Empress Matilda: Civil War and the Fight for the Throne

22:11Tom Holland:I mean, all due respect to Theo, our producer, but you can't have someone called Theo as king of England. You can't, can you? That is a rule, I think. But Theobald has a younger brother called Stephen, who's married to the heiress to Boulogne, which is very handy for getting to England. He has paid attention to what his uncle did when he became king. He jumps on his horse, gets to the coast, gets on a ship, jumps back on a horse, gets himself to Winchester, takes control of the royal treasury, and then has himself crowned and anointed before anyone else knows what's happening. So the sacred oil has seeped into his skin and he is now impregnated.

22:51He is impregnated.

22:53Tom Holland:With this kind of sacramental oil. With kingship. Yeah. And so at this point you have two different kinds of royal legitimacy standing in opposition to one another. Because you have the hereditary principle vested in Matilda. She's been named his heir by the previous king and all the barons have sworn allegiance to her. I suppose some of them have a kind of personal loyalty to Henry and therefore to his daughter too.

23:45Tom Holland:So I suppose one solution might be that she stays in Normandy and becomes the kind of the Duchess of Normandy or whatever. And Stephen stays in England. But that's not really possible, is it? Because all the barons and so like, they have lands in both Normandy and England. And so they do need someone who can kind of preside over both realms. They do. They need a king, a duke in Normandy, but they need someone who can provide them with order, with justice, leadership in war. we also have to remember this is a time when um frontiers between states are exactly that they're frontiers if you are not defending your frontiers someone else is going to pour over them with their army so the idea that you could just leave your lands in normandy for someone else to look after is not so this is a real problem then i mean what happens how do they resolve this problem.

24:40Initially, it looks as though Stephen has won. That kind of decisive seizing the moment and the fact that he's not only been anointed as a king, but he looks like he can do the job. He is a man. He can lead in war. He can offer justice. This is what the chroniclers tell us at this point. He takes the throne because he can bring peace. He can bring justice. he fits the job and so for the first year or so it looks as though there's a sort of virtuous circle operating in his favour poor old Matilda is off in a castle in the south of Normandy having given birth to her third son and such bad timing but her husband is trying to push into Normandy to try and stake her claim there but it looks as though England is lost even Robert Earl of Gloucester Matilda's illegitimate half-brother who's held out for a while trying to resist the idea that Stephen is this irresistible force he gives in at Easter 1136 and it looks as though Stephen's got it all but it's not long before it starts going wrong so is this a reflection of the fact

25:51Tom Holland:that we haven't really talked about Matilda's character up till now is she a very kind of obdurate woman a determined woman someone who's not prepared to let this Matilda is not going to let her inheritance go. She won't let it go for her own sake. She is the daughter of Henry I, but she is the mother of sons. She's had to marry this plantagenet youngster that she didn't want to have anything to do with, but she's done it in order to get these sons and she is not going to let their inheritance go. It's quite hard to get a sense of the detail of Matilda's character with all these women the chroniclers don't really give us clearly thumbnail sketches in the same way she is very very tough even though i mean it's really interesting if you read the chronicles they're almost trying not to mention her there are two chronicles at this point the guest of stefani which is the deeds of stephen so we know who the hero is there he tries not to mention he says the countess of anjou or the yeah or the the earl of gloucester's sister he doesn't really want to let her on stage.

26:58Certainly not calling her the Empress. Exactly. Whereas William of Malmesbury, who's much more sympathetic, his hero is Robert of Gloucester, her half-brother. So we get glimpses of Matilda around the edges, but every glimpse we get shows us how tough she is. Right.

27:12Tom Holland:So you can judge her by her actions and her actions essentially are to aim not just to secure Normandy, but to claim the throne of England? By 1139, so we are four years into Stephen's reign now, it is clear that Stephen is struggling to get any kind of foothold in Normandy. Matilda and Geoffrey are doing well there and that's going to be a structural problem for him because if he can only claim half the Anglo-Norman realm he's going to struggle to get all the barons to follow him. But Matilda in 1139 does the key thing she gets herself to england because that's where she's going to stay so how does she get a foothold there it's a brave move so i mean we can say she's brave as well we can say she's very brave she and robert of gloucester her half-brother take ship for england and they land they don't hit a rock they don't hit a rock first first victory she's done better than her brother already she lands at Arundel in Sussex and this is very canny because they've only got a small bodyguard with them but Arundel Castle is held by Matilda's widowed stepmother Adeliza of Louvain who's the same age as her this young woman that her father had married after her brother died Adeliza's remarried but Matilda and Adeliza do know each other of old they seem to have a lot of respect for each other.

