‘My daughter wanted me to treat her more like a princess.
So, I married her to a stranger to strengthen the alliance with Poland!’
From dutiful daughters to runaway nuns, from empresses to rebels. The life of a medieval princess was, perhaps, not as predictable as we have been led to believe. At times, it is true, they were married off to a foreign prince, never to see England or their family again. But we can count the number of girls that happened to on one hand. Which is quite remarkable, given the distances and pace of travel in medieval times, when a horse could cover around 20 miles a day and a horse litter, the popular form of travel for noble women, would cover far less than that.
Some princesses even visited home after they married or were visited by members of their family; some never even left England.
Marrying your daughter to a prince in a distant land and never hearing from her again was not the purpose of a royal marriage. It was never in the king’s interest to abandon his daughter, or sister, once she was married abroad. Royal daughters were raised to be a personal and diplomatic link to their homeland. They were the means of keeping communications open when all other options failed; private letters were used to warn against treachery or prevent a breakdown in diplomatic relations.
Some did escape this destiny. For instance, a number of William the Conqueror’s daughters became nuns. Cecilia had that life decided for her from a young age, but Adelida appears to have chosen this course after a number of failed marriage proposals. Perhaps she had had enough of the royal marriage market? King Stephen’s daughter, Mary, was also destined for the Church, with her parents even founding a religious house for her. Kidnapped for her royal blood, and forced into marriage, she would return to the convent after becoming a mother. The scandal was not of her making, unlike Gunhild, the daughter of King Harold II, who seems to have had a rather relaxed attitude to marriage and relationships; a woman before her time – by about 1,000 years! Gunhild had spent time in the convent, possibly having sought sanctuary after the Norman Conquest. There is uncertainty as to whether she ever took her vows; though the church seemed to believe she had and sought her return to the cloistered life.
Mary of Woodstock
Edward I’s daughter, Mary of Woodstock, was also destined for a career in the church, though she does not appear to have been suited to the contemplative lifestyle. She managed to spend as much time as she could at court; her father and brother regularly paying off gambling debts. Controversy even followed her beyond the grave, when John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, trying to obtain a divorce from Mary’s niece, Joan of Bar, claimed that he had had an affair with her, a nun!
The last medieval royal nun was Bridget of York, the seventh and youngest daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. Only 3 years old when her father died and she and her siblings were declared illegitimate, by 1489 Bridget was living at Dartford Priory, in the care of its Prioress, Elizabeth Cressener. Although she was cloistered, Bridget was not forgotten, nor isolated from her family. In 1492, she was able to attend her mother’s funeral. She was remembered in the will of her grandmother Cecily Neville, Duchess of York and Elizabeth of York’s wardrobe accounts from 1502 to 1503 indicate that the queen sent money to her sister at Dartford.
One English princess travelled far from home, into Kyivan Rus. King Harold’s oldest daughter, Gytha, came from a different society and generation. The Godwin family had strong Scandinavian ties, and it would have been natural for Gytha and her brothers to look for shelter and a future within that sphere, which stretched all the way to the court of the Grand Princes of Kyiv, as far away from the conquering Normans as possible.
Following the Norman Conquest, the focus of England’s foreign policy changed. Royal daughters were married into the European countries that would benefit England, those with close links geographically and culturally.
While English kings married French princesses, and Scottish kings married English princesses, the reverse happened rarely, if ever. Only one Scottish princess, Matilda of Scotland, married an English king, Henry I. And no English princess ever married a French king or an heir to the French throne, not in medieval times. The closest we came to it was Blanche of Castile, granddaughter of Henry II and niece of King John, who married the future Louis VIII. With John having no legitimate daughter at the time, he had to be creative and reach out to his wider family for a suitable princess to cement the fragile peace between him and Philip II of France.
Empress Matilda depicted at the coronation of her granddaughter, Matilda of England, as Duchess of Saxony, in an image from the Gospels of Henry the Lion.
Although no English princess became a queen of France, that is not to say English princesses did not marry Frenchmen. It is, perhaps, a clear indication of the animosity of Anglo-French relations in medieval times that kings of England were far happier to marry their daughters to the counts and dukes of the many semi-autonomous regions of France, such as Brittany, Toulouse and Blois; regions that challenged and stalled the expansion of the kingdom of France itself. The marriages of daughters into Germany, the Low Countries and Spain also served the policy of containing England’s biggest rival within its borders and preventing expansion into territories that could threaten England’s trading routes and sphere of influence.
Royal women journeyed great distances to marry. Empress Matilda is, perhaps, the most famous, but also Joanna Plantagenet, Henry II’s daughter and Richard I’s sister, and Isabella, Henry III’s sister, travelled further than most of the English princesses. While Empress Matilda remained close to her family through letters, there may also have been a meeting with her father on the borders of their respective domains in the late 1110s. Of Joanna and Isabella, each received visits from their brothers. Though in Isabella’s case it was her brother Richard, rather than Henry himself, she would also have met up with her younger sister, Eleanor, who stayed in Italy while her husband, Simon de Montfort, joined her brother Richard on Crusade. And in Joanna’s case, it was a little more than a visit, joining her brother, Richard the Lionheart, in the Third Crusade. But it seems apparent that both brothers, on their way to the Crusades, planned their routes to facilitate a meeting with their respective sisters.
And then there were the scandals, King Henry I’s illegitimate daughter, Juliane, who tried to kill her own father with a crossbow. And Joan, Lady of Wales, the illegitimate daughter of King John, the wife of Llywelyn the Great, who was found in her husband’s bedroom with another man. Such stories serve to demonstrate that life was did not always give royal women a ‘happily ever after’.
There were also royal daughters who were not born as princesses, but achieved that style through their father’s claiming of the English throne. Of William the Conqueror’s daughters, only the youngest, Adela, Countess of Blois, was born ‘in the purple’. We know this as Godfrey of Reims wrote a poem saying just that:
The duke’s child would rise to become an excellent woman, The goddess did not think it sufficient for her to be of ducal status. The royal virgin obtained by fate that her father would be king. In order for Adela to be the daughter of a king, the Fates allowed the father to establish himself as king. Because the virgin was not allowed to leave the womb Her father owed the kingdom of England to her
Philippa, Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden
Later, Henry of Bolingbroke’s seizure of the throne in 1399 created two new princesses of England, Blanche and Philippa. Their mother, Mary de Bohun, had died giving birth to Philippa in 1394 and in 1398, their father had been sent into exile; only to return the following year and force Richard II’s abdication. Their father’s accession as Henry IV saw the two girls’ marriage prospects improve dramatically. As the daughters of a duke, they would have expected to marry a rich heir to English lands. As the daughters of a king, they were now bargaining chips in international relations. Marriage would see Philippa become queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, while Blanche would travel to Germany to become Countess Palatine, taking with her a magnificent, jewel-encrusted crown that has survived to this day. Blanche fulfilled her duties by producing a son and heir, in what appears to have been a happy and loving marriage. Philippa never realised the joy of motherhood but ably attended to her duties as queen in other ways, as a protector and patron of her people, even leading the defence of Copenhagen, and a trusted consort and regent for her husband, King Eric.
Though not technically princesses, even illegitimate daughters could prove useful to kings. Henry I, in particular, would use his 10 illegitimate daughters to strengthen and cement alliances just as legitimate princesses could have been, with one Sybilla of Normandy becoming Queen of Scots, on her marriage to King Alexander I. The advantage to a king was that such marriages brought kings and rivals into the family, without passing on any claim to the English throne, thus being no threat to the king’s legitimate heirs.
As a usurpation can make princesses, as in the case of Henry IV’s daughters, it can also unmake them. With Richard III’s seizure of the throne in 1483, the daughters of Edward IV went from being the pampered darlings of England, with glittering futures ahead of them, to the bastardised daughters of a bigamous dead king.
What a change in fortunes!
The York sisters from the window in Canterbury Cathedral
As events unfolded in the summer of 1483, and the two princes were held in the Tower of London, gradually seen less and less within the precincts of the fortress, until they were no longer seen at all, Elizabeth of York and her sisters remained in sanctuary with their mother. A focus for political disaffection and an embarrassment to the new regime, it was a situation that Richard III could not allow to continue. Rumours abounded that plans were afoot to sneak the old king’s daughters out of Sanctuary and away to the Continent, safely beyond the reach of Richard and at the disposal of loyal Yorkists wanting to reinstate the line of Edward IV. To thwart such plans, Richard decided to open negotiations with Elizabeth Woodville, to persuade her to allow her daughters to leave sanctuary. Agreement was reached in March 1484, whereby Elizabeth of York and her sisters would be treated as befitted the king’s kinswomen.
After almost a year within the confines of Westminster Abbey, the daughters of Edward IV emerged from their sanctuary and were given lodgings at court. They had lost the prospect of dazzling futures as queens and duchesses and their status was now forever tainted by the questions over their legitimacy.
Richard III himself did have at least two illegitimate children and one of those was a daughter, Katherine. She would not be a princess, but as the natural daughter of a king, she has her place in history. Unfortunately, the information on Katherine Plantagenet is scant. Her date and year of birth are unknown. Given Richard’s reputation for piety and loyalty, it is assumed that she was born before Richard’s marriage to Anne Neville in 1472, as she herself was married in 1484. The minimum age for girls to marry was 12, but most parents waited until their daughters were 14 or 15, at least, before finding them husbands. Richard chose his friend William Herbert, Earl of Huntingdon, as his daughter’s husband. Herbert agreed to provide Katherine with a jointure worth £200 a year. For his part, the king agreed to bear the costs of the marriage and to endow that couple with lands and lordships that they could pass on to their male heirs. Katherine died before the coronation of Elizabeth of York in 1486 and was buried in the church of St James Garlickhithe, London.
