The Anarchy a civil war in England and Normandy, the complete series.

the year is 11 35 and king henry the first of england is dying the last son of legendary king william the conqueror king henry's strong and effective rule kept the barons of england in line and his administrative policies strengthened the english kingdom as well as the duchy of normandy however to maintain the strong growth of his kingdom king henry needed an heir with the right skill sets to manage the powerful barons and maintain the peace luckily for henry he had such an heir yet there was just one small problem his heir was female and in medieval society women were not expected to rule or even hold much power unless given to them by their male relatives or husbands king henry did at one point have a male heir called william adeline yet william drowned in the white ship disaster in 1120 and while king henry did marry a young noblewoman in the hopes of producing an heir a child never arrived and by 1227 king henry had to settle the issue of succession king henry could have chosen one of his nephews or one of his numerous illegitimate sons but his daughter the empress matilda had recently been widowed as her husband henry v emperor of the holy roman empire had died of cancer empress matilda had all the right characteristics and experience needed to rule the realm of england as she became betrothed to king henry v at the age of eight and had spent plenty of time in the royal courts of the hre learning and gaining all the necessary traits of an efficient ruler as with her husband away campaigning around the various parts of the holy roman empire she would rule in her husband's stead learning first-hand experience what was needed to rule vast territories and maintain it efficiently the duchy of normandy had a long history of uprisings and in 1124 king henry had been putting down one major revolt led by the count of evaroo king henry dealt with the rebels was such a merciless cruelty that his reputation was enough to keep england and normandy in peace through fear for the rest of his reign and by 1125 the news of the emperor's death reached king henry's court by the summer of 11 25 empress matilda was back in the anglo-norman court and began to immerse herself in the political intrigue of the court learning who the most powerful players were and building relationships with her half-siblings for king henry with his only legitimate child now back by his side he needed to use matilda as a bargaining chip to secure an alliance with a powerful family as his enemies were starting to build a coalition against him and he needed allies over the next year empress matilda would be at her father's side watching him rule and observing his style of rulership watching her father dealing with matters would serve as an intriguing lesson as she might one day rule for herself or perhaps rule as regent for her young son as empress matilda would eventually remarry on the 1st of january 1227 king henry gathered his nobles in a new year's ceremony and gave the opening speech proclaiming that through his union with his first wife matilda of scotland he had united the anglo-saxon royal blood as well as the ancient celtic blood with his own dynasty thus making any children or grandchildren the truest heirs to the kingdom of england and the duchy of normandy and that none could claim to have such royal and legitimate blood after king henry's speech he ordered his nobles to take an oath that after his death regardless if he had a male heir or not the lords and barons would comply and accept his decision of air the nobles accepted and swore an oath to support empress matilda as heir as nobody would dare defy king henry in person with the nobles having sworn the oath king henry's next task would be to find a suitable husband for matilda a tricky endeavor as if king henry chose an unsuitable husband it could lead to his plans for succession falling apart if he chose a foreign husband it could alienate his nobles causing discontent and later insurrection against him and if he chose a local husband it could cause major power plays against him or accusations of favoritism as king henry had adopted a policy of promoting merit over blood in his years of ruling king henry's plan was simple marry matilda to the right husband and she would hopefully produce a male heir that henry could designate as his successor before he died as the laws of the time dictated that a wife became the subject of her husband but by having a grandson that law could be circumvented and henry would still have his own heir yet matilda would have her own ideas on how the succession plan could work as she would no doubt want to be in charge of the realm during her son's regency or even rule the kingdom herself henry spent the next few months of 1227 considering all the potential suitors to matilda and after much deliberation the best candidate was the count of aung zhu's son and heir jeffrey plantagenet as the count's daughter was originally betrothed to king henry's deceased son william adeline and renewing this alliance would protect the south of normandy empress matilda wasn't particularly thrilled about her potential suitor as she believed marrying a count son was a huge step down from empress of the hre plus the age different was quite significant as matilda was 25 and jeffrey was 13 but empress matilda being the cunning woman she was probably knew she could easily manipulate or influence jeffrey to do what she wanted the barons however were not pleased with king henry's choice but few would openly state their objections over fear of reprisals from king henry at least while the king was still alive and in 1128 empress matilda and jeffrey of aung zhu were married their union would create a dynasty known as the plantagenets but as soon as they were married problems arose and empress matilda soon moved back to normandy and wrote to her father complaining about her husband in several letters the issues between matilda and jeffrey lingered on and king henry visited normandy to receive the newest pope in 1131 as the new pope innocent ii was journeying around northern europe and after the pope's visit king henry returned to england and empress matilda joined him however the journey back would become dangerous as the channel sea was at its most treacherous the journey became so incredibly harrowing the royal family were praying to be saved from the storm the royal family reached england safely and king henry swore not to collect tax for the next seven years and by september the 8th 1131 king henry organized another swearing ceremony as the situation had changed and empress matilda was now married yet the baron still swore that empress matilda was the rightful heir to the throne and so were her future children there was no mention of jeffrey at all by the end of the year geoffrey requested his wife returned to him and king henry agreed whether matilda wanted to return or not we have no idea on her feelings but regardless she reunited with her husband and by 11 32 she was pregnant pregnancy was a risky business in the middle ages but matilda had a better chance of surviving than most women of her time and on the 5th of march 1133 matilda gave birth to a healthy baby boy i'll give you three seconds to guess the name of the baby yes that's right henry finally king henry had the air he wanted although having one male heir was still a risky gamble which king henry had experienced before but luckily for him empress matilda once again solved this problem by having a second son in 1134 although this time nearly at the cost of her life but thankfully empress matilda pulled through and soon made a full recovery now life was easy for matilda she had two young healthy sons she was the heir to the throne of england and the duchy of normandy however relations between king henry and jeffrey soon soured as geoffrey demanded more power and land to be granted to him king henry refused angrily and soon relations became so hostile that king henry ordered troops to be placed on the borders while he went hunting in the surrounding area but on the 1st of december 11 35 king henry died after a short illness with the king's death there now would be anarchy in our previous episode we explored the beginning of the anarchy and king henry's attempt of having his daughter the empress matilda proclaimed as the heir of england and normandy but king henry died on the 1st of december 11 35 after a short illness and empress matilda wasn't in the best position to claim the throne as she was pregnant for the third time making travel across the english channel difficult as with any death of a king in the early middle ages most barons and lords would be busy hurrying to protect their lands from private wars or raiding until a new king could restore order and as empress matilda was pregnant she could do little to restore order and as the news of the king's death spread the normans as described by a source abandoned themselves to robbery and pillage greedy brigands rushed out ready for evil the man who took the initiative to respond to the chaos was stephen of blue empress matilda's first cousin and under king henry stephen had accumulated lands and wealth thanks to his loyalty to king henry and he himself was a capable military leader a trait empress matilda lacked stephen who was in berlin took advantage of the situation and set sail for england with a small retinue despite the crossing being dangerous for this time of year he arrived in london on the 8th of december 11 35 where he was welcomed with open arms from the londoners of course the most important part of claiming any kingship is to secure the royal treasury as money can pay for an army to make sure you stay king the royal treasury was located in the ancient city of winchester and one advantage stephen had was that his brother henry was the bishop of winchester and his support would be incredibly useful in securing the throne the boldness in which stephen moved to claim the throne won him support very quickly as empress matilda was unpopular with the nobility and many nobles despised her husband and would have revolted at the prospect of jeffrey becoming king despite king henry never mentioning the idea while he was still alive with both the capital and the treasury secure stephen only had one last objective in order to be crowned king he needed to be crowned by the archbishop of canterbury as he was the head of the catholic church in england however upon meeting with the archbishop stephen was reminded of the oaths he had taken to support empress matilda as heir when king henry was alive and as it was a holy oath sworn on relics stephen would be condemning his soul yet stephen and his retina retorted that on king henry's death he retracted the oath sworn and that he regretted forcing his barons to swear such an oath whether this is true or not is up to debate stephen also had one last cunning card to play his wife matilda of bologna who will call queen matilda from now on was a direct descendant of scottish royalty and countessa boloin with her and stevens union their children would have claims to several dynasties something that king henry had preached when promoting empress matilda as his heir in 1127. with the archbishop convinced steven's coronation was conducted quickly and on the 22nd of december 11 35 stephen was crowned king with the full support of the church and to signify his rule king stephen attended the burial of king henry at reading abbey the crowning was so quick that the normans upon hearing the news that stephen was now king of the english swiftly took council and asked stephen's brother theobold to agree to let stephen be duke of normandy as they probably didn't want another civil war between two brothers again theobold reluctantly agreed king stephen's reign was progressing smoothly as he was described as a popular man and easy to get on with with plenty of charisma to spare as his first easter court was filled with plenty of barons in attendance including empress matilda's half-brother robert of gloucester he was a powerful landowner and his homage would be key in keeping the throne secure the chronicler william of marmsbury writes that robert gave king stephen his homage but was secretly working to help empress matilda but he was waiting for the right time as king stephen's current position was too strong to combat of course it could be that robert was more concerned about keeping his lands than secretly plotting to aid his sister back in hong joo empress matilda was still in the stages of pregnancy and suffering heavily from morning sickness but she wasn't totally inactive by mid-december of 11 35 empress matilda was in normandy claiming her right she was unaware that her cousin had already been crowned but she knew that normandy would be the first of her new territories to give her issues implementing her reign the castles of angenton eczema and domfront were handed over with no issues argentine would act as empress matilda's main command hub for a few years empress matilda would eventually learn that her cousin had taken the throne despite swearing to uphold her as heir her anger at learning this fact showed she was king henry's daughter she could have cursed herself for being born female as had she been a man unburdened with the labor of pregnancy she could have easily claimed the throne but her cause wasn't lost just yet her most powerful ally her uncle king david of scotland invaded the north of england in the winter of 11 35 as using empress matilda's claim was a handy excuse to earn some revenue or even gain land as king david was quickly capturing northern english towns and cities such as carlisle newcastle and durham king stephen moved quickly to counter the scottish threat by hiring a large mercenary army along with his own forces and marched straight to durham to meet king david the scots were now outnumbered and far from home during the winter and a pitched battle wouldn't be in both parties interests so a treaty was made that king david would return the land he had taken in return for carlisle castle with the treaty agreed king david made his way back to scotland but this won't be the last time we see the scottish king in action with one