28:39And Adeliza lets Matilda into the castle. Robert of Gloucester spirits himself away to his stronghold in Bristol. But Stephen has now got a problem. Matilda's in the country. She's in a castle with the ex-queen, the queen dowager. Is he going to besiege them? Is he going to try to capture them? What's that going to look like? Here's a moment where being a woman can actually help you. If she was a man, then all bets are off. It's war. But she's a

29:06Tom Holland:woman is Stephen really going to be a kind of hint of chivalry absolutely Stephen is not going to do his image as king any good if he is seen to be treating two royal women without due deference without due respect a little bit like in the series we did on 1970s Britain Harold Wilson wondering how he was going to deal with Margaret Thatcher at Prime Minister's Question Time Do you know, that's not a bad analogy. And one of the criticisms that is levelled at Stephen is that he's too nice. He struggles to land the killer blow. He's good at decisive action. He's nicked the throne. I mean, he's not that nice.

29:51He's good at that kind of decisive action. But when it comes to the iron fist.

29:56Tom Holland:To capturing and killing women. Capturing, killing women, even capturing and killing some of his male opponents. The killer blow sometimes eludes him. So this is the lesson of history. don't be weak if you're a medieval king exactly um so essentially the consequence of this is that civil war breaks out and this is what comes to be called the anarchy the time when christ and his saints slept and it rages and rages um and this was always my favorite period when i was a child in studying medieval history because it's where the terrible tortures come in because the um the barons would steal wayfarers and they would put knotted ropes around their heads and slowly tighten them until they handed over their money or they would put cages with rats on the stomach and the rats would gnaw through the stomach until again until they revealed where their money was and so this for me as a child was the single most interesting thing about the anarchy you were doing horrible histories before horrible histories existed absolutely but i'm suspecting that you are going to have a slightly different perspective on this and that there are actually more interesting things to say about the anarchy than the rats on the stomach i i'm not sure there are more interesting things in a way on a par with the rats and actually it's a really good point because it shows us why you need a king of course because people going around putting rats on people's stomach exactly and that's what the barons will do if left to their own devices and they will do it not just because they are aiming for power by any means necessary but they're also trying to defend themselves this is always the problem if you're a medieval baron yes you can go around putting rats on people's stomachs but if a bigger baron comes along what's he going to do it to you so this is why anarchy is terrifying so that's bad and the other famous thing that happens in the anarchy is um people rushing around in snow wearing um night dresses.

31:52Tom Holland:So what's going on with that? We will get to that because that's one again one of Matilda's very bravest moments. Even her enemies grudgingly admit that she's brave at that point. But this is to do with the key really the pivotal part of the anarchy because it is 19 years of of slugging at each other chaotic civil war. But the pivotal point is 1140 1141. So it comes pretty quickly after Matilda has arrived in England. Robert of Gloucester by now is her champion. He's her general. She can't fight in a battle. But Robert of Gloucester is going to lead her There's never any thought of that, that she could ride out in a kind of, you know, Queen Elizabeth at Tilbury style.

32:38But even Queen Elizabeth at Tilbury, the Armada isn't here yet. I mean, yes, she can do the figurehead bit, but you don't want her on the battlefield. She can't fight, but also So she might get captured. And so, again, being female does have its advantages in some ways, because what happens winter of 1140, 1141, is that there is a siege at Lincoln. King Stephen is besieging Lincoln Castle. He's surprised by the army of Robert of Gloucester. A battle ensues in February 1141, and he is captured. Now, up till this point, the fact that he's been anointed, that impregnated with kingship has been the ace in his hand but once he's a prisoner suddenly the balance has shifted so matilda's quits in god is not with stephen anymore this is matilda's moment she is going to step forward and become queen and so she advances to westminster to prepare for her coronation the point at which her queenship will take effect and so that happens

33:44Tom Holland:and what is the impact of that on her legitimacy? It doesn't happen. That's the big problem. The biggest pivotal moment in the whole story is that once she has reached Westminster in 1141, suddenly, and you'll be amazed to hear this, both medieval chroniclers and modern historians say, ah, yes, but a previously undetected character flaw starts letting her down. It turns out, in fact, one of the chroniclers says, puts it very well, the guest of Stefani says, she at once put on an extremely arrogant demeanour instead of the modest gait and bearing proper to the gentle sex and began to walk and speak and do all things more stiffly and more haughtily than she had been wont.