Crown of Blanche of England
The experiences of the royal daughters throughout the the medieval era are disparate, not just in their futures but even in their family lives as they were growing up. Not all princesses were made in the same mould and each one found her own way to deal with her life and the cards that she was dealt. In my research I frequently discovered instances of happy medieval marriages – and even if a marriage was not based on love, it did not mean that it would not be successful. Indeed, in many such cases the young woman concerned found her own way of succeeding, whether it was through her children or the management of estates – or the fact that a lasting peace was achieved between her two countries.
Events in England would surely have taught them to weather the storms of married life – and international relations.
One thing is certain, these women were not mere pawns, or ornaments on the arm of a king, prince, duke or lord. They were not simply baby-making machines. Yes, in the masculine world they inhabited, a boy was always a prime requirement. A son was needed to continue the family line, to rule and command armies. But daughters were also necessary. They had a purpose – to seal alliances and to act as diplomats to protect English interests in the countries into which they married.
Their stories are quite remarkable.
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Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Conquest and Princesses of the Later Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Plantagenets tell the stories of England’s royal daughters from 1066 to the rise of the Tudors, from the last Anglo-Saxon princesses to the fall of the House of York.
Were they really pampered pawns sent off to marriages on the Continent, out of sight and out of mind?
Perhaps, there was different story, where a foreign marriage does not mean eternal exile, but a purpose in life, where a princess is a diplomat, an ambassador for England in her new country.
Where she is the bond between allies – most of the time.
Their stories are touching, inspiring and, at times, heartbreaking...
Praise for Princesses of the Early Middle Ages:
Heidi Malagisi: ‘This is another excellent book by Sharon Bennett Connolly. Extremely well researched and relatively easy to follow along, which is a great thing because there are so many Matildas and Eleanors in this book.‘
Tony Riches: “I challenge anyone with an interest in medieval Britain to not find something they will learn from this book.”
Anna Belfrage: “I just love how [Sharon] presents this huge cast of real life people in a casual, chatty tone that has me expecting the various female protagonists to suddenly pop their head up and add their own commentary.“
Praise for Princesses of the Later Middle Ages:
Elizabeth Chadwick:‘Really interesting and informative and gives a great handle on the goings on surrounding these ladies!’
Kathryn Warner: ‘A deeply researched, richly detailed and fascinating account of late medieval England’s forgotten princesses. I loved it!’
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshopor the Contact Me page.
New in Paperback:
The momentous events of 1066, the story of invasion, battle and conquest, are well known. But what of the women? Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest traces the fortunes of the women who had a significant role to play during the Norman Conquest – wives, lovers, sisters, mothers, leaders. These are lives full of drama, pathos and sometimes mystery: Edith and Gytha searching the battlefield of Hastings for the body of Harold, his lover and mother united in their grief for the fallen king. Who was Ælfgyva, the lady of the Bayeux Tapestry, portrayed with a naked man at her feet?
Janina Ramirez said it’s ‘Excellent’!
Heroines of the Tudor World focuses on the women who lived through the Renaissance and Reformation, examining the threats and challenges they faced and how they overcame them. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. These are the women who made a difference, who influenced countries, kings and the Reformation.
Derek Birks: ‘An excellent account of the changing roles of women in Tudor society.’
Annie Whitehead: ‘What a treat this book was to read. Bennett Connolly has an easy, conversation style of writing which welcomes you from the opening pages and draws you into her story.‘
Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:
Heroines of the Medieval World; Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest; Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England; Defenders of the Norman Crown: Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey; King John’s Right Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye; Women of the Anarchy; Heroines of the Tudor World; Scotland’s Medieval Queens: From St Margaret to Margaret of Denmark; Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Conquest (March 2026); Princesses of the Later Middle Ages; Royal Daughters of the Plantagenets (August 2026)
Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.
Have a listen to theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Ian Mortimer, Bernard Cornwell, Elizabeth Chadwick and Scott Mariani, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.
Dr Ashley Firth is a woman after my own heart. Her first book, Trailblazing Medieval Women, is hitting the shops as I type and includes some of my favourite women, giving readers an insight into how women navigated the patriarchal society of the medieval era. Ashley’s work will, no doubt, intersect with my own work and it will be interesting to read Ashley’s take on these amaaaazzzzzzzzing women.
Today, Ashley gives us a tantalising taste of some of the incredible women who made an impact on medieval history.
Oh, how I am looking forward to reading this book!
Think Medieval Women Had No Power? Think Again
Wife and mother are often assumed to have been the primary roles of medieval women. Confined to the household and subject to the authority of their husbands, it can seem difficult to imagine how women could overcome the limitations placed upon them and exert any real power. Medieval texts and theories reinforced this perception, portraying women as intellectually inferior and governed by bodily desires, thereby justifying their subordination. By perpetuating such myths, men kept the monopoly and controlled the lives of the women over whom they were placed. By virtue of his sex, the lowliest male peasant was set above the queen in this gender dynamic, yet theory does not always reflect reality, and the reality is far more complex.
Marriage of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville(Wikimedia Commons)
Not all women were content with the traditional vocations for women centred around the family and the household, and some rejected them entirely. Many took on roles traditionally assigned to men and led armies and perhaps even fought on the battlefield. Some women found a conduit for their voices by putting pen to paper and telling us in their own words about their experiences while simultaneously influencing the cultural milieu of their day. Women could exert significant political and social influence through traditionally assigned gender roles. As wives and mothers, they could persuade their male relatives and even become the loudest voices at the royal court by virtue of their position.
Queens and royal women are some of the most visible women in medieval society, and for whom we have the best documentation of their experiences. During the Wars of the Roses, women were highly influential and played a significant role in shaping the outcome of this bloody civil war. Margaret of Anjou, wife of the weak and mentally unstable King Henry VI, was forced to assume power and authority when her husband was incapable. The incarceration of her husband and defeat in battle did not deter Margaret from fighting for the throne of Henry and their only son, Edward. Margaret refused to remain silent and instead was a prominent voice at court, making a series of successful alliances in her efforts to restore her deposed husband to the throne. Like her successor, Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret was criticised by her contemporaries for her behaviour and sexual slander was used to discredit both women, who proved to be a powerful influence over their respective husbands.
Elizabeth Woodville’s power, however, could not save her young sons, cruelly snatched from her grasp and no doubt met a grisly end, forever known as the Princes in the Tower. Elizabeth was more successful in securing the fate of her eldest daughter, Elizabeth of York, working secretly with the incomparable Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry Tudor, to secure a prestigious marriage for her daughter and ensure her daughter followed her as a queen of England. Margaret is often accused of overshadowing the more reserved Elizabeth of York, but there is no reason to doubt Elizabeth was privately steering the course of Henry’s kingship just as much as her mother-in-law was. As the mother of Henry VIII, it is worth pondering if the Reformation would have even occurred if not for the death of the incredibly devout Elizabeth in 1503, just six years before the beginning of her son’s turbulent reign.
The monument of Aethelflaed, Tamworth Castle. (Author’s own image).
Another way women could exert power and influence was in the arena of war. Aethelflaed, daughter of King Alfred the Great, ruled the kingdom of Mercia throughout her husband’s illness and then as a ruler in her own right after he died in 911. Alongside her brother, Edward the Elder, Aethelflaed halted the attacks of the Vikings and even reclaimed much territory lost to them in the previous generations. Aethelflaed can be found directly participating in warfare, fulfilling the role of a commander.
Later examples of the involvement of women in warfare can be found on the Continent. Matilda of Tuscany raised and led armies in her struggle to secure her inheritance. The mighty Holy Roman Emperor proved no match for Matilda, and he was forced to relinquish his claims to Matilda’s Italian domains in the late eleventh century. Sikelgaita, the wife of the Southern Italian Norman ruler, Robert Guiscard, earned a reputation equally formidable as that of her husband. No mere passive consort to a powerful Norman baron, Sikelgaita lent authority to her husband’s power in the region through her lineage. Guiscard trusted Sikelgaita as a military commander and is perhaps best remembered for her orders to the fleeing soldiers of her husband’s army, whereby she challenged them to fight and ‘be men’. Born in the early fifteenth century, Joan of Arc is one of the most famous examples of a medieval woman participating in warfare. From humble origins, Joan followed what she believed to be spiritual voices, which led her all the way to the French court. Joan proved to be a valuableasset to the French Dauphin, achieving a series of military victories over the English and even securing his coronation before finding herself discarded by the monarch once her usefulness had run its course. Some women found power and even fame through their military activities and accomplishments, with women such as Joan of Arc continuing to intrigue modern audiences.
Christine de Pizan lectures a group of men (Wikimedia Commons)
By putting pen to paper, some medieval women challenged the prevailing opinion on the intellectual inabilities of women and found power through their words. Anna Comnena, the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus, is credited as the first female Byzantine author. With access to eyewitnesses for the key events in her father’s reign, her female perspective on the workings of the Byzantine court in the eleventh century remains a valuable source for historians. Anna’s own bid for the throne after her father’s death was an abject failure, but she found more success with her penmanship in her later life. Christine de Pizan is the first recorded female author to make a living solely from her writings. A remarkable achievement considering most medieval male authors supplemented their income with an additional occupation. Christine’s works were commissioned by members of the French royal family, and she offered commentary and advice during the Hundred Years’ War. Her voice seems to us the loudest in her writings on the defence of the female sex and her challenges to the traditional view of the position of women in society.