of the biggest possible threats dealt with king stephen's reign was looking more stable but soon several events would cause anarchy in england the walsh would seek to regain their lost territories from the norman martyr lords and baldwin the first earl of devon threw down the gauntlet and claimed the city of exeter for himself this was a serious challenge for king stephen's authority as he couldn't just have nobles just taking cities and reinforcing them with their own garrisons king stephen was quick to mobilize and reached exeter by june of 1136 he quickly besieged the castle as the citizens welcomed king stephen and opened the gates of the city for him baldwin became annoyed at the citizens and rode out in an attempt to sack the town but king stephen's troops counter-attacked and pushed back the assault however the siege was now at a stalemate as exeter castle was a well-fortified stone structure that william the conqueror personally ordered to be constructed back in 10 1068 and as king stephen lacked any siege engines this would tie him down for the next three months the deeds of stephen one of the main sources for this period tells us that king stephen threw himself into the siege and was on the front lines leading as day and night he vigorously and energetically pressed on with the siege he also joined with his men assaulting the ramparts and despite the defenders holding out king stephen kept up enthusiastically the pressure the summer would soon come and be described as one of the hottest one of the chronicler states that the intense heat was the operation of divine power as the defender's water supply began to run low they resorted to using wine for everything from cooking and boiling what supplies they had left and even had to use wine to make bread from their grain stores eventually the wine run out and the defenders asked for mercy from king stephen now the king's brother the bishop of winchester demanded that king stephen show no mercy to these men but several of baldwin's family including his own wife begged the king to show mercy common warfare practice at this period in time would be allowing the remaining garrison to leave with honour intact especially towards subjects of the king but let's take a moment to reflect on what you might do so the siege itself had cost thousands nearly emptying the royal treasury and had tied king stephen up for months where he was needed elsewhere now as a new king who needed to state his authority what would you do would you allow these men to go free or would you make a bloody example of them remember what king henry had done to the rebels in normandy regardless of what you might do king stephen was now satisfied that the siege was over and allowed the garrison to go free along with baldwin but baldwin had already escaped to the isle of wight where he had a substantial navy and soon he took his forces to hong ju to swear loyalty to empress matilda king stephen's clemency would eventually come back to hound him the year is 11 37 and king stephen of england is still trying to assert his authority but the welsh attacking in the west and a rebellious baron in the south has spent most of the royal treasury and has tied king stephen up for three months leading to further rebellions and questions over his kingship as not every lord and baron accepted king stephen enthusiastically as the manner in which he became king was controversial and some would argue the way he conducted his kingship was perhaps merciful or weak depending on how you would judge king stephen's actions of sparing the rebels at exeter as his predecessor henry the first would have certainly made an example of the rebels in early 1137 king stephen sought to legitimize his kingship further and set sail for normandy this would be the first time setting foot in his french territories since his coronation of course parts of normandy were occupied by empress matilda but she had little support to take over the whole of normandy in may king stephen met with louis vi of france to discuss homage and other political arrangements for king louis this was the perfect opportunity to sort any lingering issues between the crown of england and france as king louis was known as louis the fat as the asian king had been in poor health for years so ensuring that his successor would have no issues with one of his most powerful vassals would be his top priority upon meeting king stephen the meeting went swimmingly and king stephen felt emboldened after meeting the french king before returning to england in december 1137 but any feeling of normality was gone as the truce king stephen had signed with the king of scots david had expired and king david was now raiding the north of england the deeds of stephen described king david's actions as inflamed by zeal for justice both on account of ties of kinship and because he owed the woman the filthy he had promised he determined to set the kingdom of england in confusion king stephen once again used his organizational skills to rapidly deploy an army to head north and deal with the scots campaigning early in the year 1138 was a risky business as foraging in the winter would be difficult and by february king stephen's army was marching through the area the scots had sacked but instead of finding the scottish army king stephen's forces marched straight to scotland and began pillaging around lothian these attacks began a game of tag between the two armies as king david would march back to scotland to attack king stephen but in return king stephen would avoid a pitch battle with the scots before returning to england king david's forces would continue raiding the north of england throughout march and april as king stephen was dealing with a rebellion in hereford and by june king david had a large enough army to attack the richer southern parts of england york one of the biggest cities in the north would be the scots first target the northern english barons were now truly afraid of this large scottish army as beforehand they were reluctant to work of each other as some were bitter rivals but with the scottish threat approaching they quickly abandoned any hesitation and united under one banner the banner of the northern church with the scots now rapidly approaching the archbishop of york turstin of bayer took control of the situation and rallied the northern shires recruiting trained levees from derby nottingham and parts of the midlands by june 1138 king david split his army in half and sent one army towards lancaster under the command of william fitz duncan and the other to york by the 10th of june the scots clashed with the english at the battle of clitherow although the battle was a small scale affair the men of galloway proved themselves against the english men at arms who were equipped with hal burks or chain mail with one victory under their bouts the scots plundered and took what they could before heading towards york to join with king david again by august the scots were near the town of north allerton the english were led by william legrow walter espec and bernard balliol whom had been a vassal of king david but for some reason renounced his oath to the king of scots and joined the english the sources don't elaborate any further on the reasons why he defected the english army also brought with them a cart in the style of an italian karacho the cart was described as a large cart with a large pole attached from a ship's mast and various flags from the northern churches this is the first time this type of banner carte would appear in england and gives the battle its name the battle of the standard the cart would be used as a source of morale for the english and would give the presumption that god would be on the english side something english chroniclers could use later as propaganda the english and the scots had quite different armies the scots had unique warriors such as the men of galloway or galwegians men who fought in the ancient celtic way of fighting with no armor or in some cases no clothes whatsoever with only blue dye on their bodies and equipped with a spear and shield the rest of the scottish army was similar to the english mounted norman knights who would sometimes dismount and fight on foot armoured men at arms and on the english side local levees and archers some of the english archers may have been equipped with longbows there is no exact count of the number each side fielded the monk already one of the sources of this battle only mentions that the scots had a larger force modern estimates state that the english had 10 000 and the scots 16 000 men in the early hours of the 22nd of august 11 38 the scots arrived on the plains north of the town of northalton a thick morning fog covered the area obscuring each army's field of vision eventually the scots set their battle formation on a hill facing southwards from there they could see the english army already in formation along with their standard on the other hill the english line stretched across two miles long within the first line of the english army were dismounted knights and archers mixed in together a tactic the english would use against numerous foes in the future before the battle a speech was given by one of the english commanders we don't know who as each source gives different names but the speech that was recorded basically listed the accomplishments of the normans and attacked the scots character culture and condemned their actions of sacking the north of england which is quite ironic coming from the normans king david's battle plan was to use his heavy cavalry and infantry to smash the first english line and push forward using his greater numbers to apply maximum pressure and route the english army however the galwegians protested angrily that they should lead the first charge of battle as they had defeated the normans at clitherow and it was their right to lead the charge king david's norman advisers counted the galwegians protest which eventually led to an argument king david stood between the two sides and shouted them down he relented and allowed the galwegians to be in the first battle line with the mata settled the battle was opened with the galwegians charging towards the first english line at the base of the hill the english arch is then fired upon the galwegians who then fell in great numbers and by the time they reached the english line few of them remained and they were easily defeated by the now advancing english infantry the men of lothian broke off from the fight after their leaders were killed and one source describes the remaining galwegians as hedgehogs with spines still fighting in a blind rage now realizing his mistake king david tried to fix the situation by ordering his knights to dismount to hold the line while his son the prince henry gathered his knight and tried to flank the english but the cavalry charge was resisted and then pushed back due to lack of support the scots were soon retreating but king david managed to organise a rearguard which enabled the scots to escape in an organized manner the english did not pursue the losses for the english were reported as low while the scots losses were high although we don't have an exact figure the bodies of the dead scots were buried on the battlefield or near a lane called scott's pit lane but there is an argument that the position of each army was completely different from the sources as one hill is called the standard hill and the other the red hill but until we have more archaeological evidence we cannot accurately state which hill the english or the scots were positioned on king david retreated to carlisle where he regrouped despite this loss king david still held a good portion of the north of england and king stephen was aware that king david was one if not his biggest threat as empress matilda was across the channel whereas king david was on the same aisle so king stephen sought a permanent peace with the king of scots the treaty of durham gave the scots control over parts of the north of england but as english vassals subject to english laws despite the loss the battle of the standard gained king david mostly what he wanted and for king stephen the victory was the boost he needed to secure the loyalty of the northern barons but once again king stephen's actions would create issues in the future for him the battle of the standard in 1138 was a significant battle that changed the borders of england and scotland for 20 years the scottish king david kept carlyle in his possession and his son henry would pay homage to king stephen for the english lands granted to him the peace deal kept scotland out of the looming civil war as robert earl of gloucester was preparing to renounce his oath to king stephen and join his sister empress matilda in france the relationship between king stephen and robert was a complicated one as robert was the outer bastard child of king henry the first and what we can tell from the sources is that both father and son had a positive rapport with each other robert was also present at his father's death bed and carried out the task of returning king henry's body to england to be buried at reading abbey whereas king stephen was sailing back to england to be crowned king so imagine robert shock upon learning that king stephen had taken the throne of england as both men had sworn to uphold king henry's wishes of choosing his daughter empress matilda as the new monarch with king stephen in charge robert had a difficult decision to make as one of the most powerful and wealthy landowners in england king stephen would need to maintain a good if not formal relationship with robert but on the other hand robert had sworn an oath to support empress matilda as queen and doing so now with stephen as king would be seen as treason which would lead to his lands and titles being stripped from him making him and his family destitute during the first year of king stephen's reign robert had begrudgingly sworn fealty as king stephen's position was secure but over the next two years with the scots invading and rebel barons testing the power of the monarchy robert moved around his fast estates in the west country feigning that his lands needed attending to a ploy to avoid traveling with the king and assisting him yet