34:34Tom Holland:So she's behaving like a king. She is behaving like a king. What else is she supposed to do? She's supposed to take command. Her father was the lion of justice, inflexible in his authority. But the man who thinks he's putting her on the throne, which is Stephen's younger brother, Henry, Bishop of Winchester, thinks he's going to be the power behind the throne. He thinks Matilda should be doing exactly what he tells her to. She's not having any of that. She is not having any of that. So why does she not get anointed? Because at the point where she is waiting for her coronation, Henry, Bishop of Winchester, the one who's got her to that point, he thinks, and the Londoners both decide we're not happy with this.

35:19The Londoners pour out of the city, drive Matilda away from Westminster. She has to flee again. Her moment passes. Her moment passes and not only that, but then at Winchester, another battle happens or another skirmish happens where Robert of Gloucester is taken prisoner. At that point, you've got to do a prisoner swap because she can't do without her brother to lead her troops. Robert for Stephen. Stephen's back in play. The whole thing starts off again.

35:46Tom Holland:Couldn't she just find any old bishop? I mean, any cathedral would do. Just get a rabbi and just get anointed. You'd think, wouldn't you? But the difficulty is any old bishop, will that do really? I mean, it's better than nothing. Yeah. If you and I had been there, Tom, she might have had some better, better advice. But great shame. Part of the problem is even getting to a cathedral because the white cloak and the nighty in the snow is Oxford in the winter of 1142. Two, she's under siege in Oxford and she manages to slip out through the snow across the frozen river, seven miles in the snow, wearing a white cloak for camouflage.

36:26She is brave physically as well as in every other way, but she just can't. Stephen won't land the killer blow and she can't.

36:34Tom Holland:OK, so 19 years of anarchy to cut to the chase. How does this anarchy end and what does it mean for Stephen, for Matilda and for, well, no longer little baby Henry Plantagenet? I mean, he's kind of grown up by now. What we're looking at is Matilda's judgment here. Yes, she was indomitable, but no, she wasn't inflexibly arrogant because by the late 1140s, she sees there's no way through for her. She is not going to be able to unite the Anglo-Norman barons around female leadership, but she has handily provided someone who might represent the future, and that is her son Henry. Although he's young still, he is proving himself to be a very formidable ruler by this point in Normandy, isn't he?

37:28He is. He is recognised. His father has managed more or less to conquer Normandy in the name of his wife and his son in 1150, at which point Henry is, what are we talking, 16, 17. He is recognised as Duke of Normandy. He then comes to England. And by this stage, it's clear that even the people who still support Stephen as king are beginning to talk about Henry as the lawful heir.

37:54Tom Holland:And so there is scope there for a deal. The deal is Stephen will continue to rule, but when Stephen dies, Henry, Matilda's son, will inherit. The grandson of Henry I will become Henry II. And that is the deal that's done in 1153 at the Treaty of Winchester. So Henry II we will be coming to in our next episode because of course he has a very famous and feisty wife in the form of Eleanor of Aquitaine and we'll be talking about her. But before we end, Stephen dies, Henry succeeds him to become Henry II of England. What happens to Matilda? Matilda stays in Normandy in a sense she's in retirement in a sense she's taken up a very much approved role now of spending a lot of her time at an abbey of which she's a particular patron but she is the elder stateswoman of her son's regime he looks to her for advice kind of matriarchal figure she's a matriarchal figure he doesn't always take her advice When she warns against making Thomas Beckett Archbishop of Canterbury, he doesn't listen to her.

