The Anarchy Trivia

1. The death of William Adelin in the wreck of the White Ship set the stage for the war that would become known as the Anarchy. Whose heir was he?

From Quiz The Anarchy

Answer: Henry I

William Adelin died in the wreck of the White Ship in 1120. His father was Henry I, King of England, and although Henry had many children, William was his only legitimate son. Without a legitimate heir, the future of England was uncertain.

From Quiz The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign

Answer: Henry I

Henry I died in Normandy some 3 weeks before Stephen seized the crown. A "surfeit of lampreys" (eel-like fish) was the cause, apparently.

From Quiz "When Christ and His Angels Slept"

Answer: Matilda

Henry's only legitimate son had perished. His daughter, Matilda, the widow of the German emperor, Henry V, was recalled to England and the nobles were required to swear allegiance to her as Henry's heir. Robert of Gloucester was Henry's eldest illegitimate son. Although the illegitimacy of Henry's father, William the Conqueor, had been no bar to his inheritance, times had apparently changed and Robert was not considered. Robert Curthose, Henry's elder brother, had been imprisoned by Henry and although he had a better claim to the throne than Henry, he died a year before his younger brother. Fulk of Anjou was a prominent French nobleman whose territories adjoined those of Henry. As a result there was considerable conflict between them. In an effort to make Fulk his ally, Henry had married his son William to Fulk's daughter, Matilda and later married Matilda to Fulk's son Geoffrey.

From Quiz The Anarchy

Answer: Designated her as heir

King Henry had his barons swear to support his daughter, Matilda, as heir. Matilda was the widow of Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, and after her husband's death she returned to her father and became his heir.

From Quiz The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign

Answer: Matilda of Boulogne

Matilda was the daughter of Eustace III, Count of Boulogne. As his only surviving child, she inherited his lands on his death. Of impeccable stock, Matilda claimed kinship with the Kings of Scotland and England, and Godfrey of Bouillon, the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

From Quiz "When Christ and His Angels Slept"

Answer: He drowned in an accident at sea

William and his entourage as well as his father and his entourage embarked on a trip from Normandy to England. William's group decided to go on a newer and faster ship called the 'White Ship'. Prior to embarkation, passengers and crew became intoxicated. Shortly out of harbour, the inebriated pilot drove the ship onto a rock and it sank. There was only one survivor, a butcher from Rouen. Ken Follet's book, "The Pillars of the Earth" is based upon this incident.

From Quiz The Anarchy

Answer: First cousin

Stephen of Blois was Henry's nephew, the son of his sister Adela, and therefore Matilda's first cousin. After Henry's death, with Matilda pregnant and stuck in her husband's Continental territories, Stephen sailed to England and had himself crowned King. He was crowned in Winchester Cathedral, and his brother was, not so coincidentally, the Bishop of Winchester.

From Quiz "When Christ and His Angels Slept"

Answer: William Clito

William Clito was the son of Robert Curthose, Henry I's older brother. Henry had successfully excluded Robert from the English crown and then took Normandy by force of arms. Robert was then imprisoned for the rest of his life. William Clito, as the son of his elder brother, had a better claim to the throne than that of William himself, let alone his children and thereby posed a threat to Henry I as a focus for Henry enemies. William Clito was created Count of Flanders by Louis VI upon the death of the childess Count Charles in 1127. Later that year, William attacked his neighbour Stephen of Boulogne in order to strengthen his borders. He was killed in a civil uprising in his own county in 1128. William de Sulli, Theobald and Henry of Winchester were Stephen's brothers.

From Quiz The Anarchy

Answer: "Christ slept, and his saints"

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Peterborough Chronicle) states, "they said openly, that Christ slept, and his saints", often translated today as "When Christ and His Saints Slept". Warfare in the 12th century often involved destroying whole towns and villages as well as ruining fields, so the common people lost their homes and harvests. There was much devastation and loss of life. Moreover, barons built unauthorized castles (about 200 in all), forced their serfs to work on the building and tortured many owners of smallholdings until they signed away their land. The Peterborough Chronicle shows immense sympathy for the sufferings of the poor during this period.

From Quiz The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign

Answer: Robert of Gloucester

Both Reginald (whom Empress Matilda made Earl of Cornwall) and Robert were illegitimate sons of Henry I but Robert is generally acknowledged as the one without whom there would have been no civil war. Brien Fitz Count was not a blood relative but fought her corner loyally all his life.

From Quiz "When Christ and His Angels Slept"

Answer: Geoffrey of Anjou

Geoffrey of Anjou was the son of Fulk of Anjou. Fulk's elder daughter Matilda had married the drowned William and his second daughter Sibyl had married William Clito. Henry I pressured Pope Calixtus II to annul this marriage on the grounds of consanguinity - a somewhat specious argument since the marriage of Fulk's daughter Matilda and William and the later marriage of Henry's daughter Matilda and Geoffrey were related in exactly the same way. Geoffrey of Anjou wore a brush of the broom plant in his hat which gave rise to the dynasty he founded, the Plantagenets.

From Quiz The Anarchy

Answer: Robert of Gloucester

Robert of Gloucester was one of Henry I's illegitimate sons. He was captured after the Rout of Winchester, and Matilda valued him so highly that in order to get him back she freed Stephen, whom her forces had captured at the Battle of Lincoln a few months earlier.