when king stephen landed in normandy in 1137 robert did eventually join him but stayed in normandy while king stephen returned to england robert's decision to stay in normandy raised suspicions as during king stephen's visit to normandy his forces skirmished with jeffrey plantagenet counter vong joo before agreeing to a peace treaty near the end of the year by 1138 king stephen had multiple problems in england alone the scots had invaded the north and rebel barons were causing issues in the south and by may 11 38 robert rescinded his homage to king stephen robert finally took the opportunity to side with his sister i don't believe there's a single reason for him renouncing his homage one source by the chronicler william o'malmsbury gives one reason that king stephen had arranged to kill robert by ambush but this is the only source that mentions this event yet robert certainly went to great lengths to burn any bridges with king stephen as robert issued a diffidentio which was a proclamation renouncing one's oath of the terms that the liege lord had done a disservice towards said vassal and that the reasons were justified when the news reached empress matilda she must have felt elated to hear the news as she had been fighting for the crown only with the support of her husband for the past two years so now with her half brother supporting her along with his considerable wealth and experience empress matilda's chances of being crowned queen of england wasn't a far-off idea with robert's defection england was now an estate of civil war soon the nobles of england would have to pick a side the rightful female designated heir or a close male relative who promised stability and order it didn't take long for empress matilda and her husband jeffrey plantagenet count of aung zhu to gather their armies and march towards khan but the chateau de fellas a castle that was william the conqueror's main command center was blocking access to khan the plantation army besieged the castle but failed to capture it and pulled back to regroup rather than waste any more time empress matilda moved around the castle and carried on towards khan back in england king stephen was quelling each rebellion as quickly as they appeared and was rapidly making progress in claiming robert's holdings as his only castle at bristol resisted king stephen but as quickly as king stephen put one set of rebels down another group would rise up in shrewsbury a revolt caught the king's attention as the commander of the city william fitz allen had declared for empress matilda william was a relative to robert through marriage so his loyalty was secure when king stephen arrived he refused to come to terms for king stephen his next actions proved he had hardened as he showed no mercy to defenders after taking the castle william had escaped but the rest of the defenders were hanged all 93 in total king stephen was appearing to look and act like his predecessor the mercy he showed to the rebels exeter would not be shown now but one after the other castles and forts declared support for empress matilda castle carey harpertree and dunster to name a few with king stephen travelling around the midlands of england he left his wife queen matilda to organize the defense of dover by 1139 king stephen arrived at the town of ludlow and was quickly besieging the castle there he was accompanied by henry of scotland now an ally after the treaty of durham during the siege king stephen saved henry from being hooked on a crow a type of siege weapon which is best described as a large fishing rod with a huge hook on the end once the siege was concluded most of robert's lands were now in king stephen's control as robert was still in normandy preparing with empress matilda most of the support in england for the angevin cause was nearly extinguished as king stephen had demonstrated his tactical and siege warfare capabilities a trait useful for a medieval king with bristol now the last stronghold to be captured king stephen turned his attention to more administrative matters in england for the past 30 years the day-to-day running of england was handled by several bishops as the position of justicia of england was hound by roger of salisbury one of king henry's new men who didn't belong to an aristocratic family roger is described as one of the most ableist and administrative minded figures during this period of english history he was also a powerful landowner holding several castles the main issue for king stephen was the bishop's loyalty to him as even the chroniclers of the time recorded that the bishops were too powerful for their assigned stations which needed to be addressed as if they opposed king stephen and backed empress matilda in the upcoming war king stephen could find himself dethroned as the bishops had sworn an oath to proclaim empress matilda as heir during the reign of king henry and as bishop roger owned devise's castle once described as the most beautiful fortress and at the time of recording this video devise's castle can be yours for a cool 3 million pounds bishop roger would make a powerful enemy if he switched sides king stephen had enough evidence to strip the bishops of their position as some had plotted with angevin sympathizers despite some accusing king stephen of acting with little evidence in june of 11 39 a meeting was held in oxford to discuss the issues king stephen had with the bishops the bishops brought some of their men from their own households and before the meeting even began a fight broke out over the lodgings with several dying during the brief skirmish king stephen's reaction to this bloodshed was to condemn the bishops for breaking the peace for compensation king stephen demanded that they hand over their castles the bishops refused and were arrested william of malmsbury states that this act of violence was orchestrated by king stephen but other sources contradict william's accounts so we have no definitive proof of who started the brawl both roger salisbury his son roger lepoa and alexander of lincoln the elder rogers nephew were arrested bishop nigel had yet to reach oxford and when the news reached him of the arrest he fled to divide his castle where he planned to rebel against the king king stephen gave chase bringing with him the arrested bishops and threatened to hang the younger roger in full view of the castle garrison only the intervention of roger's mother matilda of ramsbury stopped his hanging as she agreed to capitulate to king stephen's demands for his actions of arresting the bishops king stephen was condemned by the english clergy as his own brother henry of belois spoke out and demanded that the freedom of the church was paramount the arrests of the bishop would yield serious consequences in the future figging stephen but for now he was in control of his own administration and soon appointed positions to his loyal supporters the three bishops were released and resumed their duties as clergymen for bishop roger the mistreatment during his imprisonment took a toll on his health and he died later in the year his son fades from all our sources afterwards bishop alexander would stay loyal to king stephen and would sponsor several chroniclers including jeffrey of monmouth and henry of huntingdon as for bishop nigel he would revolt against king stephen at a later date with the bishops affair now dealt with king stephen's next problem would land on the 30th of september as empress matilda landed in england with her half-brother robert of gloucester the empress was back to claim her rightful throne on the 30th of september 11 39 empress matilda and a half brother robert of gloucester landed in england but they landed in a location that you wouldn't really consider useful when trying to claim england the angevin party landed five miles off the coast of arendelle as normally the usual landing point for an army trying to land in england would be dover as dover was the closest location in england to the mainland of europe however king stephen had been preparing for the angevin landing for some time and had fortified dover making a landing there incredibly difficult prior to landing in england empress matilda had been corresponding with her former stepmother adeliese adelizer herself was living a comfortable life after the death of her first husband henry the first as she had inherited a vast estate arendol and enjoyed life to the finest degree a medieval noblewoman could enjoy she had also remarried to one of king henry's advisor henry dibini and the couple would have seven children together which put an end to the rumors that she was infertile during her marriage to king henry the relationship between adeliese and empress matilda was of a strong friendship as they had been friends since childhood yet eliza and her husband supported king stephen her husband enthusiastically so why adeliese had offered her own estates as a landing zone for empress matilda's attempt at claiming the english crown is certainly a debate did she offer it out of loving friendship or could her offer be part of an elaborate trap we don't know we do know that empress matilda and robert landed with 140 knights and some 3 000 infantry not exactly like the great army her grandfather william the conqueror had brought with him when he invaded england in 1066 but empress matilda and robert didn't need a grand army from across the sea no they could rely on robert's own retinue and followers as as soon as they landed robert set off straight to bristol while empress matilda stayed at arendelle in korff king stephen was in the middle of another siege at korff castle besieging forts and castles would be the primary form of confrontation during the anarchy as a pitch battle would become exceedingly risky for both sides as one major battle could cause the end of one campaign will leave both sides exhausted leading to a stalemate for both sides having loyal men in strategic positions was vital in this war as between 1138 and 1142 king stephen appointed many aristocratic nobles to earls some of which were given strategic border cities yorkshire pembroke worcester northumbria and heritage as since the reign of william the conqueror england's castles had expanded significantly some starting as wooden castles before being replaced by stone ones of course no two castles were the same some were more fortified than others and some were just built in more advantageous terrain edinburgh castle is a perfect example but besieging a castle would also be a risky venture as depending on the castle's fortifications a siege could take weeks months or even years before being captured plus disease such as dysentery could ravage the procedures there were easier ways however to take a rival's castle burning down the wooden doors and storming inside was a common tactic as greek fire was now appearing in western europe another method was mining under the walls and causing them to collapse there are plenty of methods to attack and defend a castle when the news reached king stephen that empress matilda had landed in arundel he immediately marched what forces he had 90 miles to arundel and soon he was in sight of the castle where his rival to the throne was staying but king stephen faced a dilemma firstly there was technically nothing wrong with empress matilda being in england as she had been invited by her former mother-in-law and wasn't necessarily occupying the castle as her own no she was a guest of adeliese and william who had displayed no acts of disloyalty still the situation was awkward as king stephen couldn't just arrest a noblewoman visiting family this is where empress matilda's gender played to her favor for once arresting a noblewoman and possibly mistreating her would be a terrible look for a middle ages king the situation was a delicate one the other issue is arundel castle was a fortified castle that would not be easy to capture especially with a garrison of nearly three thousand strong a siege could take months and king stephen had no news on robert of gloucester's whereabouts so king stephen sought to negotiate with adeliese the chronicler john of worcester writes the ex-queen was awed by the king's majesty and was afraid she might lose what rank she had in england and solemnly swore that no enemy of the king had come to england through her doing only providing hospitality to those who were known to her a rather stunning answer to the king indeed empress matilda was a guest in adolescence home and king stephen probably wouldn't be able to find any evidence to suggest adeliese was lying to him the negotiations were yielding little results the deeds of stephen one of our main sources suggests that robert of gloucester was king stephen's main target and not empress matilda we can guess that may be true as robert was the one with the follow in england as empress matilda had yet to build up her own base not that she didn't have people willing to support her she just hadn't established herself as king stephen was quick to trap her in the first location she arrived at the deeds of stephen also tells us the king's next move he planned to carry on with the siege but on the advice from his brother the bishop of winchester henry he should allow empress matilda to leave and join her brother as finding robert should be the top priority as king stephen's men hadn't intercepted robert as by now he was most likely near bristol seeing no other option king stephen hesitantly agreed to his brother's suggestion empress matilda would be allowed to leave with an escort to her brother a tense situation now resolved empress matilda must have breathed a sigh of relief some chroniclers heavily criticized king stephen for this action and some praise him for the chivalry shown perhaps it was better for the two to be together in one place than apart or there was just no moving forward with a solid plan of capturing the castle empress matilda was safely escorted to bristol bishop henry was among the escort and the two most likely conversed about all manner of topics but we don't have any details on what they discussed empress matilda arrived in bristol in october 1139 and already a supporter of hers was making himself known earl baldwin the first man to challenge king stephen's authority in 1136 at exeter