Back to the Mainly The Normans calendar
Almost as soon as Stephen was crowned problems started. Robert (no a different one), the Earl of Gloucester, was Matilda’s
half-brother, one of Henry I’s 20 or so illegitimate children, and he started arguing in favour of Matilda being Queen of England.
Then in 1139 Matilda landed in West Sussex with a small army of
supporters. Over the next 8 years there was a civil war in England. A civil war is one that is fought in just one country between two sides in that country.
In 1141 after a good number of minor battles, Stephen was captured at the Battle of Lincoln and put in prison. Matilda claimed she was now Queen of
England and in June entered London for her coronation. Unfortunately nobody wanted her and she had to flee the capital. Meanwhile she had more bad news. Her
half-brother Robert had been captured by Stephen’s supporters. They then did a deal and swapped Stephen for Robert and started fighting again.
The fighting went on and on until in 1147 Matilda gave up and went back to Normandy where her husband, Geoffrey Plantagenet, had finally won over
all opposition. However, if Stephen thought all was peaceful he was wrong. Henry, son of Geoffrey and Matilda, and aged 16, led an army to England in the year
his mum left. His invasion failed but on the basis of “if at first you don’t succeed, try again”, he came back in 1149. He failed again. He now decided that
future attempts should follow the Olympic format and happen every 4 years so he went off and married Eleanor of Aquitaine, another French region, making it an
ally of Normandy.
1153 came around and Henry set off again and this time he got further and eventually Stephen was forced to agree a truce. He and Henry signed the
Treaty of Wallingford which said that on Stephen’s death, Henry would become King of England rather than Stephen’s son who was called Eustace. I can’t actually
image King Eustace but anyway Eustace was pretty cross and ignored his father and continued the fight. Eustace was even more cross a few days later because he
died thereby making the treaty almost meaningless.
Forward to 1154AD