A contemporary of Christine’s, Margery Kempe, a fifteenth-century English self-proclaimed mystic, in many ways represents the repressed voice of the majority of women. Margery’s book offers an insight into her strife as she struggles to commit her story to writing. Challenged by the authorities and by the Church during a time of growing anxiety about religious dissidence, Margery shows us both the vulnerability of women in medieval society, but also the power they could attain. Writing was one of the ways in which medieval women could significantly influence medieval culture and society. Their experiences as female authors in themselves challenged the theoretical discourse of their contemporaries, and their writings offer us a fresh female perspective on contemporary events.
Queen Emma and her sons being received by Duke Richard II of Normandy (Wikimedia Commons)
The medieval period is filled with examples of extraordinary women who moved beyond the confines of being a consort and exerted significant political influence. Emma of Normandy, the only woman to be crowned Queen of England twice, undoubtedly shaped the course of English history. Married to King Aethelred the ‘Unready’ in the early eleventh century, her husband’s reign was dominated by his struggles against Viking incursions. After his death, his successor, the Viking King Cnut, seized the throne and sought Emma as a bride to legitimise his kingship and to offer her invaluable political experience to his new regime. She worked tirelessly to secure the succession of her son, Harthancut, whom she ruled alongside. The abandonment of her eldest children in her homeland of Normandy paved the way for the Norman Conquest of 1066.
Empress Matilda was another royal woman who fought to secure the succession of her son. The heiress was passed over as the successor of her father, and her cousin, Stephen, seized the English throne. A brutal civil war ensued, known as the Anarchy. Although never achieving the coronation for herself, Matilda nevertheless ensured the succession of her son, Henry II. In 1152, Eleanor, the wealthy Duchess of Aquitaine, a title she held in her own right, married Henry II, just weeks after her annulment from her first husband, King Louis VII, making her the only woman to be crowned both queen of England and of France. Eleanor was a successful politician, acting independently of Henry throughout her tenure as consort. Eleanor continued to be an imposing presence at court in the successive reigns of her sons, Richard the Lionheart and King John and often acted for them both as regent.
Isabella of France(Wikimedia Commons)
Isabella of France successfully launched an invasion of England and overthrew her husband, King Edward II, in 1326, demonstrating just how powerful medieval women could be.
The innumerable examples of women in power force us to reconsider the roles and experiences of medieval women. Power could be achieved in a variety of ways and with varying degrees of success. What these examples of trailblazing women have sought to highlight is the varied experiences and opportunities open to women, and to illustrate that theory does not always equate to practice.
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About the Book:
“The greatest glory for a woman is not to be spoken of at all, either for good or ill,” declared Pericles. For centuries, this sentiment echoed through the corridors of history, shaping a narrative that often confined women to silence, invisibility and the margins of power. But history is far richer and more complex than we’ve been led to believe.
This book reveals the lives of remarkable, trailblazing medieval women who refused to be written out of history. In a world dominated by men, they defied convention, challenged gender expectations, and carved out legacies as rulers, consorts, warriors, authors, and visionaries. From Anglo-Saxon female rulership to the political intrigue of the Wars of the Roses, these women stepped beyond the roles assigned to them and transformed the world around them, as well as the course of history.
Through meticulous research, this book brings their voices to the fore, revealing the impact they had not only in their own time but on the generations that followed. These are not just tales of exception, but of courage, intellect, and influence—testaments to the fact that women have always shaped history.
Their names deserve to be remembered. Their stories deserve to be told.
Ashley Sarah Firth holds a BA (Hons), MA, and PhD in medieval history from the University of Huddersfield. Her research focuses on the history of women, medieval gender and the Crusades. Formerly a university lecturer, she taught a wide range of topics from the Anglo-Saxon period to the Stuart era. Now a full-time historian, author and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Huddersfield, Ashley is dedicated to bringing the stories of the past, especially those of overlooked women, to life for a wider audience. She lives in Manchester with her husband, their two children, and three dogs, where her love of history continues to inspire her writing and research.
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop or the Contact Me page.
New releases in 2026:
New Hardbacks
Out now: Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Conquest
‘My daughter wanted me to treat her more like a princess. So, I married her to a stranger to strengthen the alliance with Poland!’
Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Conquest and Princesses of the Later Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Plantagenets tell the stories of England’s royal daughters from 1066 to the rise of the Tudors, from the last Anglo-Saxon princesses to the fall of the House of York.
Were they really pampered pawns sent off to marriages on the Continent, out of sight and out of mind?
Perhaps, there was different story, where a foreign marriage does not mean eternal exile, but a purpose in life, where a princess is a diplomat, an ambassador for England in her new country.
Where she is the bond between allies – most of the time.
Heidi Malagisi: ‘This is another excellent book by Sharon Bennett Connolly. Extremely well researched and relatively easy to follow along, which is a great thing because there are so many Matildas and Eleanors in this book.‘
Tony Riches: “I challenge anyone with an interest in medieval Britain to not find something they will learn from this book.”
Anna Belfrage: “I just love how [Sharon] presents this huge cast of real life people in a casual, chatty tone that has me expecting the various female protagonists to suddenly pop their head up and add their own commentary.“
OUT NOW! The momentous events of 1066, the story of invasion, battle and conquest, are well known. But what of the women? Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest traces the fortunes of the women who had a significant role to play during the Norman Conquest – wives, lovers, sisters, mothers, leaders. These are lives full of drama, pathos and sometimes mystery: Edith and Gytha searching the battlefield of Hastings for the body of Harold, his lover and mother united in their grief for the fallen king. Who was Ælfgyva, the lady of the Bayeux Tapestry, portrayed with a naked man at her feet?
Janina Ramirez said it’s ‘Excellent’!
COMING 15 July 2026: Heroines of the Tudor World focuses on the women who lived through the Renaissance and Reformation, examining the threats and challenges they faced and how they overcame them. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. These are the women who made a difference, who influenced countries, kings and the Reformation.
Derek Birks: ‘An excellent account of the changing roles of women in Tudor society.’
Annie Whitehead: ‘What a treat this book was to read. Bennett Connolly has an easy, conversation style of writing which welcomes you from the opening pages and draws you into her story.‘
Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:
Heroines of the Medieval World; Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest; Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England; Defenders of the Norman Crown: Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey; King John’s Right Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye; Women of the Anarchy; Heroines of the Tudor World; Scotland’s Medieval Queens: From St Margaret to Margaret of Denmark; Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Conquest (March 2026); Princesses of the Later Middle Ages; Royal Daughters of the Plantagenets (August 2026)
Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.
Have a listen to theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Ian Mortimer, Bernard Cornwell, Elizabeth Chadwick and Scott Mariani, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.
Matilda of Scotland was the daughter of Malcolm III Canmore, King of Scots, and his wife, the saintly Queen Margaret. With Margaret’s descent from Alfred the Great, Matilda not only had the blood of Scottish kings flowing through her veins but also that of England’s Anglo-Saxon rulers. Born in the second half of 1080, Matilda was named Edith at her baptism, her name being changed to Matilda at the time of her marriage, most likely to make it more acceptable to the Norman barons. To avoid confusion, we will call her Matilda for the whole article.
The baby princess’s godfather was none other than Robert Curthose, who was visiting Scotland at the time of her birth. Her godmother was England’s queen, Matilda of Flanders. She and her younger sister, Mary, who was born in 1082, were sent to England to be educated by their maternal aunt Christina, at Romsey Abbey in 1086. A nun who spent time at both Romsey and Wilton abbeys, Christina was said to have treated Matilda harshly, the young princess constantly ‘in fear of the rod of my aunt’.1 Christina’s treatment of Matilda was made public during a church inquiry into whether or not Matilda had, in fact, been professed as a nun, at which point Matilda made her striking references to the ‘rage and hatred … that boiled up in me’.2
Before 1093 the two Scottish princesses, now approaching their teens, had moved on to Wilton Abbey to continue their education, away from the harsh discipline of their aunt. Like Romsey, Wilton was a renowned centre for women’s education and learning. It could accommodate between eighty and ninety women, and was once patronised by Edward the Confessor’s wife, Edith of Wessex. The abbey had a reputation for educating women from the highest echelons of the nobility and the royal family itself; the girls’ mother, Queen Margaret, had also been sent to Wilton to be educated after arriving in England in the late 1050s. The abbey was a popular destination for pilgrims, housing among its relics ‘a nail from the True Cross, a portion of the Venerable Bede and the body of St Edith’.3 Matilda’s first language was English, but she is known to have spoken French at Wilton. She also learned some Latin, read both the old and new testaments of the Bible, ‘the books of the Church fathers and some of the major Latin writers’.4
Malcolm IV and St Margaret
By 1093, thoughts were turning to Matilda’s future, but politics intervened. King Malcolm had a disagreement with King William II Rufus after which ‘they parted with great discord, and the king Malcolm returned home to Scotland.’5 On his way home, Malcolm stopped at Wilton to collect his daughters. On his arrival, he found Matilda wearing a veil. The Scots king ripped the offending item from his daughter’s head, tearing it to pieces before trampling the garment into the earth.
Malcolm III insisted that the two girls were not destined for the religious life.