had launched an assault at korff and soon another man swore allegiance to empress matilda miles of gloucester the high sheriff of gloucestershire miles was an experienced commander with vast territories starting from above guinea to the forest of dean his support would boost the angevin course greatly another man who immediately saw filthy empress matilda was brian fitzcount he owned one of the most impregnable castles of the age wallingford castle in the county of oxfordshire this castle would withstand many sieges over the course of the anarchy with these new supporters empress matilda now had a base in the south west of england however she was cut off from receiving support from zhu and her uncle the scottish king david could do little to help other than moral support but now the civil war was beginning to take shape each side held fortified castles and forts although king stephen had been quick to put down anyone who declared support for empress matilda and robert agloster the fact that robert was now physically in england rejuvenated his supporters morale and now with wallingford castle in the angevin control they had a stronghold right in king stephen's territories a blessing and a curse the castle would be isolated if besieged as reinforcements would take time to get to the castle but on the other hand wallingford castle was an immensely impressive structure and although the castle is now ruins it featured two moats and looking at the ruins we can see a glimmer of how impressive it was back in its heyday wallingford castle was king stephen's first target and he soon began preparations for a siege he first attempted to blockade the castle but on the recommendation from his barons he changed tactics as the castle had plenty of provisions and began issuing orders for a counter castle to be built a counter castle as the name implies was built in order to contest the power of the besieged castle built further away where a garrison could be placed and used to support or assault the enemy's castle they were usually made from wood and earth although there are some stone counter castles and while the counter castle was being constructed king stephen marched towards trout bridge and along the way his forces managed to capture a small castle at south kearney and another one at malmsbury before advancing onwards however while king stephen was making progress miles of gloucester quickly demonstrated what kind of opponent he would be by rapidly crossing the county and striking king stephen's army at wallingford castle taking them by surprise and destroying the counter castle they were building king stephen's army was now routed with some dead and some captured for ransom for king stephen this may have felt like one step forward and two steps back as now two of empress matilda's main commanders were only 50 miles away from london with an army ready to march when the news reached king stephen he immediately ordered his army to march to london with the king back at the capital miles then launched a raid into worcester we have an eyewitness account from the chronicler john of wooster a monk at worcester priory who describes the attack coming from the north wall there being no fortifications on that side the entire host rushes tumultuously in mad with fury and set fire to the houses in many parts alas a considerable portion of the city is destroyed immense plunder is carried off consisting of chattel of all kinds from the city and of oxen sheep cattle and horses from the country many people are taken in the streets and suburbs and dragged into miserable captivity whatever their foes fixed for their ransom they are forced to promise on oath to pay the town was badly damaged but the castle withstood the assault worcester would become the first victim of a lengthy destructive civil war in the midlands of england henry of huntingdon describes the next year of 1140 as gaunt famine following wastes away who murder spares with slow decay the battle of lincoln in 1141 was one of three of the only major battles fought during the period of the anarchy empress matilda and her half-brother robert of gloucester had established control of the southwest of england now there was constant siege warfare with each side besieging and sacking towns and cities worcester was one of the first major settlements to be looted and burned the current war zone started from worcester heading south covering locations such as gloucester wilton and whereum both sides were also now planning various campaigns and raids into disputed territories and employing several mercenaries as most lords and barons outside the war zone were reluctant to aid king stephen as they were more worried about their own lands than fulfilling their oath to the king mercenaries would be the primary troops used during the anarchy and mercenaries were expensive plus their loyalties were dubious at best but they could be very effective in looting and raiding one's enemies properties in 1140 king stephen's troops attacked one of robert's houses in tewkesbury setting it a blaze in bath there were reports of fighting as one of the first commanders to die in the conflict was jeffrey talbot a norman noble nottingham would be the next city to be looted and burned with the chronicler describing the chaos as the whole city was destroyed by the flames even those in churches died as the buildings caught fire and collapsed upon them this act would certainly strike terror into the king's other holdings nottingham is in the east midlands so king stephen may have thought the city was too far for the angelins to reach but the attack showed a weakness if empress matilda's forces could strike in places that king stephen's defense was lackluster then they may be able to win the war you might think that while with all this planning attacking and warfare going on that empress matilda was simply waiting in the safety of bristol castle but that would be wrong to assume we know she was an effective administrator and had considerable more experience in the matters of diplomacy and logistics than some of her male supporters so as she was planning on being crowned queen of england it should be no surprise she would handle the day-to-day running of her court and territories plus she needs to act like a ruler as england was supposed to be heard after all her father king henry certainly made sure that his nobles knew this by having them swear oaths again and again empress matilda certainly did act a ruler by creating earls and lords a reward for their loyalty to her after moving to gloucester empress matilda set about having her own coinage minted this was another act of portraying who the rightful ruler was the business of sacking cities was something everyone could agree was terrifying especially the clergy as church property was also being destroyed the bishop of winchester henry sought to end the war before more harm could come to the realm and thanks to his position he managed to get both sides to agree to a meeting both sides sent representatives empress matilda sent her brother robert of gloucester and king stephen sent his wife queen matilda the talks yielded little in the way of a compromise as both sides wanted something the other refused to give and if the conflict were to last for years both sides had children that could one day take up the mantle and leave their respective sides william of marmsbury states that they wasted words and time to no purpose and departed without being able to conclude a piece by december of 11 40 england was divided there would be no peace in sight unless one side was utterly defeated a pitched battle could end the war but for the moment both parties were working to take each other's forts and castles as there was less risk involved but sometimes a siege wasn't needed to capture a fort or castle as the actions of others could sway a lord who owned a castle to join the opposing side or a castle could be taken using subterfuge in our previous episodes we mentioned that king stephen's actions of alienating lords and barons would come back to haunt him and now an event would occur that would change the course of the war as two half-brothers ranolf de guernan and william de romere were enraged at king stephen firstly there was the issue of the scottish settlement as king stephen granted a huge portion of the north of england to david king of the scots and david's son henry this treaty disinherited runoff and william to lands and titles another further insult the brothers suffered was over the earldom of lincoln as king stephen granted the ildom to william daubini he was a loyal supporter of the king despite his wife eliza hosting empress matilda at arundel these actions angered the brothers and to make their displeasure known the brothers thought of a very cunning plan of sending their wives under the guise of a courtesy call to lincoln castle surely no one could object to a few noble ladies meeting each other for a christmas gathering to exchange gifts and pleasantries the timing of this visit was meticulous as the ladies arrived at the castle when the garrison was spread thin around the city runoff then appeared unarmed with three nights under the pretext to escort his wife and sister-in-law home yet once they gained access they unveiled hidden weapons and surprised the guards taking control of the castle runoff then opened the gates to allow his brother in with more men that were waiting nearby an incredibly daring plan that went off without a hitch one of the most wealthy and fortified cities in england taken right from underneath the king the taking of the city was now the start of an open quarrel with the king as the two brothers had not declared for either side at the start of the war so we can assume that they still had pledged to king stephen during the easter court of 1136 king stephen was partaking in christmas festivities 150 miles away in windsor when he received the news and as we've known from his previous actions king stephen leapt into motion and quickly organized his forces to march to lincoln castle three of our sources the deeds of king stephen william of marmsbury and aldrich vitalis all mention that the citizens of lincoln wrote to the king and asked him to come to their aid while the king was busy preparing to march ranoff set about fortifying his position as he knew it could take weeks for the king to arrive and as winter was nearly here ranulf may have thought the king would be hesitant to start a campaign near the winter he was wrong [Music] as king stephen arrived before christmas was over aldrich vitalis writes of the king's anger that may have fueled his march as he was quote very angry at the news and astounded that his close friends on whom he had heaped lands and honors should have committed such a crime when king stephen arrived the citizens of lincoln greeted the king and invited him into the city where he soon besieged the castle and discovered that the garrison were of a small number the castle now under siege ranoff escaped leaving his brother and his wife in the castle ranoff's wife was moored of gloucester she was the daughter of robert of gloucester and with her now trapped in the castle ranolf galloped to his father-in-law to ask for his aid perhaps leaving his wife behind was a cunning ploy to enlist robert's help or just a convenient motivation for robert regardless runoff had now sworn to the angevin cause empress matilda's ranks of the disinherited was growing and no doubt she would be able to richly reward them after being crowned the angevin party quickly organized their forces in such a rapid manner similar to how king stephen mustered his own troops and by february 1141 the angevins had an army ready to march robert had recruited a large portion of his troops from wales led by mad dog app meredith and cadwa ladder app griffid with the angevins on the move king stephen's forces were battering the gates of all manner of siege weapons the small garrison wouldn't be able to hold out for long king stephen's army itself wasn't huge roughly about a thousand men but it was large enough to take the castle robert's relief army was slightly bigger both sides consisted of mounted knights a wrecking ball on the battlefield if deployed properly equipped with lances and swords king stephen did receive news that robert was on his way with a sizeable army to challenge him but king stephen decided to remain and carry on with the siege now we need to understand why king stephen chose to remain despite the advice given to him by his earls to retreat king stephen may have felt that continuing with the siege was the most important action after all he came at the request of the citizens of the city and leaving them now could become a moral victory for the defenders of the castle secondly perhaps the king may have been blinded by rage as losing such a rich and prosperous city would become a major setback or maybe if he could win the upcoming battle and capture all the laws that rebound against him then this war could be closer to ending as empress matilda would be the last one to capture one source the deeds of king stephen writes of his decision he refused to sully his fame by disgrace of flight but boldly went to meet them outside the town so now king stephen would be caught between his enemies the garrison from lincoln castle and the approaching anjavin army which would arrive at the west side of the city the recent wet weather had made the surrounding area damp and marshy so the angevin army had to cross a four to reach the plains near the city making them easy to spot from the castle walls william of malmsbury states that the river had swollen and the angevins had to swim across it's doubtful they swam across as we know crossing a river in heavy armor will mean you'll sink like a stone king steven's forces did try and stop the angevins from crossing the river but they were soon pushed back king stephen then led his army out of the city to deploy just outside the city walls while both armies were preparing for battle king stephen asked baldwin fitzgilbert to give a rallying speech as according to henry of huntingdon king stephen was not good at making speeches lacking a witty tongue another source suggests that the king's voice was