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    S TEPHEN
    Reigned 1135–1154
    Stephen was a nephew of Henry I. He was born in around 1097 at Blois in France. His older brother succeeded as Count of Blois, while Stephen and his brother Henry (later Bishop of Winchester) sought their fortune with the Normans and were made hugely wealthy with the King’s support. The heir to Henry I’s throne was his daughter Matilda who, when Henry died in 1135, was married to Geoffrey, Count of Anjou. The Normans were not prepared to have a queen as their monarch, and certainly not one who was married to one of their Angevin enemies, so Stephen saw his chance to make a bid for the throne. Within weeks of his uncle’s death, he had succeeded.
    Stephen was ‘a mild man who was soft and good’, qualities which explain both his popularity and the fact that his reign was so chaotic. Things started off well, but he was soon faced with civil war, when Matilda invaded England in 1139, while her husband attacked Normandy. This period is known as the Anarchy – the ‘nineteen long winters’ of strife during which the local lords were virtually unrestrained by the warring powers. When his forces captured Matilda a more ruthless king would have finished the civil war with a brutal murder; instead Matilda escaped, and in 1141 the tables were turned when Stephen was himself captured after the Battle of Lincoln. Matilda took the throne, the first English reigning queen, though she styled herself ‘Lady of the English’.
    Preparations were put in place for a glorious coronation, but Stephen’s redoubtable wife, also called Matilda (of Boulogne), rallied his supporters and advanced on London. Londoners turned against the haughty, unpopular Queen and ‘like thronging swarms from beehives’ forced her to flee. Her principal supporter, Robert of Gloucester, an illegitimate son of Henry I, was captured and Matilda was forced to free Stephen in an exchange of prisoners.
    Stephen regained the initiative and the throne, and captured Matilda at Oxford Castle in 1142, but she escaped yet again, climbing down the castle walls and fleeing across the frozen river. Matilda’s son Henry gathered together a small army of mercenaries to invade England, but ran out of money to pay his soldiers. Unbelievably, Stephen gave Henry the money he needed, while rallying support for his own son, Eustace, as heir. But the death of Eustace and Henry’s control of Normandy, which had been taken by his father in 1144, made Stephen’s position increasingly difficult. Faced with an invasion by Henry, Stephen agreed that on his death Henry would take the throne, while Stephen’s youngest son, William, would inherit all his father’s lands but renounce his own claim. The civilized agreement was some reward for Stephen’s kindness, and the Anarchy was at an end.
    Stephen and his wife had five children, and he had a further five illegitimate children.

The Plantagenets
    As Henry I had no surviving sons the crown was disputed between his nephew, Stephen, and his daughter, Matilda. She married Geoffrey the Handsome of the French district of Anjou, which bordered Normandy. He was also nicknamed after the broom blossom or ‘plante genêt’ as it was known in French, a yellow sprig of which he wore in his hat. The marriage was supposed to seal peace between Normandy and Anjou, but the accession of Stephen led to war. When Henry II, son of Geoffrey and Matilda, ascended the English throne, it meant that England was now part of an Angevin or Plantagenet empire rather than a Norman one.

    H ENRY II
    Reigned 1154–1189
    Henry II can be ranked as one of the greatest kings of England, and at the height of his power he controlled most of Britain and much of France. He was educated, but straightforward, and had no love of ostentation. He was a formidable general and a vigorous leader, with a terrible temper and an unrestrained sexual appetite. Henry had up to twelve illegitimate children by more than four mistresses to add