Father and daughters then returned to Scotland, only to find Queen Margaret was ailing, her health had been deteriorating gradually for some time. Despite the queen’s illness, King Malcolm took two of his sons and an army into England, raiding Northumberland. Malcolm and his eldest son, Edward, were killed. Queen Margaret was told the news just a few days later and died shortly after. Having lost both parents in such a short space of time, the two princesses were taken back south by their uncle Edgar the Ӕtheling, though whether they stayed at a convent or resided at court is unclear. Mary would eventually be married to Eustace III, Count of Boulogne, and was the mother of Matilda of Boulogne, wife of King Stephen.
Matilda herself was not short of suitors, who included Alan the Red, Count of Richmond and William de Warenne, Earl of Surrey. Orderic Vitalis explains:
Alain the Red, Count of Brittany, asked William Rufus for permission to marry Matilda, who was first called Edith, but was refused. Afterwards, William de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, asked for this princess; but reserved for another by God’s permission, she made a more illustrious marriage. Henry, having ascended the English throne, married Matilda.6
Christina of Wessex
As events unfolded, Matilda was caught up in accusations and scandal surrounding her erstwhile nunnery at Wilton. She refused to return to the convent and insisted that she had never intended to dedicate herself to the church. When Archbishop Anselm ordered Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury to retrieve this ‘prodigal daughter of the king of Scots whom the devil made to cast off the veil’, the princess stood firm and defied him.’7
William II Rufus was famously killed in a hunting accident in the New Forest on 2 August 1100, shot by an arrow loosed by Walter Tirel. William II’s youngest brother, Henry, who was among the hunting party, wasted no time grieving his brother’s death. Leaving the dead king’s body to be looked after by others, he rode fast for Winchester. He seized control of the royal treasury before heading to London and his coronation, which took place on 5 August, just three days after William II’s death. Henry’s surviving older brother, Robert, was still on his way home from the Crusades, unable to take advantage of William’s death to claim the English crown for himself. The newly crowned King Henry I now needed a wife and settled on Matilda of Scotland.
The marriage was not without controversy, however, and before it could take place the church conducted an inquiry into the suggestion that Matilda was a runaway nun. Although Matilda vehemently rejected the claim that she had been professed as a nun, the fact witnesses had seen her wearing a veil on multiple occasions counted against her. Matilda appealed to Archbishop Anselm to look into the matter. The archbishop was appalled at the thought a religious vow may have been broken and declared that he ‘would not be induced by any pleading to take from God his bride and join her to any earthly husband’.8 After meeting with Matilda personally, and hearing her side of the story, the archbishop was persuaded to call an ecclesiastical council to decide the matter. Using Archbishop Lanfranc’s previous ruling that Anglo-Saxon women who had sought refuge in a convent after the Norman Conquest ‘could not be held as sworn nuns when they emerged from hiding’, the council ruled in Matilda’s favour.9 The council determined that ‘under the circumstances of the matter, the girl could not rightly be bound by any decision to prevent her from being free to dispose of her person in whatever way she legally wished’.10
Henry I, King of England in Lincoln Cathedral’s Gallery of Kings
When the wedding finally went ahead, Archbishop Anselm related the controversy over Matilda’s status to the gathered congregation and asked if there were any objections. According to Eadmer, ‘The crowd cried out in one voice that the affair had been rightly decided and that there was no ground on which anyone … could possibly raise any scandal.’11
Henry I married Matilda of Scotland on 11 November 1100, at Westminster Abbey, her name officially and permanently changed from Edith. Marriage between Henry and Matilda represented a continuity of the old Anglo-Saxon royal line; an heir produced by the royal couple would be heir to both the Norman royal house and the ancient royal house of Wessex, creating a genuine unifying force within England. The marriage was also a union between the royal houses of England and Scotland. Offering the promise of peace on England’s troublesome northern border, it would allow Henry to look to his interests on the continent and watch for the return of his older brother, Robert, from crusade.
The honeymoon period for the royal couple was was short-lived and in 1101, Robert had returned and heard of King William’s death and Henry’s seizure of the crown. The duke sent messengers to Henry, asking him to hand over the kingdom. Henry refused. It probably came as no surprise to Henry, then, when Robert invaded England on 20 July 1101. One chronicler claimed that Matilda was in childbed at this time; if she was, the child did not survive. More likely given the timing is that the queen was having a difficult early pregnancy with Matilda, who was born seven months later.
Neither side, however, was keen on all-out war, especially a civil war, and peace talks began almost immediately as the two armies of the royal brothers came face to face at Alton. In the subsequent Treaty of Alton, the duke accepted an annuity of 3,000 marks, drawn from the revenues of England, to abandon his invasion and renounce his claims to the throne. In return, King Henry renounced his lands in Normandy save for Domfront, where he had made a solemn vow to the inhabitants that he would never relinquish control. The brothers agreed to support each other should either be attacked by a third party, and to be each other’s heir if neither sired a son.
William the Ætheling
Robert returned to Normandy but would soon be pulled back to England by a sense of chivalric duty to his barons. The agreement at Alton between the brothers had left Earl William II de Warenne isolated and at Henry’s mercy. For violating his oath of homage to the king, and for violence perpetrated by his men in Norfolk, Earl Warenne’s English estates were declared forfeit and he was effectively forced to cross the English Channel into exile. Earl William complained to Duke Robert of his sufferings and losses on the duke’s behalf. The duke obviously felt some responsibility, as he set out for England to intercede with his brother on the earl’s behalf. Robert arrived at Henry’s court, uninvited and unwelcome, in 1103. Threatened with imprisonment by an angry brother, he was persuaded by Queen Matilda, to relinquish his annuity of 3,000 marks in return for the reinstatement of Earl William’s English estates and titles.
The primary duty of a queen was to secure the succession by producing an heir as soon as she possibly could. Henry still had his older brother, Robert, to contend with and an heir would certainly strengthen his position. By September 1103, Matilda of Scotland had fulfilled this duty by giving birth to a daughter, Matilda, in February 1102, and the much-desired son and heir, William, known as William Ætheling in an allusion to his descent from the Anglo-Saxon royal line, in September 1103. It is possible third child was either stillborn or short-lived. After the births of the royal children, the king and queen appear to have lived separately, with Queen Matilda establishing herself at Westminster. It was rumoured that the queen had chosen a life of celibacy once her duties of producing an heir had been fulfilled.
The family of Henry I
Disputes with Normandy were to be a feature of the first half of Henry’s reign, even after the capture of his brother, Robert at the Battle of Tinchebrai in 1106. Robert would spend the rest of his life imprisoned in England, but his son, William Clito, would later take up the fight. And while Henry subjugated Normandy, Queen Matilda remained in England, often chairing meetings of the king’s council during his absence. The queen had her own seal, which she appended to her charters and which depicted her ‘standing, crowned and wearing a long embroidered robe which falls in folds over her feet. Over this is a seamless mantle which has an embroidered border and is draped over her head. It is fastened at her throat by a brooch, and falls in folds over her arms. In her right hand she holds a sceptre surmounted by a dove, and in her left an orb surmounted by a cross.’.12
As queen, Matilda had received a generous dower settlement, which had been granted from those lands once held by Edith, Edward the Confessor’s queen. Surviving charters issued by Matilda show that she controlled the abbeys of Waltham, Barking and Malmesbury. She held further territory in Rutland and property in London including the wharf later known as Queenhithe, and she also received the tolls of Exeter. Her staff included two clerks who would eventually become bishops. The queen appears to have had a personal interest in managing her estates. In the charter granting Waltham Abbey to his wife, Henry mentions the ‘queen’s court’ held there. Among the queen’s many good works were the building of bridges in Surrey and Essex and the construction of a public bathhouse at Queenhithe. Working with Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, Queen Matilda founded a house for the Augustinian canons, Holy Trinity, at Aldgate in London. She also founded a leper hospital at St Giles, funded by sixty shillings a year from dock revenues at her wharf.
Leprosy and the care of lepers was of great concern to the queen. In addition to St Giles, she was the benefactress of a leper hospital at Chichester. Indeed, the queen’s brother David – later David I, King of Scots – told a tale in which he witnessed his sister administering to lepers in her own apartments in Westminster:
David I, King of Scots
The place was full of lepers and there was the Queen standing in the middle of them. And taking off a linen cloth she had wrapped around her waist, she put it into a water basin and began to wash and dry their feet and kiss them most devotedly while she was bathing them and drying them with her hands. And I said to her ‘My Lady! What are you doing? Surely if the King knew about this he would never deign to kiss you with his lips after you had been polluted by the putrefied feet of lepers!’ Then she, under a smile, said ‘Who does not know that the feet of the Eternal King are to be preferred over the lips of a King who is going to die? Surely for that reason I called you, dearest brother, so that you might learn such works from my example.13
While this story may not be an exact recollection of the siblings’ conversation, it does serve to demonstrate the extent of Matilda’s piety, something she inherited from her sainted mother, Queen Margaret. The queen’s piety and interest in religion are evidenced in her surviving correspondence, which involved not only Archbishop Anselm but also leading church figures such as Pope Paschal II, Hildebert of Lavardin, Archbishop of Tours, Herbert of Losinga, Bishop of Norwich and Ivo, Bishop of Chartres. Though written by a clerk rather than in her own hand, these letters are the earliest surviving examples from an English queen.