weak over on the angevin side several speeches were made one by ranoff and then by robert roberts states that they must remember that he was the son of the old king henry and empress matilda was the rightful heir to the throne he then made an earnest request to the army that they rely on god's courage with the speeches over the final preparations were made king stephen had some of his knights dismounted to fight on foot in the center as he didn't have as much cavalry to deploy as the angevins william of eep commanded the left and on the right were several earls of northampton richmond york and worcester on the anjivan side robert led the center with runoff on the right with welsh infantry and miles of gloucester on the left also with welsh infantry three divisions on both sides the battle begins with william of eep charging into the welsh on the left while robert attacked king stephen in the center almost immediately the welsh troops were routed by william but now ranoff's cavalry behind the welsh now charged at william while the angevin left wing attacked king stephen's right wing one account of the battle now states that william fled the field before coming into close quarters the suggestion of an archery attack is the given reason for william fleeing as the routing of the welsh may have disorganized their formation with william now fleeing the battle king stephen's wings collapsed as the earls abandoned the king as after seeing the angevin cavalry fighting with swords instead of lances the possibility of dying rather than being captured and ransom was a possible reason for the earl's flight from the field the king was now surrounded on all sides but refused to give up as the king fought inflicting wounds from his terrible arm his weapon broke and he was given a norse axe fighting on until the axe also broke the king's rampage was only stopped after he suffered a blow to the head from a rock being thrown the king now dazed was soon captured the battle was over and king stephen of england was now a prisoner in our previous episode the battle of lincoln king stephen was captured at the end of the battle by the angevin forces led by robert of gloucester with the king now in custody after being knocked out he awoke and complained that this was not the treatment a king deserves and that his enemies were breaking the faith the chronicler william of malmsbury states that robert treated the king justly without harm coming to him nor insulted king stephen's first stop as a prisoner would be at gloucester to be presented to his cousin the empress matilda as the news would take a few days to reach her she must have been waiting anxiously and when she did receive the news she must have breathed a sigh of relief the throne was now closer to being hers than ever before but claiming the throne of england is never an easy task king stephen arrived in gloucester on the 9th of february 11 41 and finally after several years empress matilda was face to face with king stephen sadly there is no record of what was said during their meeting which is a great shame she may have chastised king stephen for taking the throne and breaking his oath to her and henry the first without a written account the topic of conversation is lost after meeting with emperor's matilda king stephen was transported to bristol castle our sources mentioned the tale of robert curtos the eldest son of william the conqueror who inherited the duchy of normandy but later lost it to his younger brother henry the first robert would spend the rest of his life imprisoned in various castles the anglo-saxon chronicles state that when the king was in prison the earls and powerful men expected that he would never get out again expressing that king stephen might share the same fate although king stephen was now a prisoner the fighting continued as lords and barons took the law into their own hands and some even waged private wars allen the earl of richmond tried to ambush ran off the earl of chester but failed and was captured in the process he was then tortured until he submitted to runoff and handed over his castles ranolf was now becoming more powerful and influential yet despite king stephen's predicament some men did fight for him yet some quickly changed allegiances to empress matilda empress matilda's next step would be to convince the clergy to support her as the archbishop of canterbury would be the one to crown her queen this task might seem difficult on the outset as one of the leading figures in the english church was king stephen's brother henry of winchester but if we remember our previous episodes king stephen's relationship with his brother and the church was strained after the bishop's arrest in 1139 something empress matilda could exploit to her advantage she soon arranged to meet with bishop henry leaving gloucester on the 17th of february and along the way the citizens of siren sester welcomed the empress on her way to winchester bishop henry's goal had always been securing the safety of england and as his brother was now defeated and in chains it was more prudent to ally with the victor as the situation was unique so moving forward to help crown empress matilda would be the sensible move at the beginning of 1141 empress matilda met bishop henry outside winchester our sources mentioned the weather which is a quintessentially english thing to do empress matilda swore that she would allow bishop henry to gift bishoprics as well as control the main accounts in england if he accepted her in the holy church as lady and kept faith in her a bold gesture to sway bishop henry to her side which worked henry swore to uphold her based on the promises made to him with all the negotiations nearly done empress matilda was invited into the city of winchester the bishops then granted her the keys to the castle and the royal treasury the people of winchester then gathered to hail her as queen of england before moving on towards the cathedral where she met more members of the english clergy one member empress matilda did not meet was theobold of beck the archbishop of canterbury he was needed to crown her yet when they did meet in oxford he proclaimed that he could not support her as he had sworn to king stephen an oath something he could not break without the king's permission empress matilda did allow the archbishop to meet with king stephen who according to william of marmsbury agreed to release him from his oath with the archbishop now free to aid emperor matilda a church council was organized now a case was made to accept empress matilda as ruler bishop henry stated that his brother king stephen had failed to honor the rights of the church using the arrests of the bishop in 1139 as evidence he then criticized his brother further and stated therefore as it seems long to wait for a sovereign who delayed coming to england for she resided in normandy we provided for the peace of the country and my brother was allowed to reign and although i gave myself a surety between him and god that he would honor and advance the holy church and uphold good but abrogate evil laws yet it grieves me to remember shames me to say how he conducted himself in the kingdom how justice ceased to be exerted how peace was annihilated almost within the year to summarize bishop henry was offering excuses for the support he gave to his brother in his early reign and that god had abandoned him after making these justifications bishop henry reminded the bishops that they should support the decision to crown empress matilda lest the kingdom fall into decay and to further cement the new status quo anyone who objected bishop henry as papal leggett would excommunicate them he then proclaimed empress matilda as domine anglorum lady of the english while all this planning and declaration were going on king stephen was still chained up at bristol castle but his cause wasn't lost just yet his biggest supporter was making her own moves queen matilda was still fighting for king stephen she had not given up and together with william of eep they were rallying what forces they could in kent there were also a few earls that had not submitted to empress matilda the earl of worcester still controlled worcestershire for king stephen the earl of surrey and simon deseles earl of northampton still supported the king they feared that if empress matilda was crowned their lands would be at risk from the scottish king david who could quite easily take them over with the support of the empress in order to secure england queen matilda had written to empress matilda and asked to release her husband and that her son eustis be granted his inheritance but this was denied firmly while all these correspondents were going back and forth empress matilda was making her way to london slowly stopping off along the way to receive the good wishes of the people of england she first stopped at reading to visit the tomb of her father henry the first where she accepted the loyalty of the people before moving back to oxford where she had set up court before moving on to london however empress matilda needed the support of the earl of essex as he was the castellan of the tower of london a location she needed to control if she was to secure london to woo him to her side she drew up a charter naming him earl as she was discarding king stephen's own charters and to further sweeten the deal she offered him the position of sheriff of essex and forgave him the debt he owed to the crown under king henry attempting offer which he soon accepted with the tower now under her allegiance empress matilda soon entered london however at windsor a town on the outskirts of london windsor castle was still loyal to king stephen so empress matilda moved around it and reached london in the middle of june 1141. the empress was welcomed into the city by the londoners and she soon made herself at home everything was falling into place the church was on her side her rival was locked up and most likely to be left in a prison for the remainder of his days and she was in the english capital smooth sailing so far empress matilda soon started issuing orders emulating her late father's leadership she filled the vacant position of the london bishop with a nominee that pleased everyone politically she also wanted london back firmly under royal control and she began this by issuing taxation this did not please the londoners as king stephen had exempted them from paying tax in order to gain favour empress matilda was not king stephen she was the daughter of king henry and as such she expected them to pay tax after all would they have refused to pay if her father was still alive one major blunder empress matilda made was alienating her new allies she refused bishop henry's suggestion of granting king stephen's son his inheritance possibly because she didn't want a situation her father had to deal with as the son of robert kurtos calls grief for king henry so potentially king stephen's son might rise up and try to overthrow her or her heir this disagreement upset bishop henry enough that he left her court and headed to winchester the chroniclers of the time mention that empress matilda's attitude was arrogant the chronicles of king stephen mentioned that when empress matilda demanded the londoners pay tax every trace of woman's gentleness was removed from her face and she blazed into an intemperate fury john of worcester calls her hard heart henry of huntingdon also mentions she displayed an insufferable arrogance perhaps if we placed henry the first in the situation would the chroniclers have been as harsh or even praised him emperor's matilda was acting in my opinion how her father would have acted after all she had watched him govern for years so it should be no surprise empress matilda would try and imitate her late father's leadership style moving on after conducting the business of the day empress matilda retired for the evening when suddenly bows started ringing and shouting began the people of london had risen up against empress matilda and they soon started attacking her followers to make matters worse queen matilda was marching with a force towards london empress matilda had little time to get her bearings she grabbed what she could and fled london with her advisors empress matilda's situation had gone from great to dismal and now she was on the retreat her dinner was still warm when the london mob broke into her apartment the empress matilda has been chased out of london by other people her fortunes have flipped she came so close to being crowned as ruler of england only to lose out at the last hurdle now on the retreat to oxford her new ally bishop henry of winchester turns on her and joins his brother's side again despite king stephen being a prisoner of the empress king stephen's wife queen matilda is marching towards london with an army and upon reaching london queen matilda's forces begin to pillage the area the deeds of king stephen records that queen matilda gave orders that they should rage most furiously around the city with plunder and arson violence and the sword in sight of the countess and her men the people of london were in grievous trouble on the one hand their land was being stripped before their eyes and reduced by the enemy's ravages to a habitation for the hedgehog and there was no one ready to help them on the other hand that new lady of theirs was going beyond the bounds of moderation and sorely oppressing them therefore they judged it worthy of consideration to make a new pact and peace and alliance with the queen and join together with one mind to rescue their king and lord from his chains the queen was demonstrating to the londoners what would happen if they did not comply despite running empress matilda out of london the king was still a prisoner so queen matilda made the point of showcasing her strength to sway the people of london that their task was not completed until the king was freed empress matilda's position of strength was fading her new allies began to desert her and join with queen matilda jeffrey demanderville earl of essex switched loyalties back to the king despite the empress granting him new lands and titles he joined forces with queen matilda as she arrived in london bishop henry the king's brother had left