From Quiz "When Christ and His Angels Slept"

Answer: His mother was Henry I's sister

Although Stephen's claim was partly based on the notion that a woman could not inherit, his claim was also based on the fact that his mother was the daugher of William I and the sister of Henry I! Although he was the cousin of William, that did not establish a claim. He was not the son of William II.

From Quiz The Anarchy

Answer: Stephen

Matilda's son Henry showed signs of leadership early on with this adventure, although it seems it could have been better planned. When he couldn't pay his mercenaries and didn't receive help from his parents, Matilda and Geoffrey, he turned to his mother's enemy Stephen who gave him the funds to pay off his troops but Henry had to go back to Anjou.

From Quiz The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign

Answer: Bishop of Winchester

He was also the abbot of Glastonbury, the richest abbey in the country. The Archbishopric of Canterbury, which Henry dearly coveted, was given to Theobald of Bec in 1139 much to Henry's displeasure.

From Quiz "When Christ and His Angels Slept"

Answer: Robert of Gloucester

Robert of Gloucester proved the most competent of Matilda's supporters. King David of Scotland, although a staunch supporter, was Matilda's uncle not half-brother. Reginald of Dunstanville, the earl of Cornwall, another half-brother was a supporter but did not have the same military acumen as his half-brother Robert. William of Ypres was no relation and supported Stephen.

From Quiz The Anarchy

Answer: As a dead body

During Matilda's years in England, she had many close calls. In one of her more famous escapes, she pretended to be a dead body and then was carried out of the castle for "burial". In another bold escape, she dressed entirely in white and escaped by walking miles in the snow.

From Quiz The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign

Answer: The Battle of Lincoln

The Battle of Worcester was the last conflict in the second, better-known English Civil War. The Battle of the Standard was fought against David of Scots (who had sided with Empress Matilda rather than his other niece Matilda, Stephen's queen). The Battle of Dover occurred in 1217, when Philip of France tried to seize the English throne from the infant Henry III.

From Quiz "When Christ and His Angels Slept"

Answer: Brother Cadfael

Cadfael came late to the clerical life, having in his early life fought in the Crusades. Hugh Beringar was the local sheriff while Prior Robert and Abbot Rudulfus were two other inhabitants of the abbey. In addition to the Brother Cadfael novels, the series has been made into a television series starring Derek Jacobi as Cadfael.

From Quiz The Anarchy

Answer: Lady of the English

Matilda assumed the title Lady of the English. She supposedly planned on calling herself Queen of England after her coronation, but her fortunes changed and she was never crowned.

From Quiz The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign

Answer: A sister of Louis VII of France

Constance was the daughter of Louis VI ("le gros") and sister of Louis VII ("le jeune").

From Quiz The Anarchy

Answer: Have Eustace crowned in Stephen's lifetime

Stephen wanted Eustace crowned in his own lifetime, which was similar to what the French kings would do with their heirs. Pope Celestine II banned this, and in any case Eustace died before his father.

From Quiz The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign

Answer: Faversham

Faversham Abbey was in Kent and founded for the Savignac order of which Stephen was a chief patron. As it turned out, only Stephen, Queen Matilda and their son Eustace were buried there.

From Quiz The Anarchy

Answer: The Treaty of Wallingford

The Treaty of Wallingford (1153) essentially ended the Anarchy. Stephen was allowed to continue as King, but after his death Matilda's son Henry would rule as Henry II. (Wallingford is in the Upper Thames Valley and historically in Berkshire).

From Quiz The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign

Answer: Treaty of Winchester

Stephen's son, Eustace, did not take kindly to being disinherited. He left his father's court in ill temper and proceeded to ravage the countryside around Cambridge. He died in August 1153, in circumstances which are unclear. Most historians agree that the correct name for the document settling the succession on the House of Anjou is the "Treaty of Winchester", where it was drawn up rather than Wallingford where its terms were agreed in principle, or Westminster where it was promulgated.

From Quiz The Anarchy

Answer: Stomach illness

Stephen's death in 1154 came after he suffered from a stomach illness. He was buried at Faversham Abbey (Kent) next to his wife and eldest son Eustace.

From Quiz The Anarchy

Answer: Earl of Surrey

Henry confirmed Stephen's son William as Earl of Surrey, held in right of William's wife Isabel. Rumors remain that this did not win the new King any loyalty and that William was behind a supposed plot to assassinate Henry.

From Quiz The Anarchy

Answer: Great by Birth, Greater by Marriage, Greatest in her Offspring

The full text reads: "Great by Birth, Greater by Marriage, Greatest in her Offspring. Here lies Matilda, the daughter, wife, and mother of Henry". Notice how this ignores her unhappy second marriage to Henry's father Geoffrey, and also ignores her other children completely.

From Quiz The Anarchy

Answer: Plantagenet

The Plantagenet dynasty was named for Henry's father, Geoffrey of Anjou, who likely used a planta genista (a type of shrub) as his emblem. The Plantagenet dynasty continued to rule England through its subsidiary branches of York and Lancaster until 1485.

From Quiz "When Christ and His Angels Slept"

Answer: Henry, Matilda's son, would be Stephen's heir

Whether or not Eustace was to be disinherited has always been unclear. By the time the Treaty of Winchester was signed, Eustace had died but the negotiation of the terms occured before his death. Certainly, however, Stephen's second son lost out. The nobility were required to swear fealty to Henry as heir. Stephen died in 1154.

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