Matilda and Anselm appear to have had a good working relationship, which is evidenced by her actions as mediator during the Investiture Controversy, which sought to clarify the rules of investiture within the church. In their correspondence, the archbishop wrote to Matilda as his ‘dearest Lady and daughter Matilda, Queen of the English’.14 Likewise, Matilda witnessed a charter at Rochester, prior to Anselm’s exile, as ‘Matildis reginae et filiae Anselmi archiepiscopi’ (Queen Matilda and daughter of Archbishop Anselm).15 And when Anselm was exiled from England from 1103, Queen Matilda acted as mediator between the archbishop, the king and the pope, Paschal II.
Empress Matilda depicted in an image from the Gospels of Henry the Lion.
The queen appears to have been well aware of her influence over the king, and its limitations. When Henry appropriated the revenues of Canterbury for himself, claiming it was a vacant see with the archbishop in exile, Matilda persuaded him to set aside a personal allowance for Anselm. However, when she was asked to intervene with the king a few years later, when he was attempting to extract more money from the clergy, Matilda ‘wept and insisted she could do nothing’.16 In 1104, Matilda even approached Pope Paschal II, asking for his intervention in the disagreement between Henry and Anselm.
Henry saw the investiture crisis as an erosion of his royal prerogative, and he was determined to cede no ground. But, with the pope threatening excommunication and Matilda voicing her own pleas to her husband, a compromise was eventually reached by which Henry would relinquish his powers to invest prelates but retain the right to receive homage for ‘temporalities’; this latter concession by the church would augment the secular powers of the crown. When Anselm was finally able to return home to England, in 1106, Matilda was there to personally welcome him back from his three-year exile. She then rode in advance of the archbishop, to ensure accommodation and welcoming ceremonies were in place along his route.
The Investiture Controversy served to demonstrate the extent to which Matilda’s influence could be exerted, not only on the king but internationally, through her correspondence with the church’s most powerful prelates. Matilda also acted as regent for Henry when he was away in Normandy, which was more than half of the time. A woman fulfilling such a role in her lord’s absence was far from unusual and indeed was accepted by the barony of the kingdom; Matilda’s daughter, Empress Matilda, would discover that a woman fulfilling this role on her own behalf faced far more resistance. Queen Matilda acted as regent for months at a time, most notably for ten-month spells from September 1114 and from April 1116. In her final regency Matilda was assisted by her only son, the teenage William Ætheling, who was now earnestly in training for his future role as King of England. He would later join his father in Normandy to continue his apprenticeship, fighting in his first battle there in 1119.
Another notable element of queenship was patronage. Queen Matilda commissioned William of Malmesbury to write the Gesta Regum Anglorum, a genealogical history of the royal house of Wessex which was finished after her death and presented to her daughter, Empress Matilda. She also commissioned a biography of her mother, The Life of St Margaret Queen of Scotland by Turgot, Prior of Durham and later Bishop of St Andrew’s, who had been her mother’s confessor. In 1111 the queen attended the ceremony for the translation of St Æthelwold’s relics at Winchester, and the following year she was in Gloucester to witness the presentation of gifts to the monks there.
Seal of Queen Matilda
Matilda was also concerned with justice and in 1116 ordered the release of Bricstan of Chatteris, a prisoner who had apparently been unjustly condemned. Bricstan, who had intended to take holy orders before his arrest – the reason for which is unknown – called upon St Benedict and St Etheldreda for assistance. The two saints are said to have torn his chains from him. The shocked guards immediately turned to Queen Matilda, who ordered an investigation into the events. Satisfied that a miracle had occurred, the queen ordered Bricstans’s immediate release. She also ordered that special masses should be heard, and the bells of London should be rung in celebration.
Matilda of Scotland died on 1 May 1118 at Westminster, at the age of thirty-seven. King Henry was in Normandy at the time and Matilda was acting as regent, which suggests that her death was unexpected, though we do not know the cause. The canons of her foundation of Holy Trinity at Aldgate and the monks at Westminster both claimed the right to bury her. She was buried in Westminster Abbey, much to the chagrin of the monks of Aldgate who lodged a complaint with Henry on his return. Henry compensated the order with a gift of relics from the Byzantine emperor. He also confirmed his queen’s donations to Holy Trinity, Aldgate. The king gave money so that a perpetual light could be maintained at her tomb; this was still being paid in the reign of Henry III, Matilda’s great-great-grandson.
Matilda died a beloved queen, and was remembered as ‘Mold the Good Queen’ or ‘Good Queen Maud’. Praise for the queen is almost universal, although William of Malmesbury criticised her for patronising foreigners and reported that she ‘fell into the error of prodigal givers; bringing many claims to her tenantry, exposing them to injuries and taking away their property, but since she became known as a liberal benefactress, she scarcely regarded their outrage’.17
The Warenne Chronicle recorded her death with a fitting epitaph:
Matilda of Scotland
So then, almost all of England’s bishops, magnates, abbots, priors, and indeed the innumerable common masses assembled with great sadness for her crowded funeral, and with many tears they attended her burial … I can sum up her praise in this brief declaration that from the time when England was first subject to kings, of all queens none was found like her, nor will a similar queen be found in coming ages whose memory will be held in praise and whose name will be blessed for centuries. So great was the sorrow at her absence and so great a devotion filled everyone, that several of the noblest clerics, whom she had much esteemed in life, stayed at her tomb for thirty days in vigils, prayers and fasting, and they kept mournful and devoted watch…18
A woman of proven ability in governing the kingdom, Queen Matilda served as an example of what a woman could do, and the power she could wield, albeit in her husband’s name.
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Notes:
1. Lisa Hilton, Queens Consort: England’s Medieval Queens; 2. Eadmer of Canterbury, Historia Novorum in Anglia; 3. Hilton, Queens Consort; 4. ibid; 5. Michael Swanton (ed.), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles; 6. Ordericus Vitalis, Histoire de Normandie, quatrième partie (my translation); 7. Anselm, quoted in Hilton, Queens Consort; 8. Eadmer, Historia Novorum in Anglia; 9. Hilton, Queens Consort; 10. Eadmer, Historia Novorum in Anglia; 11. ibid; 12. Susan M. Johns, Noblewomen, Aristocracy and Power in the Twelfth-Century Anglo-Norman Realm; 13. Ailred of Rievaulx, quoted in Hilton, Queens Consort; 14. epistolae.ccnmtl.columbia.edu; 15. Hilton, Queens Consort; 16. ibid; 17. William of Malmesbury, quoted in Hilton, Queens Consort; 18. Van Houts and Love, The Warenne (Hyde) Chronicle
Lisa Hilton, Queens Consort: England’s Medieval Queens; Eadmer of Canterbury, Historia Novorum in Anglia; Michael Swanton (ed.), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles; Ordericus Vitalis, Histoire de Normandie; Susan M. Johns, Noblewomen, Aristocracy and Power in the Twelfth-Century Anglo-Norman Realm; epistolae.ccnmtl.columbia.edu; Teresa Cole, After the Conquest: The Divided Realm; Jeffrey James, The Bastard’s Sons: Robert, William and Henry of Normandy; Henry of Huntingdon, The History of the English People 1000-1154; Charles Spencer, The White Ship: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I’s Dream; E. Norton, England’s Queens: From Boudicca to Elizabeth of York; Nigel Tranter, The Story of Scotland; Elisabeth Van Houts, and Rosalind C. Love (eds and trans), The Warenne (Hyde) Chronicle; Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; Ordericus Vitalis, The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, 1075-1143; J. F. Andrews, Lost Heirs of the Medieval Crown: The Kings and Queens Who Never Were; Anne Crawford (ed.), Letters of the Queens of England; Elizabeth Norton, England’s Queens: From Boudicca to Elizabeth of York; Lida Sophia Townsley, ‘Twelfth-century English queens: charters and authority’, academia.edu;
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My Books
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Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens
Scotland’s history is dramatic, violent and bloody. Being England’s northern neighbour has never been easy. Scotland’s queens have had to deal with war, murder, imprisonment, political rivalries and open betrayal. They have loved and lost, raised kings and queens, ruled and died for Scotland. From St Margaret, who became one of the patron saints of Scotland, to Elizabeth de Burgh and the dramatic story of the Scottish Wars of Independence, to the love story and tragedy of Joan Beaufort, to Margaret of Denmark and the dawn of the Renaissance, Scotland’s Medieval Queens have seen it all. This is the story of Scotland through their eyes.
‘Scotland’s Medieval Queens gives a thorough grounding in the history of the women who ruled Scotland at the side of its kings, often in the shadows, but just as interesting in their lives beyond the spotlight. It’s not a subject that has been widely covered, and Sharon is a pioneer in bringing that information into accessible history.’ Elizabeth Chadwick (New York Times bestselling author)
Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available for pre-order from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK.Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how Empress Matilda and Matilda of Boulogne, unable to wield a sword themselves, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It shows how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other. Available from Bookshop.org, Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon.
Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.
Podcast:
Have a listen to theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Elizabeth Chadwick, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.
The time commonly referred to as the Anarchy is one of the most violent and unstable periods of English history. Lasting almost the entirety of the reign of King Stephen, it truly was a Cousin’s War. The two main protagonists, King Stephen and Empress Matilda, were first cousins, both being grandchildren of William the Conqueror and his queen, Matilda of Flanders. What is perhaps less well known is that Empress Matilda was also first cousin to Stephen’s wife and queen, Matilda of Boulogne. The two Matilda’s were both granddaughters of Margaret of Wessex, Queen of Scots as the wife of Malcolm III Canmore. And later St Margaret. It is through Margaret that the namesake cousins could claim descent from Alfred the Great.