empress matilda after a disagreement and headed to winchester queen matilda appealed to the bishop for aid the deeds of king stephen states bishop henry agreed to queen matilda's appeal as she by the woman's tearful supplication which she pressed on him with great earnestness bishop henry switched sides again and issued a proclamation from winchester that he supported the king again and that all english nobles should follow his lead quite a flip as only two months ago he proclaimed empress matilda as lady of the english and argued that the kingdom would fall into decay if the bishops didn't support the empress bishop henry also had the audacious desire to write to one of empress matilda's biggest supporters brian fitzcount who was one of the first men to swear his loyalty to the empress bishop henry tells brian that if he did not return to his brother's side he would be numbered among the most unfaithful men of england the hypocrisy from bishop henry is strong here so much so that brian wrote a reply addressing bishop henry as a hypocrite and that he had always served the correct monarch even through his own personal hardships he finishes his letter by stating that he was ready to prove himself against bishop henry through combat or by a court process an incredibly bold statement to challenge a high-ranking member of the church to combat brian was certainly going all in on his support for the empress empress matilda made her way back to her base in oxford along with her half-brother earl robert of gloucester after the disaster of london they needed to come up with a plan to move forward they still had king stephen locked up in bristol castle but they would have to deal with the army under queen matilda and william of eep taking london would have to wait as one of winchester's castles was under siege from bishop henry winchester at this time in history had two castles the royal castle which empress matilda owned and wolves the castle which belonged to bishop henry both castles were reinforced making a siege long and difficult before the siege empress matilda had sent robert to negotiate with bishop henry but that achieved nothing now empress matilda rallied her forces and marched towards winchester on the journey towards winchester empress matilda sent a letter to bishop henry asking him to meet her in person to explain himself she must have been curious why a man who promised to aid her and granted her lavish titles would now turn on her in a mere two months his reply was a cryptic prepare himself he then fled his castle leaving a garrison behind and asked for aid from queen matilda on the 31st of july 1141 empress matilda's army arrived at the gates and was able to enter the city unopposed from there they fought off the small garrison force besieging empress matilda's castle before moving on to wolsey castle the size of empress matilda's force is debatable as two of our sources state different numbers as well as the amount of nobles present in empress matilda's war party while the siege was ongoing empress matilda settled in the royal castle and conducted her battle plan from there receiving advice from robert and king david of scotland and making plans on how to take woolsey castle yet on the 2nd of august the garrison of wolves castle started throwing out flammable material in order to cause chaos and confusion and as it was the height of summer the city quickly caught fire as there were plenty of wooden buildings john of worcester tells us that bishop henry goaded by rage and to strike terror and dismay into the hearts of people he determined to set fire to the city and burn it to the ground the fire consumed the people's homes and destroyed provisions in the city the smoke must have been awful for the empress's soldiers and the people of winchester who had just lost their homes with winchester burning a new threat arrived queen matilda was approaching with an army which consisted of militia from london heavy infantry and a variety of mercenaries empress matilda was now trapped as the queen's army surrounded the city and occupied the roads cutting off supplies to the angevins a double siege was now in effect the queen also had with her several lords and earls william de warren simon teseles gilbert declare and jeffrey demandeville empress matilda was now in a desperate situation her army was running out of food there wasn't much shelter for her troops and the people of winchester to rest after the fire burned most of the buildings down time was not on her side the longer her army stayed in winchester the weaker her forces would get whereas queen matilda's forces were being supplied from london so they could wait and have an easy victory queen matilda's forces soon started assaulting the angevin outposts one outpost near wurwal abbey was attacked by william of eep and the garrison driven off into the abbey for protection the royal forces then began to throw torches to set fire to the abbey which quickly set ablaze forcing the angevin troops inside the surrender along with a group of nuns fleeing the destruction the only person to refuse to surrender was jon fitzgilbert but as the flames spread the lead roof collapsed crushing him while the hot lead blinded him in one eye yet somehow he escaped with the outpost fallen and no progress being made on the siege of wolves castle the only option remained was to try and break free and head towards divisor's castle as each day passed the only actions were skirmishes in the street and supplies dwindling each day by september the situation was dire so the angevins began to pack up their baggage train and made a plan to escape the most important aspect of this plan was keeping empress matilda safe on the 14th of september 1141 the angens set their escape plan into motion the deed of king stephen tells us that everything was going according to plan as a precaution for the withdrawal they were in close column all retreating as one body to secure the safety of the empress she was placed at the front of the column while robert commanded the rear guard but as soon as they began to leave the city they came under attack as queen matilda's forces commanded by william of eep assaulted from all sides the tenacity of the attack made by the queen's troops quickly broke down any order in the angelman retreat robert kept order in the rear guard and fought back while moving eight miles west towards stockbridge where the angens had to cross a ford in the river tess while being pursued by an ever-increasing number of royal troops crossing this forward would take time as only a certain number of troops could cross at one time so empress matilda and her bodyguards cross first while robert continued to hold the line king david of scotland was also with empress matilda crossing with her king david would be captured three times but each time he miraculously escaped after crossing the forward empress matilda and her bodyguards rode as quick as they could towards devise's castle 40 miles away she rode in the male horse riding fashion as the ladies of this time rode side saddle back at the river test most of the anjuan forces had scattered only robert's rearguard troops were still fighting in order to buy more time for the rest to escape but soon robert and his men were surrounded by the queen's more numerous force robert knew that crossing the ford with the enemy so pressed against him would lead to disaster so he fought to a last stand thanks to his position as one of the leading commanders in the angering cause he was captured instead of killed in the field yet some knights were not as lucky as a few had thrown off their armor in order to escape the deed of king stephen writes about the fate of those fleeing what am i to say about the knights nay the greatest barons who cast away all emblems of their knighthood and going on foot in sorry plight gave false names and denied they were fugitives some fell into the hands of peasants and were most terribly beaten some concealed themselves in sordid hiding places white and full of dread and lurked there until they either had a chance to escape or were found at last by the enemies and dragged out in shameful and unseemly fashion the route of winchester was a disaster for the angevins it's a warm autumn day in 1141 and on the road towards the city of gloucester a noblewoman is slowly galloping on her horse the woman is exhausted from traveling and close to fainting the journey towards gloucester has been an arduous task for her yet some of her companions have fared much worse robert of gloucester the main commander and driving force for the angevin cause in england has been captured by the royal forces led by queen matilda near the city of winchester the angevin forces had been trapped in the city before breaking out but they were soon attacked from the royal forces and defeated many nobles fled including the leader of the angelins empress matilda who was described as half dead by the time she reached the safety of gloucester after a few days empress matilda's remaining supporters started to arrive when the news reached her that robert had been captured her heart must have sank the man who put everything on the line supporter was now in the enemy's hands the only trade she could offer for her brother was their cousin king stephen while the empress thought about her next move earl robert was confined in rochester queen matild offered robert his freedom and a lucrative place in the royal court once king stephen was freed robert refused and the sweet talk ended he was then threatened to be sent to berlin and imprisoned for the rest of his days robert might have scoffed at such a threat as if he knew something were to happen to him then something would happen to king stephen after a short negotiation king stephen and robert were released in the autumn of 1141 a difficult decision for empress matilda to make but she needed robert to lead her cause at least until her sons were of age now the civil war had taken one step forward and two steps back now that king stephen was free he sought to rebuild his power base as quickly as he could by having his kingship reaffirmed by the clergy a slightly awkward reunion with his brother the bishop henry was smoothed over with the bishop grovelling and remarking he only aided empress matilda due to fear of reprisals if he did not help her by december king stephen was crowned again at canterbury with a good number of nobles attending but also a fair number missing but his authority as king was now re-established john of worcester summarizes the war during the whole of the ensuing year in all parts of the kingdom and country village of the poor slaughter of men and violations of the churches the only success of the year was in normandy as empress matilda's husband jeffrey of aung zhu was slowly winning ground in the territory by 1142 the civil war can be summed up with siege warfare as there were no real pitch battles like at lincoln apart from a small battle in 1143 sieges was something both sides had plenty of practice in but sieges were a big investment in manpower and resources something empress matilda was now lacking in she needed help and appeal to her husband in normandy for aid while the angevins were busy sending correspondence between england and normandy king stephen was visiting the north of england to reinstate royal authority as the north of england had been relatively untouched by the civil war in april king stephen arrived in the city of northampton where he became dangerously ill with an unknown condition the sources state that his imprisonment may have caused this illness regardless he was bed bound for a few months and this inactivity led to rumors that he was dying or dead with the king ill the first few months of 1142 were peaceful as neither side were actively campaigning so empress matilda's letters reached her husband perhaps quicker than they might have done if war parties were traveling around the south of england jeffrey replied and stated that he would only listen to robert's account of the war's progress and in person robert didn't like the idea of traveling to france the thought of leaving empress matilda without his counsel and leadership worried him as well as the danger of sailing to normandy yet he was reassured knowing that king stephen was ill robert set off for normandy sailing from whereum while empress matilda traveled towards the safety of oxford castle the castle oxford was a stone structure built a few years after the norman conquest of england using the existing anglo-saxon defenses as the base fortification the castle itself had a natural barrier in the form of a stream off the river thames thus the empress would be easily protected and safe from harm until robert returned another benefit in empress matilda staying at oxford was if king stephen were to die from his illness she could jump on the opportunity and quickly capture winchester before marching towards london but there were a few risks in her staying at oxford one she was on the fringes of her territory making it easier for king stephen's forces to reach her while her own troops would take longer to reach her but as we've seen in the course of the civil war emperor patilda had taken plenty of risks in her time now she just had to wait and see what news robert could bring over in northampton king stephen is still bed-bound but after the christian festival of easter he recovered so quickly as though he had only just awakened from sleep he vigorously and boldly shook himself out of sluggish inaction where the king recovered he set about launching a new offensive the first target was siren sester castle which the king's forces took by surprise with its capture king stephen ordered its complete destruction and the castle was promptly demolished the royal forces then moved south towards whereum and again took the castle in rapid time the angevin's effectiveness without robert was beginning to show after plundering the town king stephen then made plans for his next moves our sources tell us that he knew empress matilda was staying at oxford castle but they don't tell us how he knew she was there king stephen set out a plan to trap empress matilda and cut her off from reinforcements while also besieging her at the