The Anarchy or The Nineteen-Year Winter refers to a period of English history during the reign (1135–1154) of King Stephen, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle describes this as the time during which "Christ and his saints slept".

The period was marked by a succession crisis between the supporters of Stephen, and those of his cousin, the Empress Matilda. Though Stephen was crowned king, the state of war between the two camps prevented effective government in England for nearly all of Stephen's reign. The issue was resolved only shortly before Stephen's death, when he signed the Treaty of Wallingford, which named Matilda's son, Henry Curtmantle, as his heir. Henry was crowned king upon Stephen's death in 1154, establishing the Plantagenet dynasty as Kings of England.

Origin

Stephen was a favourite nephew of King Henry I of England (reigned 1100–1135), whose only legitimate son died in 1120 in the "White Ship" disaster. Henry then named his daughter Matilda as heir to his throne. He forced his barons, including Stephen, to swear allegiance to her several times, but it went against the grain — no woman had ever ruled over all England in her own right. To make matters worse, Matilda had married Geoffrey of Anjou, who did not enjoy a good reputation in England. This was mainly because he hailed from Anjou, whose rulers were resented by the Normans for their unashamed attempts to conquer the duchy of Normandy.

Conflict between Stephen and Matilda

See also: Gwynedd and the Great Revolt of Wales 1136/7

On Henry's death in 1135, Stephen rushed to England. Despite the fact that the barons already seemed to be leaning towards the election of his elder brother, Theobald, who was Count of Blois, with great speed he entered London and was elected king by the townspeople, who saw it as their ancient right to decide upon the king. From here he moved to Winchester, where, with the support of his younger brother Henry, who was the bishop, he secured the treasury and the support of both the archbishop William Corbeil, and the future Chief Justiciar, Roger of Salisbury. The barons preferred Stephen to Matilda and so ratified the usurpation, the main opposition coming from Matilda's illegitimate half-brother, Robert of Gloucester, who was the main rival to Stephen in terms of landed wealth. The Archbishop of Canterbury and Pope Innocent II sided with Stephen. Matilda's best hope, her uncle, King David I of Scotland, invaded Northumberland, nominally on her behalf. Little actual fighting took place, but Thurstan, Archbishop of York, won the Battle of the Standard on Stephen's behalf in August 1138.

Stephen, meanwhile, made a series of poor decisions that caused resentment amongst his former supporters. His own brother, Henry, Bishop of Winchester, turned against him due to his arrest of prominent bishops in the land, which Henry perceived as an attack on the church itself, and in 1139, Matilda entered England and made a stand at Arundel Castle. Stephen allowed her to travel to Bristol to meet up with Robert of Gloucester, in order to try to contain any enemies in one area. Another prominent opposing earl, Ranulf of Chester, had moved to Lincoln and proceeded to capture the castle. Despite making apparent peace with Ranulf, Stephen responded to a plea from the citizens of Lincoln to attack the castle he held. Ranulf got wind of this, and managed to escape and muster a force of knights, in conjunction with his father-in-law, Robert of Gloucester. Thus the stage was set for the Battle of Lincoln. In the only major battle of the struggle, Stephen suffered defeat on 2 February 1141. He was made a prisoner at Bristol, and Matilda temporarily ruled from London. However, her haughty manner soon made her enemies there, and she felt obliged to leave the capital for Oxford. In September of 1141, Robert of Gloucester fell into enemy hands following the rout of Winchester at the hands of Stephen's wife, Matilda of Boulogne, and his Flemish captain, William of Ypres, Earl of Kent. Matilda decided to get Robert back via an exchange for Stephen, who returned to the throne. He now held most of the country and besieged Matilda at Oxford Castle. Her escape by night in the snow to Wallingford has become legendary.

Stephen as a ruler

King Stephen was not given to a love of details. He was uninterested in the administrative side of being king. He began his reign with a very strong administration and ended with one in absolute shambles. The killing blow of his administration was by his own hand when he attacked Roger of Salisbury in 1139. ?When he attacked Roger and his great administrative dynasty, Stephen actually robbed himself of the very corps of technicians who understood and exercised his government.? ^[1] Following that he replaced many local bureaucrats with ones who had very little administrative experience. This resulted in a breakdown of the king?s intelligence system and kept him one step behind his enemies. Many talented scribes fled the royal chancery following Stephen?s attack on Roger. This led to a sharp decrease in charters and personnel movement. Other bureaus also found themselves short staffed.

?Although there were originally six stewards, all save one had died or departed by 1141. The king never did choose a second viceroy or chief justiciar. His brother was the master butler, but he is not found after 1139. The constable, Robert de Vere, was another faithful adherent, but the marshall rebelled in 1139 and does not seem to have been replaced. Nor was a successor apparently nominated as treasurer after Athelelm?s capture. The masterchamberlain died in a London riot in 1140 and his son and heir surprisingly joined the empress a year later.? ^[2]

After King Stephen was captured by Robert of Gloucester at the Battle of Lincoln in 1141, his administration was one-quarter the size it had been when he began his reign.