The origins to the Anarchy can be traced back to one dramatic and tragic event: the sinking of the White Ship in 1120. This saw the drowning of the only legitimate son and heir of King Henry I, William Ætheling (or Adelin). The young man was 17 years old at the time, recently married, and his father’s pride and joy. His death gave rise to a constitutional crisis which the widowed Henry I sought to resolve by his speedy marriage to the teenage Adeliza of Louvain, in the hope of begetting yet more sons. Although he was getting on in years at roughly fifty-two, and had only two legitimate children, his brood of more than twenty illegitimate, but acknowledged, offspring gave him cause for optimism.
However, as the years progressed and no children were born, Henry had to look to other ways of resolving the succession crisis. In the years since the death of his son, the king had taken his nephew Stephen of Blois under his wing, showering him with gifts and land, and arranging the young man’s marriage. Stephen was the son of Henry’s highly capable sister Adela of Normandy, Countess of Blois and Stephen, Count of Blois, who had been killed on Crusade. The younger Stephen was created Count of Mortain and married to Matilda of Boulogne, the only child and heiress of Eustace of Boulogne and Mary of Scotland. It is possible that Henry was showing Stephen such favouritism in anticipation of not producing an heir by his new wife and was grooming Stephen to succeed him.
Empress Matilda depicted in an image from the Gospels of Henry the Lion.
However, the death of his daughter’s husband, Emperor Henry V, in faraway Germany offered Henry an alternative to his nephew. Better still, here was an opportunity to put his own blood on the throne. Shortly after the German emperor’s death in 1125, Henry recalled Empress Matilda to England. She had been sent to Germany at the age of seven, to be raised at the court of the emperor in anticipation of their marriage when she came of age. Matilda had married Henry in 1114, a month before her twelfth birthday. Although she and Henry were married for eleven years, they remained childless. When Henry died in 1125, Henry I of England therefore saw an opportunity to resolve his succession problem by recalling Matilda and making her his heir.
There was one problem with this plan: Matilda was a woman. Henry knew his barons would not be happy with the idea of being ruled by a woman, but by a process of coercion and persuasion he managed to get all his barons to swear to accept her as their next monarch. Following Matilda’s arrival in England in 1126, Henry proceeded to extract oaths of allegiance to her from all the bishops and magnates present at his Christmas court. Notably, this included Stephen of Blois, Count of Mortain, King Henry’s nephew and the empress’s cousin. One of the concessions made to the barons was that they would have a say in Matilda’s choice of husband. After all, as a woman, Matilda would need a husband to rule in her name. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reported:
David the king of Scots was there, and all the head [men], clerical and lay, that were in England; and there he [Henry] had archbishops, and bishops, and abbots, and earls, and all those thegns who were there, swear England and Normandy after his day into the hand of his daughter Æthelic [Matilda], who was earlier wife of the emperor of Saxony; and afterwards sent her to Normandy (and with her travelled her brother Robert, Earl of Gloucester, and Brian, son of the earl Alan Fergant), and had her wedded to the son of the Earl of Anjou, [who] was called Geoffrey Martel [Plantagenet]. Despite the fact that it offended all the French and English, the king did it in order to have peace from the Earl of Anjou and in order to have help against William his nephew.1
Matilda of Boulogne
In trying to resolve the issue of who would rule after him, Henry had inadvertently created a problem that ensured the succession would be anything but smooth. He had created two rivals for the throne. His daughter had the claim that she was Henry’s successor by blood, but she was a woman. Though his blood claim was weaker, Stephen was Henry’s closest living male relative, and in the days when a king not only had to rule but had to lead his men into battle, the prospect of a female ruler struck fear into the hearts of the barons.
Empress Matilda’s actual abilities mattered less than the fact of her gender. Raised at the German imperial court, Matilda was an experienced politician who had acted as regent for her first husband on several occasions. She was confident. She knew, beyond doubt, that she was capable of ruling in her own right. This confidence was her strength but also her weakness; the barons would surely baulk at the idea of a woman who was unwilling to take instruction from them. In contrast, King Stephen was a magnate who was experienced in war and had enjoyed the favour of King Henry I.
Stephen’s wife, Matilda of Boulogne, was a stalwart supporter of her husband. She was arguably more capable than Stephen and often took the initiative in diplomatic negotiations. Acting as Stephen’s queen, she offered a stark contrast to the independence and authority of Empress Matilda that so infuriated the barons. Matilda of Boulogne was a little more subtle than her imperious counterpart, only ever acting in her husband’s name, not her own. Even later, when she held the command of Stephen’s forces during his captivity in 1141, she claimed to act only on behalf of her husband and sons.
King Stephen, Lincoln Cathedral
Matilda of Boulogne was an example of how a woman was expected to act and comport herself: strong and confident, but subject to her husband’s will. On this last, Empress Matilda failed in the eyes of the barons; she was acting for herself. In the event, the barons of England and Normandy despised her second husband, Geoffrey of Anjou, so they would have been even less receptive to Matilda had her husband tried to assert his authority. It was a conundrum that Matilda was never able to resolve, though she would not give up trying.
And the empress was, ultimately, the winner. With Stephen’s death in 1154, the last flickers of conflict also died. The empress’s oldest son succeeded as Henry II, peacefully and largely unopposed, despite the continued presence of Stephen’s son, William of Blois. Support for William was non-existent, and the war-weary barons were more than happy with the settlement. For Empress Matilda, it must have been a bittersweet moment. She had spent most of the past nineteen years fighting for her birthright and that of her son. While she had never worn the crown, Henry now did. The line of succession had finally passed into the hands of the descendants of Henry I.
Her bloodline had prevailed, but King Stephen had denied Empress Matilda her inheritance, her titles and her due. The irony of this struggle is that, in order to claim the throne, Stephen overruled the same laws of inheritance that saw him become Count of Boulogne. While it was difficult for a woman to manage her own lands and titles, they descended through her to her husband or son. So, as the county of Boulogne was inherited by Queen Matilda, so Stephen held those titles by right of his wife. And this was the dilemma for the Anglo-Norman nobility, and the reason they largely chose to support Stephen: they were suspicious and distrusting of the husband chosen for Empress Matilda. Just like Stephen, Geoffrey of Anjou had every right to claim Matilda’s lands as his own. Not the Geoffrey showed any interest in England; his sights were firmly set on Normandy, which he had conquered by 1144 and handed to his son, Henry in 1150.
The similarities between Empress and Queen are more noticeable than their differences. Both women demonstrated a level of piety which can only have come from their family connection, namely their mutual descent from Margaret of Wessex, Queen of Scots and later saint. Each Matilda was willing to do whatever it took to protect the interests of her children. Queen Matilda appealed to the empress to protect her son Eustace’s inheritance, while the empress invaded England. It is easy to see the empress’s struggle as an expression of her personal ambition to recover the inheritance stolen from her.
Henry II, Lincoln Cathedral
Yet it is necessary to look deeper and acknowledge that she was also motivated to see her son achieve his birthright. When Stephen usurped her throne, he stole it not just from Matilda but also from Henry. Calling himself Henry Fitz Empress when he joined his mother’s struggle, Henry was the grandson and eventual heir of Henry I. He had been raised to believe that England and Normandy were his destiny, and with the knowledge that his mother was absent for much of his formative years because she was fighting for his inheritance as much as hers.
Both empress and queen were adept at negotiating to achieve their aims, demonstrating impressive diplomatic skills in the most difficult of circumstances. Neither was prepared to sit on the sidelines and let others fight their battles for them. Although they could not wield a sword, nor participate in warfare, neither did they sit and wait in the safety of their ivory towers. They travelled with the armies and participated in councils of war, advising, directing and commanding their forces.
Empress Matilda and Queen Matilda had so much more in common than a name. Indeed, there was more to uniting them than pitting them against one another, be it family ties, abilities or aspirations for their children. What really differentiated them was the way they went about achieving their aims.
Dynastic ambition was a fine line for a woman to walk…
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The story of Empress Matilda and Queen Matilda of Boulogne is examined in greater detail in my book, Women of the Anarchy.
Notes:
1. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, edited by Michael Swanton
Sources:
Gesta Stephani, translated by K. R. Potter; Henry of Huntingdon, The History of the English People 1000-1154; Marjorie Chibnall, The Empress Matilda: Queen Consort, Queen Mother and Lady of the English; Teresa Cole, The Anarchy: The Darkest Days of Medieval England; Catherine Hanley, Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior; Helen Castor, She-Wolves: The Women who Ruled England before Elizabeth; Robert Bartlett, England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings; J. Sharpe (trans.), The History of the Kings of England and of his Own Times by William Malmesbury; Orderici Vitalis, Historiae ecclesiasticae libri tredecem, translated by Auguste Le Prévost; Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II and Richard I; Edmund King, King Stephen; Donald Matthew, King Stephen; Matthew Lewis, Stephen and Matilda’s Civil War: Cousins of Anarchy.
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop.
Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens
Scotland’s history is dramatic, violent and bloody. Being England’s northern neighbour has never been easy. Scotland’s queens have had to deal with war, murder, imprisonment, political rivalries and open betrayal. They have loved and lost, raised kings and queens, ruled and died for Scotland. From St Margaret, who became one of the patron saints of Scotland, to Elizabeth de Burgh and the dramatic story of the Scottish Wars of Independence, to the love story and tragedy of Joan Beaufort, to Margaret of Denmark and the dawn of the Renaissance, Scotland’s Medieval Queens have seen it all. This is the story of Scotland through their eyes.