same time to accomplish this he needed to secure outposts around oxford and as we've seen from king stephen capturing these outposts were easily done under his command the outposts at bamton and radcop were captured in quick succession with these outposts now occupied king stephen's encirclement of oxford was nearly complete by the 26th of september 11 42 king stephen's army were on the outskirts of oxford getting inside the town would be difficult as the river that flows through gave a natural protection and the city's walls meant that taking the town would require siege equipment items king stephen lacked at the moment but king stephen was determined to take the town as this was his best opportunity he had to end the war the angelins provoked the king's forces from their high fortifications before pouting them with arrows the king then moved his army towards a ford in the river he then crossed first or swam across according to the deeds of king stephen and encouraged his men to assault the approaching angevin troops who were sallying forth from the city gate the angevin garrison were beaten back and in the panic of fleeing into the town king stephen's men managed to enter the gatehouse preventing the gate from closing now inside the town chaos set in as the king's men assaulted the town fire raged and the people of oxford suffered the king's wrath many died and their homes were set alight empress matilda could only watch from the safety of the castle as the town was burned and pillaged she had seen this site before at winchester and now it was happening again she was trapped with no way out no robert to lead her to safety nor her uncle king david of scotland to give his advice and guidance she had to escape on her own the situation was now grim for empress matilda she had been besieged before at arundel castle but escaped thanks to clever negotiations and she also escaped from winchester thanks to her brother's sacrifice third time's a charm so maybe this was the moment she would become the prisoner as oxford castle was now completely surrounded two of our sources the deeds of king stephen and william of marmsbury both state that king stephen siege was so complete that he never feared of leaving until he had empress matilda captured the angevins had to act fast or empress matilda would be captured the closest angevin stronghold nearest oxford was wallingford castle where brian fitzcount was rallying what force he could but the force he assembled was not enough to challenge the king directly the scottish king david was too far away in scotland to be of any help and robert was on his way back from normandy but even when he landed it would take time to gather enough troops to march on oxford the empress would not just sit idly by and wait for the siege to end she acted as she had before with determination to solve the crisis she was in she encouraged the garrison and fortified the castle she was active as much as any commander could be yet the siege dragged on for a few months and provisions were running low to make matters worse king stephen had brought up siege engines which were bombarding the castle empress matilda never received any news of a relief force as she was completely cut off there was only one option left attempt to escape her escape plan involved crossing the snowy and icy thames river in the middle of december this event is romanticized and several chroniclers offer different accounts of how she escaped one account states she slid down a rope at night over the walls another say she rode out from a small gate with four knights all dressed in white to blend in with the environment whichever way she escaped the plan worked and she made her way to the river which was now frozen solid crossing the hazardous river on foot the ice never broke and she escaped with the sounds of shouting and trumpets blaring behind her she then walked six miles to abingdon and after gathering a few horses she rode to the safety of wallingford castle the empress had pulled off a miraculous escape again but there was no major victory to be had as oxford castle soon surrendered the only good news she received was that robert had brought back from normandy her eldest son and heir henry only nine years old but he would soon grow up to lead his own cause as the war would shift from placing the empress on the throne and instead the fight for henry's right to rule england over the course of the anarchy we've seen both sides gain the upper hand and then lose their momentum after the siege of oxford empress matilda who had escaped the siege in spectacular fashion was now in the safety of wallingford castle she didn't stay long as after a few days of resting she left for devises castle which was safer as the castle was deeper in her own territory a few days after staying at devises robert of gloucester arrived with an army he had assembled to march on oxford in order to free empress matilda but before he arrived he learned she had escaped he quickly turned his forces around and marched towards his sister's location upon arriving robert was glad to see his sister unharmed and well he had also brought with him from normandy his nephew and matilda's heir henry with the young henry now in england the cause of the war would turn away from empress matilda being crowned as ruler of england but instead ensuring that henry would be king either by taking the crown from king stephen or succeeding him the problem of succeeding king stephen was he already had a male heir eustis who was a few years older than henry so if king stephen were to pass on the crown henry would have to fight eustis for the throne but for now the fighting was focused around the midlands and the southwest of england the market town of wareham was important to both sides as not only was a town an important trade port the town had a regional mint a valuable prize useful for minting a ruler's coinage robert had captured the town when he returned from normandy and also reinforced the defenses by the summer of 1143 the campaigning season was underway king stephen's army marched towards wareham the royal authority was weak in the west county of england so warren would be an excellent rally point to launch more campaigns further into angeline territory but the town's defenses were too difficult to overcome so king stephen march north to the town of witton whitton castle was the furthest outpost the king controlled similar to wallingford castle for the angevins as both sites were on the edges of rival territories on the journey to wooden king stephen joined with his brother the bishop henry and together they arrived at witton the details and what happened next are convoluted the deeds of king stephen mention a pitched battle took place here between earl robert and king stephen yet another source states the king was trapped in the castle and made a sortie out but was beaten and only escaped thanks to his lieutenant william martin holding the rear guard back to allow the king and his brother to escape this reminds us of the battle of lincoln in 1141 the capture of such a loyal man to king stephen was irreplaceable as king stephen had few men loyal to him he offered sherbourne castle for the release of william such a castle for one man shows how important loyal men were to the king after the events at whitten in september 1143 king stephen was holding a royal court at saint albans with several nobles in attendance one noble jeffrey demanderville the earl of essex had amassed lands and money during the civil war as he like many other barons and lords swapped sides when king stephen was first captured but then rejoined after empress matilda's flight from london however geoffrey had accumulated too much power which annoyed many barons and there were also rumors at least according to the deeds of king stephen that jeffrey was guilty of treason and planned to bestow the kingdom to the countess of hong-joo these accusations and pressure from the other nobles made king stephen take action and he ordered jeffrey to be arrested his castles were stripped from him and his land taken he was then released and immediately sought retribution he first went to the isle of ely an area of england that was covered in swampland and made it his base of operations he then seized ramsay abbey chucked the monks out and then turned the abbey into a fortress the chronicler henry of huntingdon chastises him and claims the abbey walls bled from ear to ear while occupied jeffrey then conducted a harrying raid across cambridge for these actions jeffrey was excommunicated by the church their chaos cause was a boom for the angevins as the fighting at ely would keep king stephen busy as geoffrey would target the king and his supporters estates to combat geoffrey's raids king stephen ordered the construction of several castles as attacking in the fence was too risky for now jeffrey's war against the king was gaining strength as a few lords supported him mostly through family ties like his brother-in-law william de say the earl of norfolk also gave his support this gave geoffrey more defenses around ely east anglia was quickly becoming another war zone that the king would have to fight for but luck was on his side as in september of 1144 geoffrey attacked the half-built castle at burwell in cambridgeshire during the attack jeffrey took off his helmet either to survey the area or to cool down in the hot weather when a crossbowman spotted him atop one of the castle walls and shot at him the bolt struck him in the head at first the injury appeared superficial but it became infected and jeffrey died from the injury a week later a potential disaster was averted for the king as the angevins couldn't act in time to take advantage as one of their own commanders was now dead miles of gloucester first earl of hereford had died on christmas eve in 1143 from a hunting accident he was one of the first nobles to swear allegiance to empress matilda when she landed in england during this civil war we've shown the actions of the nobles and mentioned when towns and cities were sacked by either side but we've never mentioned how the average person of this time in history felt as the war went on agricultural labourers were decreasing leaving crops to wither farms and estates were either looted or abandoned the deeds of king stephen writes of the plight of the common people you could see villages with famous names standing solitary and almost empty because of peasants of both sex and all ages were dead fields whitening with a magnificent harvest with their cultivators taken away by the agency of the devastating famine and all england wearing a look of sorrow and misfortune now we will move on from the action in england to normandy france as in january of 1144 the conquest of normandy under geoffrey of aung zhu was complete five years of campaigning were over and he was proclaimed duke of normandy and recognized as duke by his overlord the king of the franks louis vii for now empress matilda's one part of her inheritance for henry was guaranteed as king stephen was too occupied in england to launch an invasion into normandy yet king stephen was far from removed off the english throne and was as active as ever besieging lincoln castle again 1144 but after a siege tower collapsed and killed 80 of his men he abandoned the siege the angevins had been building counter-castles around the malmsbury royal castle but the king arrived and pushed back the angelins before moving on to temporary in gloucestershire but retreated when earl robert arrived with welsh reinforcements as the king wished to avoid a pitch battle but on the retreat back towards winchester the king took the castle at winchcombe by surprise and captured it surprise attacks would be king stephen's best defensive in taking the angevin fort and castles as a prolonged siege could develop into a pitch battle if robert's army arrived the year of 1144 was the same as any other years during the civil war with plenty of raids ambushes and night attacks but the following year of 1145 would see plenty of betrayals as with the year of 1144 1145 saw the construction of several counter-castles around the midlands and south west one castle at farringdon would become a center point of conflict between king stephen and robert of gloucester as robert's son philip sought to build the castle on a hill an ideal site to fortify the hill was originally a celtic stronghold the structure was being built using stone and wood suggesting the castle would become a permanent fortress as opposed to a wooden counter castle our main source the deeds of king stephen mentioned robert brought in many supporters to build this castle and the garrison were described as the flower of the whole army it's important to note that at this point in history we have lost two of our chroniclers william of marmsbury and aldrich vitalis their chronicles here would have been incredibly helpful along with their insight to combat the threat of this new castle king stephen called upon the london militia to assist him and he assembled his army at oxford before marching to farrendon and setting up a counter-castle bill robert was outnumbered and decided to wait for reinforcements yet the king's daily attacks on robert's castle were constant as the king had siege engines to assault the walls perhaps using the same ones he had at oxford the constant attacks worked as many of the defenders foul while the rest offered terms of surrender to the king the deeds of king stephen states the victory as a splendid triumph one surprising event that stunned the angevins came from robert's own son philip who switched sight after making an agreement with the king we don't know why philip switched but now the king had control of the road from oxford to malmsbury leaving wallingford castle dangerously exposed there is a common theme we see in king stephen's reign diplomatic faux pas with his nobles as in 1146 ranolf the earl of chester makes his peace with the king as he had territorial disputes with king david of scotland so to remedy this he made a deal with king stephen runoff would aid the king and in return the king would partake in a campaign against the welsh as they had been raiding ranoff's lands the deal started off well as