39:07Tom Holland:Should listen to Nani. But she is this fount of wisdom. But in such a way, in such an acceptably female way, that if you go to Rouen Cathedral, where her remains ended up in the end, there is an epitaph to her carved into the wall. And what this epitaph says is great by birth, greater by marriage, greatest in her offspring. Here lies the daughter, wife and mother of Henry. OK, so she is defined by her male relations. And just before we end, can I ask, does she serve as a kind of object lesson to future generations? Is her attempt to make herself a kind of regnant queen recollected? Or is that not influential on how people come to think about the possibility of a female monarch?

40:05It certainly is remembered, but it faces in two directions, her example. Because in one sense, it is clear that a woman can transmit the right to inherit the crown of England. Her son has become king. She's the daughter of a king and she's the mother of a king. So claims through women operate in England and all future kings are descended from her. But her attempt to claim the throne for herself resulted in 19 years when Christ and his saints slept. So the example it gives of female rule is a deeply alarming and worrying one.

40:46Tom Holland:Okay, so thank you, Helen. And we will be back next time, as I said, with Eleanor of Aquitaine, the wife of Henry II, Matilda's son, and she will be our second she-wolf. So I hope you enjoyed this first episode of our new Super Soar Away miniseries. And if you would like to see The Rest and you're not a member of The Rest is History Club, you can go to therestishistory.com, sign up there for this and a host of sensational other benefits.

41:30Tom Holland:hi everybody we are back with another absolutely colossal update about the rest is history festival well it's massive so on the 4th and 5th of july we will be at hampton court palace we have a weekend of brilliant talks live music exclusive access to historic royal palaces collections and yes dominic most exciting of all this is the thing i have been pushing for and i'm so looking forward to it we have medieval combat a terrifying brutal yet completely thrilling sport it is going to be an unforgettable two days it is indeed and um at the core of the festival of these talks we've got some more talks to add to the lineup so i will be talking to the brilliant tudor historian tracy borman about the secrets of the six wives of henry the eighth i'll be talking to friend of the show and irish national treasure paul rouse about whether there is an alternative universe in which irelands could have remained part of the united kingdom we'll be talking to katia hoyer about weimar germany and in particular the town of weimar through history and professor adam smith will be telling the story of america through three presidents and on top of all that I'll be doing a special event with Ian Hislop about the history of satire.

42:49Tom Holland:And I will be on stage with Mary Beard and we will be talking about just how strange, just how alien, just how different to us Rome was, or maybe it wasn't. I will be talking to Helen Castor about Elizabeth I and we'll be discussing whether she truly was England's greatest ruler or maybe whether that title should still be claimed by Athelstan. I will be talking to Ali Ansari about all things Persian with Dan Jackson about the pit of death. And I will be talking to a friend of the show, Willie Dalrymple, about the links between ancient India and Greece and Rome. Absolutely incredible scenes. And of course, on both days, Tom and I will be on stage doing a show together as well.

43:32Tom Holland:So on the first day, we'll be answering all our club members' questions. and then to close the festival we will do a definitive ranking of the all-time top friends of the show so lots to look forward to and beyond that there is so much else that will be happening across the weekend so think of it as the ultimate summer history hangout and your tickets will give you full access to explore the great tudor palace of hampton court and indeed the royal tennis court So that'll be very exciting. There'll be food and drink fit for a king, which sounds very enticing. I picture the very glamorous people that are our club members in their summer garb.

44:16Tom Holland:They're on the lawn at Hampson Court Palace. They're chatting about history and delightful surroundings, sipping on a refreshing gin and tonic. And it's probably the most civilized festival there's ever been. I mean, that's what I imagine anyway. Just a reminder, the tickets are exclusive to club members. And if you are not a member, now is the perfect time to join. So head over to therestishistory.com to sign up and grab your tickets. And of course, have access to a whole range of supplementary benefits. Once you have signed up to therestishistory.com, all you do then is log into the members area and you select festival.

44:56Tom Holland:And it's all very obvious. But you know what? There is a twist. If you do this, you will be entered into a genuinely unbelievable prize draw. And that prize draw, if you win, you and three other people, it's like the golden ticket in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, because you will be given the chance to be upgraded to the premium experience. And the premium experience will give you, among other things, unlimited food and drink for free all day do not miss it can't wait to see you there