‘Scotland’s Medieval Queens gives a thorough grounding in the history of the women who ruled Scotland at the side of its kings, often in the shadows, but just as interesting in their lives beyond the spotlight. It’s not a subject that has been widely covered, and Sharon is a pioneer in bringing that information into accessible history.’ Elizabeth Chadwick (New York Times bestselling author)
Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available for pre-order from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK.Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how Empress Matilda and Matilda of Boulogne, unable to wield a sword themselves, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It shows how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other. Available from Bookshop.org, Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon.
Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.
Podcast:
Have a listen to theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved. Our first ever episode was a discussion on The Anarchy Every episode is also now available on YouTube.
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Don’t forget!Signed and dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop.
For forthcoming online and in-person talks, please check out my Events Page.
As many of you may know I have spent the last year on a project that was originally titled ‘The Medieval Princess: Royal Daughters from the Conquest to the Wars of the Roses’. It was one of those projects that seemed to go on and on, with no end in sight. But then, at the end of April, it was done. With one tiny snag. The reason it had seemed never-ending was the word count: a whopping 143,000 words!
Cover reveal coming – be patient!
What does that mean in terms of a physical book? Well, it was 50% more words than in my contract and would come out at a book-and-a-half – about 500 pages.
Just wait a little longer…
It is not a surprise, really, Mary Anne Everett Green’s The Lives of the Princesses of England from the Norman Conquest was published in six volumes in the19th century; the first 3 volumes covered the medieval period. So, I knew all along it was going to be a challenge to bring the book in at under 100,000 words.
And I failed miserably!
Stop scrolling – cover reveal coming soon….
Luckily, I have a very understanding editor and her first words, when I confessed my massive word count, was, ‘well, we’re not going to make you cut 20,000 words. Let’s split it in two!
What a relief!
Not long now…
So, I have spent May splitting the books, polishing off book no. 1 and changing the introduction and conclusions so they are relevant to that particular book. And we have settled on titles. The first book is entitled Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Conquest and will look at the English princesses from the daughters of Harold II to King John.
Nearly there….
I still have work to do on book no. 2, Princesses of the Later Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Plantagenets, which will include all the royal daughters from Henry III to Edward IV. There will be more on that at the end of the summer…
It’s time!
Did you peek?
So, here it is. The cover for Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters from the Conquest
Drum roll please….
Daughters of kings were often used to seal treaty alliances and forge peace with England’s enemies. Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters from the Conquest will explore the lives of these young women, how they followed the stereotype, and how they sometimes managed to escape it. It will look at the world they lived in, and how their lives and marriages were affected by political necessity and the events of the time.
Almost as interesting as the marriages these girls made are the ones that were never realised. Many English princesses were betrothed, or proposed as brides, three or more times before they were married. Their failed marriage proposals demonstrated their influence and worth on the international royal marriage market, as well as the changing allegiances between countries and the making and breaking of international friendships.
Princesses of the Early Middle Ages will also examine how these girls, who were often political pawns, were able to control their own lives and fates. Whilst they were expected to obey their parents in their marriage choices, several princesses were able to exert their own influence on these choices, with some outright refusing the husbands offered to them. Their stories are touching, inspiring and, at times, heartbreaking.
Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters from the Conquest is due for release in the spring of 2026, with Princesses of the Later Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Plantagenets coming in the summer.
I can’t wait for you to read them!
About the Author:
Sharon Bennett Connolly is the bestselling author of several non-fiction history books. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Sharon has studied history academically and just for fun – and has even worked as a tour guide at a castle. She also writes the popular history blog, http://www.historytheinterestingbits.com and co-hosts the podcast A Slice of Medieval, alongside historical novelist Derek Birks. Sharon regularly gives talks on women’s history, for historical groups, festivals and in schools; her book Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest is a recommended text for teaching the Norman Conquest in the National Curriculum. She is a feature writer for All About History, Tudor Places and Living Medieval magazines and her TV work includes Australian Television’s Who Do You Think You Are?
Her previous books include: Heroines of the Medieval World, Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest, Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth-Century England, Defenders of the Norman Crown: Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey, King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye, Women of the Anarchy, Heroines of the Tudor World and Scotland’s Medieval Queens: From St Margaret to Margaret of Denmark.
I am very happy today to welcome historian Catherine Hanley to History…the Interesting Bits in a new instalment of my Author Spotlight series, Wordly Women. Catherine is the author of Matilda, 1217 and her latest book, Lionessheart, about Joanna, the sister of Richard the Lionheart. Catherine also writes a historical fiction A Medieval Mystery series under the name C.B. Hanley, following the adventures of Edwin Weaver, bailiff of Conisbrough Castle and its lord, William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Warenne and Surrey. It is a fabulous series that I can highly recommend!
Sharon: So, Catherine, what got you into writing?
Catherine: Oddly, that question is kind of the wrong way round for me. When I did my PhD I was reading and writing all day every day for years; after it was finished and I got a full-time job that didn’t involve writing, I missed it so much that I just had to take it up on top of work. As the cliché goes, I write because I simply can’t *not* write. Eventually, over the years, it came to replace the day job rather than being an add-on.
Sharon: You write both fiction and non-fiction – is one harder than the other?
Catherine: On a day when I’m writing fiction, I’d say non-fiction was easier, and vice versa …
Sharon: Tell us about your books.
Catherine: My non-fiction mainly explores different facets of war and politics in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries – sometimes via biographies of individuals, and sometimes in the form of more wide-ranging surveys.
My fiction is a series of murder mysteries set during the early thirteenth century, during and just after the French invasion that followed the Magna Carta wars. My main characters are fictional, but the stories are set against a factual backdrop, with some real people in the background. It all started because, during some academic research, I discovered that a certain high-profile individual had changed sides twice during that war, but nobody knew why. So I decided to make up a (plausible!) story about why this had happened, and then once I’d started I just kept going.
Sharon: What attracts you to the 13th century?
Catherine: It is the best century, and I will be taking no further questions and entering into no arguments on this subject. (Sharon: no argument from me! I totally agree with this analysis!)
Sharon: Who is your favourite 13th century personality and why?
Catherine: OK, so this is very niche, but it’s Philip of Dreux, a member of a cadet branch of the Capetian royal house, who was the bishop of Beauvais in France. He was a younger son, so he’d been ‘donated’ to the Church by his family early in life. Unfortunately for him this had been done purely on the basis of birth order rather than aptitude or inclination, and he was one of the most bellicose men you could imagine. He fought in the Third Crusade, during which he travelled to Cyprus to tell Richard the Lionheart to his face that he should stop ‘arrogantly persecuting innocent Christians when close by there were still so many thousands of Saracens whom he should be attacking’, which went down about as well as you might expect. He was still going decades later, and fought in battle of Bouvines when aged in his sixties; there he battered the much younger earl of Salisbury to the ground with a mace ‘that he happened to have in his hand’, which is one of the best primary-source lines you’ll ever read.
If I ever decide to write a new series of novels when my current one is finished, the bishop of Beauvais and his mace are going to have starring roles …
Sharon: Who is your least favourite 13th century personality and why?
Catherine: It’s unfortunate for the purposes of this question that Richard the Lionheart died in 1199, thus making him a personality of the twelfth century, so I can’t nominate him! I also think that William Marshal has been vastly overrated.
Sharon: How do you approach researching your topic?
Catherine: I read A LOT, making sure that I’m consulting a wide range of primary sources rather than merely relying on what other people have said in secondary sources.
Sharon: Tell us your ‘favourite’ medieval story you have come across in your research.
Catherine: Basically the entire career of Philip Augustus of France, but I can’t give you too many spoilers on that just now …
Sharon: Tell us your least ‘favourite’ medieval story you have come across in your research.
Catherine: It’s always difficult reading about the many atrocities that took place in the past. One that got to me quite recently was the sad tale of Owain ap Dafydd, the son of Welsh prince Dafydd ap Gruffudd. Dafydd was captured by Edward I and then hanged, drawn and quartered, and his two sons were sentenced to harsh imprisonment. The elder of them died not long afterwards, but Owain, who was 7 when he was incarcerated, lived on for more than 40 years. He was kept in solitary confinement (and, as an adult, actually in a cage), and this stunted his mental as well as his physical development. A sad letter was later sent on his behalf asking if he could please have more adequate food and clothing, and whether he might be allowed out of his cell occasionally ‘to play’. He was at that point 37.
Sharon: Are there any other eras you would like to write about?
Catherine: Not really. There’s still so much to be discovered and said about the twelfth and thirteenth centuries that I can happily spend the rest of my career there, although I do venture occasionally into the fourteenth. The thought of writing about anything post-medieval gives me a nosebleed.
Sharon: What are you working on now?
Catherine: *Takes a deep breath* As ever, I have several projects on the go, all at different stages. In non-fiction, I’m at page-proof stage for Nemesis: Medieval England’s Greatest Enemy (about the French king Philip Augustus), for publication in September 2025; almost at manuscript delivery stage for Women in Medieval Families (for 2026 publication) and in the early stages of a whopping volume called The English at War in the Middle Ages for 2027.
In fiction, A Pale Horse, number 9 in my series of medieval mysteries, is due out in June 2025, and I’m having some initial thoughts about book 10.
That’s probably enough to be getting on with!
Sharon: And finally, what is the best thing about being a writer?
Catherine: Being able to sit in a roomful of books by myself all day and lose myself in the Middle Ages. It’s such a privilege that I can still hardly believe it’s happening.