bedford was captured and wallingford castle was again besieged but the king's advisers told him not to help runoff for several reasons 1. runoff was deemed untrustworthy after all he did switch sides and 2 wales was not somewhere the king needed to be as leaving england could spell trouble king stephen used his now classic tactic of inviting a noble to a meeting and then arresting them before stripping them of their lands and castles before letting them go and he did exactly that to run off at northampton after being chained and berated ranolf was released and immediately rejoined the angevins and just like jeffrey demandeville he assembled his army and boldly set about capturing real castles as well as building counter castles another reason for runoff fury towards the king was that his nephew gilbert fitz richard was also taken hostage and forced to give his lands to the king these acts would ostracize king stephen from his nobles as few would want to meet with the king if relations had gone sour the king would have to rely on himself and his lieutenant william of eep by 11 47 the war would start to wind down as the second crusade was now underway in europe several prominent nobles left england to join the crusade the beaumont twins and philip of gloucester all left for the holy lands the king's position was stronger than it had been where he could never find that knockout blow to the angevins which the king needed as they would soon have a new figurehead to rally behind henry plantagenet heir to empress matilda was now 14 and was getting an appetite for warfare as he launched his own attacks into england in march of 1147 he brought with him a meager force of mercenaries and knights even with such a small number of troops he couldn't afford to pay them but his landing was enough to spread the word that henry grandson of henry the first was here to claim his birthright and the rumors began to circulate that he had brought a massive army after a few weeks of lackluster campaigning nothing was gained and henry's foolish plan nearly led to him being captured an unorganized plan by an overzealous young man eager to get to grips with the warfare of the time but sometimes this is how lessons need to be taught as empress matilda showed by not aiding her son as to her mind he risked everything on a bet the deeds of king stephen described the campaign failure when it was certain and plainly noised broad to the knowledge of all that he had brought a small party of knights not an army and they having been hired not ready for money but for money promised in the future accomplished nothing of note but were always sluggish and remiss of their doings then the king's party took heart again and resisted them everywhere with courage and resolution henry tried to return to normandy but he lacked the funds to even afford the crossing but most surprisingly of all he asked his rival relative king stephen for money which stephen gave him which isn't that surprising as we've seen forgiving and chivalrous nature from him over the course of the anarchy king stephen may have felt confident in winning the civil war as he had just seen off the air of his major rival and another bonus was that some of her most loyal commanders had died and by the end of 1147 it certainly looked like the king would win the overall victory as in the autumn robert of gloucester fell ill with a fever and later died he was the main commander of the angevins and had led them to winning several victories during this period but not only that he was a close brother to empress matilda and she must have felt profound sorrow over his death as she herself would leave england in 1148 and never return instead doing all she could to help her son gain the throne robert was succeeded by his son william but he was not as talented as his father at warfare the civil war had been going on for some 13 years and now a new generation of combatants were starting to emerge king stephen's son eustis was now 18 and would take part in the campaigns and henry plantagenet would soon be of age but as we've seen he was already playing an active role some of the older players were starting to disappear from our chronicles brian fitzcount custodian of wallingford castle may have retired to a monastery around 1147. empress matilda was now living in normandy the situation in normandy was stable her husband jeffrey plantagenet had established his authority here and there was no risk of it falling back into king stephen's hands as all opposition had been defeated the relationship between empress matilda and jeffrey was also improved as both were working towards aiding their eldest son henry by 11 49 henry had planned another expedition to england with the help of his mother this time and landed in england around easter of 1149 henry's first stop was devised his castle to meet his potential allies his uncle reginald earl of cornwall the earl of salisbury john marshall the one-eyed earl his cousin william of gloucester and roger of hereford a powerful group but nobles that were previously allied to empress matilda but were now pledging fealty to henry the next location on this journey was the scottish controlled city of carlisle the reason for this visit was to see how much support henry could gather on his way north of england and secondly he was to be knighted by his great uncle king david of scotland upon arriving king david greeted henry warmly and knighted him before making a mutual alliance of aid now feeling bolstered with strong allies henry sought to attack york but king stephen was forewarned about henry leaving carlisle so the king had an army ready to attack whatever force arrived at york fearing encirclement henry and his allies then split up to create diversions so henry could escape but king stephen and eustis had laid several traps and ambushes along the way south of england eustis was incredibly determined to capture henry even in safe places like gloucester henry had to be careful as eustis used oxford as a launching zone to raid across anjuman territory king stephen was busy heading to lincoln in order to relieve the city from runoff henry was on the defensive as at devises castle eustis managed to break into the outer part of the castle before being repulsed this campaign was another failure for henry henry's biggest problem was simply getting troops and money from his father who was reluctant to aid a campaign into england henry wouldn't return to england until 11 53 leaving his allies to withstand the full might of king stephen but henry promised he would return while his allies waited henry was learning how to rule from his father jeffrey who had stabilized normandy as john of marmaltia describes normandy under jeffrey the land was quiet under the watchful count for about 10 years empress matilda was busy working on having henry's claim as the future duke of normandy secured by appealing to the french king louis vii she was also trying to get the french king to support henry over eustis for the english throne of course king stephen was also trying to keep the french king on his side by sending his brother bishop henry of winchester to negotiate but thanks to some influential french clergymen empress matilda won over the french king jeffrey and henry would eventually meet the french king and his queen to give homage and to be recognized as duke of normandy after the successful trip geoffrey and henry started to head home but along the road home jeffery developed a fever and died in september of 1151 henry was now duke of aung zhu main and normandy at age just 18. empress matilda was now a widow it's difficult to tell if she would have been tremendously upset over her husband's death as they didn't have the best relationship but now henry was on the path to the english throne [Music] 11 52 would be a successful year for henry and empress matilda in march louis vii divorced his wife eleanor of aquitaine she immediately went back to her own lands dodging potential suitors who wanted to kidnap her and marry her she then sent a message to henry to meet her and they married hastily henry's power was growing and upon marrying eleanor he created an enemy more powerful than king stephen king louis as the marriage was a shocking surprise to everyone least of all louis now the french king sought to ally with two of henry's rivals in france henry count of champagne theobold count of bloys and of course eustis empress matilda managed to warn henry before he sailed off for england luck was on henry's side as his troops were ready to march he then chased the approaching army that was heading into his territories and they fled henry now full of anger headed to hong zhu to quell the lords there and they soon submitted henry was certainly showing the traits his grandfather had putting down any revolt that dared to question his authority with his french holdings now subdued he planned to campaign to england this time with his own coin to fund the army king stephen's position was still not secure as henry's allies continued to resist him and wallingford castle was still under anger in control there was also the problem of ensuring eustace's succession to the throne as henry was now looking like the most attractive candidate for the lords and barons of england king stephen appealed to the pope but the claim of succession was rejected he then tried to have the english clergy crowned eustis but that was also rejected angered by this king stephen threatened and locked the clergy away and took their possessions but they did not relent and were eventually released the year of 1152 would start with tragedy for king stephen as his wife queen matilda died in may she had been incredibly important to the king both as a wife and savior and her death affected king stephen greatly the rest of the year would see a rise in conflicts in the south of england as john marshall had constructed a castle in contested land king stephen perked himself up and rode with his forces setting up a siege camp and besieging the castle william sent forward a truce to king stephen and would give one of his sons as hostage king stephen agreed and john handed over his son william marshall the king briefly pulled back his forces to allow jon to approach the castle john then broke his agreement and fortified the castle the history of william marshall tells this tale what occurred was that the siege forces withdrew and the marshal refortified his castle he found it very much lacking in defensive forces so he installed their valiant knights sergeants and archers determined to put up a good defense and unwilling to surrender the castle king stephen angered by this broken promise quickly sent word to john informing him that as he had broken his word his son's life was now forfeit and would be executed but john replied in a brutal fashion stating that he did not care about the child since he still had the anvil and hammers to produce even finer ones a horrid response but king stephen could not allow a child to be executed so william remained a hostage by 1153 henry was ready to sail to england again he landed with a hundred and forty knights and some three thousand infantry a sizeable force with the hope of reinforcements once he landed and again with his arrival words spread quickly that henry's army was numerous king stephen reacted with his usual haste and quickly marched with his army to meet henry who was besieging marm's recastle the castilian managed to escape and inform the king with the two armies nearing each other it seemed likely a pitched battle would take place the two armies would come across each other at the river aven but the heavy rain prevented any sort of violence both armies then went their separate ways henry to the north and king stephen returned to london there was a sense of unease in king stephen's camp as some of the nobles were negotiating in secret as the king never really gained the loyalty of his nobles as his past actions didn't help and now it was starting to affect the course of the war as henry was starting to gain momentum but the king hadn't given up and carried on besieging wallingford castle as the castle was close to surrendering due to lack of food in august henry arrived and attacked the counter-castle once again it seemed both sides would fight in a pitch battle but it was not to be as the nobles were fed up with the war and the clergy were now actively intervening to make peace in the kingdom the king sustained an injury as he was thrown off his horse three times the deeds of king stephen described the event the leading men of each army shrank on both sides from a conflict that was not merely between countrymen but meant the desolation of the whole kingdom thinking it wise to join altogether for the establishment of peace the chroniclers also mentioned that both men were aware of the treachery of their followers and reluctantly compelled to make a truce with the clergy acting as the chief negotiators a further piece was made at winchester king stephen perhaps ill or just tired from the whole war agreed to remove eustis from the succession which greatly angered him and he stormed off but he would die a few weeks later and his death sealed any hope of king stephen's line of succession continuing he did have another son but he too relinquished any claim in return for lands the final agreement was made under these terms henry would become king stephen's adopted son and heir and henry would pay homage to king stephen as his king once the agreement was ratified peace was finally made and so the civil war in england known as the anarchy was over

Channel: Embrace historia

Views: 176,455

Keywords: history, Anarchy, empress Matilda, Henry 1st, history of England, history of the English, civil war, Henry of England, documentary, educational, education, Stephen, Robert of Gloucester, historical context, historical content, attila total war, thrones of Britannia, normandy, william the 1st, The Anarchy, King Stephen, history of the uk, History of, part 7 of The Anarchy, London, history of london, matilda, Chroniclers, Oxford, Siege of Oxford, Oxford castle, Winchester, Wallingford, end

Id: Ckr9xHnBm-U

Length: 129min 22sec (7762 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 18 2021