The same genial nature that made Count Stephen so well-liked, allowed the barons to take advantage of King Stephen. In their quest for more and more land, more and more castles, the barons became tyrants to their subjects and Stephen did nothing to stop it. It became an obsessive competition between barons to have as much land and as many castles as possible.

In many ways the key center of authority was the hundred. ?Holders of large manors with extensive assets of grazing, woodland, moorland, and best of all, jurisdiction of a hundred attached, successfully exploited numerous possibilities of exacting a large number of rents and dues from a large number of people.? ^[3]

The landowners sought to exact rent, taxes, and labor and they did so using tyrannical methods. In a letter from Abbot Gilbert Foliot?s to the bishop of Worcester regarding landowner William de Beauchamp:

44 measures of threshed corn, which were being carried to meet the needs of our brothers, were seized by him, and our hopes for their recovery have been put off. Besides this we have for a long time been forced to give 3s each month for the needs of his servants, and at each season of the year we have been compelled to plough, sow, and then reap 60 acres of his land. And on top of this, our men have been burdened with daily services and innumerable works, and he has not ceased to pursue and afflict them to the depths of misery. ^[4]

That phrase, ?to the depths of misery? is so powerful especially when you consider that those were clergymen being exploited so they were most likely less abused than the peasantry. King Stephen either did nothing to control his tyrannical barons or he did not have the strength of presence to enforce their behavior. Either way, what resulted could easily be classified as anarchy. There was no strong central leadership in the land. There were pockets of order and control but it was not a united kingdom. It was divided and landowners took the law into their own hands, exercising arbitrary taxes and penalties. The reign of King Stephen had the potential to be something great but sadly, became one of the darkest times in English history, ?nineteen long winters, when Christ and his saints slept.?

After Matilda's escape

Unrest continued throughout Stephen's reign, even after Matilda returned to Anjou following Robert's death in 1147. The Peterborough Chronicle offers an eye-witness account of the civil war and its suffering. According to its author, Stephen was a 'softe and gode' man who 'no justice did', and 'Crist and alle his sayntes slept'. These things, and 'mare thanne we cunnen sæin, we tholeden xix wintre for ure sinnes' ("more than we can say, we suffered 19 winters for our sins"). It is because of the lack of rule, the lack of security, and the lack of safety that the era is referred to as 'the Anarchy'.

Stephen himself was in poor health by this time, and he suffered a further blow when his eldest son, Eustace, died suddenly in 1153 — Stephen had wanted Eustace crowned during his own lifetime, but the Pope had refused to allow it and even put England under an interdict for a time during the squabble. Matilda's son, the future Henry II of England, had by now grown up into a skilled military tactician and a determined opponent, and he arrived in England with the intention of conquest. By the Treaty of Wallingford (also known as the Treaty of Winchester), which the two men signed in November 1153, Stephen recognised Henry as heir to the throne.

The Anarchy in fiction

Although not traditionally a popular period with historical novelists, the Anarchy has furnished the background of some major fictional portrayals.

• George Shipway's novel Knight in Anarchy centres on a knight sworn to Geoffrey de Mandeville as he tries to gain power in the Anarchy.
• Cecelia Holland's The Earl, also published as Hammer for Princes (1971), gives a vivid description of the last year of the struggle, Prince Henry's invasion of England and his eventual recognition as King Stephen's heir.
• Ellis Peters set her series of Brother Cadfael books (published 1977 – 1994) against the background of the Anarchy.
• Ken Follett's novel The Pillars of the Earth (published in 1989) is also set during this time.
• Graham Shelby's 1972 novel The Oath and the Sword (aka The Villains of the Piece), focuses on Empress Matilda's faithful supporter Brien FitzCount, Lord of Wallingford, through the years of the Anarchy.
• Diana Norman's novel Morning Gift (published in 1985) follows the trials of a Norman noblewoman as she struggles to keep safe her lands, her young son, and her people during the period of the Anarchy.
• Sharon Kay Penman's 750-page novel When Christ and His Saints Slept (published in 1995) gives a comprehensive and informative view of the entire power struggle.
• Jean Plaidy's Passionate Enemies (c. 1976) from her multi-volume treatment of the British monarchy, captures the mood of the period and the personalities of Matilda and Stephen.
• Elizabeth Chadwick's A Place Beyond Courage (published 2008, Sphere) is set during the Anarchy, focusing on the life of John FitzGilbert the Marshal.

References

1. ↑ Edward J. Kealey, King Stephen: Government and Anarchy Source: Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies, Vol. 6, No. 3 (Autumn, 1974), pp. 201-217 Published by: The North American Conference on British Studies
2. ↑ Ibid
3. ↑ Edmund King, The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign Source: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Fifth Series, Vol. 34 (1984), pp.133-153 Published by: Royal Historical Society
4. ↑ Ibid

Bibliography

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