of a nature to allow herself to be swept aside there would be hostility
and bloodshed.
When Stephen arrived in London, they accepted him and rejected Matilda. His brother Henry,
who had previously been brought to England was the abbot of Glastonbury and had been
elected to the see of Winchester, where the treasury was. His powerful support secured
the treasury for Stephen, but the Archbishop of Canterbury refused to crown Stephen until
Hugh Bigod, an ambitious courtier was prepared to lie on behalf of Stephen. He told Stephen
and the Archbishop of Canterbury that King Henry and the Empress Matilda had quarrelled
and that Henry had disinherited her and named Stephen as his successor.
As a result, Stephen was crowned at Westminster on 26th December 1135.
Meanwhile, Geoffrey of Anjou had acquired the soubriquet of Plantagenet because of his
habit of wearing a sprig of broom in his cap. This was the planta genista which they called
Plantagenet.
Matilda, furious at the turn of events, tried to subdue Normandy, as she was the de facto
Duchess of Normandy and although she managed to subdue the border towns the rest of Normandy
preferred to follow England’s lead and supported Stephen’s claim. And Stephen installed his
son, Eustace as the future Duke of Normandy.
It was not until Stephen had held the English throne for four years that the Empress Matilda
had gained enough support to attempt to obtain the throne.
However, Stephen had her at his mercy, when she joined Adelicia, the queen mother, in
Arundel Castle, but inexplicably he let her go and she joined her half-brother, Robert
of Gloucester in Bristol where he was raising an army in support of Matilda’s claim to
the English throne. And in fact, with the help of Robert of Gloucester
who was a powerful general Stephen was captured and imprisoned in the Castle of Gloucester.
Matilda now had the upper hand, having been proclaimed Lady of England and Normandy, at
Winchester in April, two months after the defeat of Stephen.
But due to her imperious attitude she alienated the London hierarchy and they refused to endorse
her claim.
In fact, the whole of London rose up against her and she and Robert had to flee to Winchester
for their lives.
The Queen Matilda, Henry’s wife, laid siege to the castle of Winchester, but the Empress
Matilda managed to escape by pretending to be a corpse. Funerals were allowed to take
place outside the walls of the castle and thus she escaped.
Robert of Gloucester was captured when he tried to fight his way out of the castle.
He was then exchanged for her husband and Robert returned to Anjou to persuade her husband
Geoffrey to come to her aid.
The Empress Matilda took refuge in Oxford Castle and two months later Stephen laid siege
to the castle.
However, once again she managed to escape by walking over the ice dressed all in white
to avoid detection.
Several more years of civil war ensued as the Empress Matilda tried to secure the throne
with the help of her son, young Henry and Robert of Gloucester.
Stephen was determined to hold on to the crown and to pass it on to his son, Eustace.
When Robert of Gloucester caught a chill, which developed into a fever and then died,
the Empress Matilda knew that all her hopes had died with him and so reluctantly she returned
to Anjou to re-join her husband.
Eustace, even though he was the heir apparent, was afraid that the people would set him aside
on the death of Stephen in favour of Henry of Anjou, whose claim to the throne was stronger
than Eustace’s. Stephen believed that Henry would be satisfied
with Anjou and he called the baron’s together to swear loyalty to Eustace, but they were
reluctant to do so, given what happened the last time they were made to swear loyalty.
Henry did try to take the throne with the help of David of Scotland but the attempt
did not succeed and he asked for Stephen’s help to enable him to return to Anjou.
Queen Matilda died in April 1152. Not long after, Geoffrey of Anjou died.
His son Henry had made an advantageous marriage and was now Duke of Aquitane and Normandy,
even though Eustace, as Stephen’s son was technically the Duke of Normandy.
Stephen now attempted to have Eustace crowned, but the leading churchmen refused and the
Archbishop of Canterbury fled to Anjou where he urged Henry Plantagenet to make another
attempt to secure the crown of England.
Henry raised an army and he and Stephen met on the field of battle, however, they did
not fight. Instead they came to an agreement called the Treaty of Wallingford in which
it was agreed that Henry would succeed Stephen on his death.
Eustace was apoplectic with rage and so violent was his anger that while he was eating, he
choked suddenly and fell to the floor in a fit.
He was carried out in a stupor and the next day he died.
A year or so after the Treaty of Wallingford Stephen was attacked by a sudden illness and
in 1154, he died at the age of 51 bringing to an end the reign of the Norman Kings.
And with the succession of Henry the second, the Plantagenet era began which ruled England
from 1154 until 1485 a period of 331 years.
But that is another story and if you want to continue with the story, I recommend
three playlists in the show notes below and the 14-novel series by Jane Plaidy.
And now here is a quick recap and I’ll be back soon with another BookTube video.