About the Author:
Dr Catherine Hanley holds a PhD in Medieval Studies and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. After producing several scholarly publications she decided to write something more interesting, and she now splits her time between writing popular history and historical fiction.
Catherine: I have no social media (anyone who wants to contact me may do so by writing in ink on parchment and then sending it via a messenger on a fast horse).
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online store.
Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens
Scotland’s history is dramatic, violent and bloody. Being England’s northern neighbour has never been easy. Scotland’s queens have had to deal with war, murder, imprisonment, political rivalries and open betrayal. They have loved and lost, raised kings and queens, ruled and died for Scotland. From St Margaret, who became one of the patron saints of Scotland, to Elizabeth de Burgh and the dramatic story of the Scottish Wars of Independence, to the love story and tragedy of Joan Beaufort, to Margaret of Denmark and the dawn of the Renaissance, Scotland’s Medieval Queens have seen it all. This is the story of Scotland through their eyes.
‘Scotland’s Medieval Queens gives a thorough grounding in the history of the women who ruled Scotland at the side of its kings, often in the shadows, but just as interesting in their lives beyond the spotlight. It’s not a subject that has been widely covered, and Sharon is a pioneer in bringing that information into accessible history.’ Elizabeth Chadwick (New York Times bestselling author)
Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available for pre-order from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK.Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how Empress Matilda and Matilda of Boulogne, unable to wield a sword themselves, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It shows how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other. Available from Bookshop.org, Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon.
Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.
Podcast:
Have a listen to theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Michael Jecks, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved. Every episode is also now available on YouTube.
And we will be chatting with Catherine Hanley about Joanna Plantagenet, Lionessheart, in a couple of months!
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Don’t forget!Signed and dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online store.
For forthcoming online and in-person talks, please check out my Events Page.
22 August is a famous date in history. The Battle of Bosworth, on 22 August 1485 is often seen as the end of one era and the beginning of another: the end of the medieval age and the beginning of the early modern. It was the end of the royal line of the Plantagenets, begun under Henry II in 1154 and ended with the death of Richard III on that fateful August day. It was the advent of, arguably, the most famous royal house in history: the house of Tudor, which ruled England from 1485 to 1603.
But Bosworth was not the only battle fought on English soil on 22 August. 347 years before, during the period known to history as the Anarchy, when King Stephen stole the English throne from his cousin Empress Matilda. At Northallerton in North Yorkshire, an English army faced a Scots army in what would come to be known as the Battle of the Standard; between the forces of King Stephen and those of his wife’s uncle – and also the uncle of Empress Matilda – David I, King of Scots.
On his marriage to Matilda de Senlis, arranged by his brother-in-law King Henry, David acquired lands in Northampton, Bedford, Cambridge and Huntingdon, as well as lands stretching from South Yorkshire to Middlesbrough, which would become known as the ‘honour of Huntingdon’. By the first Treaty of Durham, agreed in February 1136, at which David had refused to do homage to Stephen but allowed his son to do so, young Henry was given Doncaster and the lordship of Carlisle. He also received his mother’s inheritance, the honour and earldom of Huntingdon, paying homage for these lands to King Stephen at York. At Stephen’s Easter court that same year, Henry sat at the king’s right hand, his royal birth giving him precedence ahead of the English earls. This infuriated Earl Ranulf of Chester, who had wanted Carlisle for himself, and Simon (II) de Senlis, Henry’s older half-brother, who maintained a rival claim to the Huntingdon lands.
David I King of Scots
The two barons withdrew from the court in disgust. As the grandson of Earl Waltheof, Henry also demanded the earldom of Northumberland. When Stephen refused to relinquish it, Scottish raids into Northumberland were renewed. David was ostensibly arguing that he was supporting his niece, Empress Matilda, in her struggle with Stephen over the English crown, though his actual motives were far from selfless. The Gesta Stephani was generous in assessing the Scots king’s dilemma:
In Scotland, which borders on England, with a river fixing the boundary between the two kingdoms, there was a king of a gentle heart, born of religious parents and equal to them in his just way of living. Since he had in the presence of King Henry, together with the other magnates of the kingdom, or rather first of all of them, bound himself with an oath that on King Henry’s death he would recognise no-one as his successor except his daughter or her heir, he was greatly vexed that Stephen had come to take the tiller of the kingdom of the English. But because it had been planned and carried out by the barons themselves without consulting him he wisely pondered the ultimate result and waited quietly for some time to see what end the enterprise would come.1
In the early months of 1138, David had exploited Stephen’s preoccupation with the siege of Bedford Castle to lead a foray into Northumberland. The Scots king was apparently spurred on by a letter from Empress Matilda ‘stating that she had been disinherited and deprived of the kingdom promised to her on oath, that the laws had been made of no account, justice trampled under foot, the fealty of the barons of England and the compact to which they had sworn broken and utterly disregarded, and therefore she humbly and mournfully besought him to aid her as a relation, since she was abandoned, and assist her as one bound to her by oath, since she was in distress’.2
Empress Matilda depicted in an image from the Gospels of Henry the Lion.
Whether acting in response to his niece’s pleas or to pursue his own interests, David had moved south in January 1138. He had besieged Wark Castle and led a chevauchée further south. However, he had retreated into the Scottish borders when Stephen brought a substantial force against him. From Roxburgh, David awaited the departure of the English army before renewing his campaign. The Scots ventured across the border, once again, on 8 April, this time targeting the coastal regions of Northumberland and County Durham in a campaign of plunder and waste. Stephen was now tied up in the south in campaigns against various rebel barons, including William Fitz Alan, who was married to a niece of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, and Arnulf of Hesdin, who held Shrewsbury Castle against the king.
Robert of Gloucester, Empress Matilda’s illegitimate half-brother, had finally made a move in favour of his sister, issuing Stephen with a diffidatio, a chivalric device which was a formal statement of renunciation of allegiance and homage. According to William of Malmesbury, Robert ‘sent representatives and abandoned friendship and faith with the king in the traditional way, also renouncing homage, giving as the reason that his action was just, because the king had both unlawfully claimed the throne and disregarded, not to say betrayed, all the faith he had sworn to him’.3
David took advantage of these distractions and again crossed the River Tees with a Scottish army in July. He sent two Scottish barons to lay siege to Wark Castle while he headed further south. Eustace fitz John, deprived of Bamburgh Castle by King Stephen but still in control of Alnwick, chose to add his own forces to those of King David. The army marched past Bamburgh until the garrison, believing themselves impregnable, taunted the Scots from the safety of the castle’s formidable walls. The Scots promptly attacked, breaking down the barricades and killing everyone in the castle. Bernard de Baliol was then sent north by King Stephen and he and Robert de Bruce were tasked with discussing terms with the Scots. The proposal was that if the Scots went home, Prince Henry would be given the earldom of Northumberland. David rejected the offer.
Stephen, it seems, was beset on all sides, with invaders on his northern borders, rebellion within his kingdom and trouble across the Channel in Normandy. He employed all his senior commanders in putting out the fires – including his wife, Queen Matilda. In the late summer of 1138, following the capitulation of Shrewsbury, Stephen had hanged that town’s entire garrison, learning from his leniency at Exeter. He then ‘besieged Dover with a strong force on the landward side, and sent word to [Queen Matilda’s] friends and kinsmen and dependents in Boulogne to blockade the force by sea. The people of Boulogne proved obedient, gladly carried out their lady’s commands and, with a great fleet of ships, closed the narrow strait to prevent the garrison receiving any supplies.’4 This military pressure, combined with the persuasive power of Robert de Ferrers, father-in-law of the rebel garrison’s commander, Walchelin Maminot, caused Walchelin to surrender to the queen, in late August or early September. The retribution meted out to the Shrewsbury garrison was probably another persuasive argument to the recalcitrant defenders.
Coin of Prince Henry of Scotland
David had overplayed his hand by allowing his troops from Galloway to plunder the countryside, thus uniting the northern barons in their determination to put an end to these all-too-frequent Scottish forays into England. With Stephen, his loyal generals and his wife occupied with rebels in the south of England, the defence of the north fell to Thurstan, Archbishop of York since 1115 and nearing his seventieth year. Placing the archbishop in command was a move which would prevent baronial squabbling over seniority. Thurstan called for a crusade against the Scots and mustered his army at York. The Scots refused all offers of negotiations, so the archbishop marched his force to Northallerton in Yorkshire, just 30 miles north-west of York. Calling upon holy favour, the army was preceded by the banners of St Peter, St John of Beverly and St Wilfrid of Ripon, flying on a mast which itself was mounted on a carriage.
On 22 August 1138, with the carriage supporting the standards placed on the summit of the southernmost of two hillocks next to the Darlington road, the troops were arrayed to the front of their standards. Above the emblems of the saints a banner read, ‘Body of the Lord, to be their standard-bearer and the leader of their battle.’5 It is from this pious display that the ensuing clash, the Battle of the Standard, would get its name. The English forces were formed in three groups, with dismounted men-at-arms in the front rank, a body of knights around the standards and the shire levies deployed at the rear and on both flanks. The Scots were drawn up on the northern hillock, with men-at-arms and archers in the front and the poorly equipped men from Galloway and the Highlanders in the rear. The unarmoured men from Galloway complained bitterly about being placed in the rear and demanded the rightful place of honour in the front of the battleline, to the extent that King David, against his better judgement, granted them their wish to spearhead the attack. Prince Henry took command of the right flank, comprising the troops from Strathclyde and the eastern Lowlands and a body of mounted knights. The left was formed of men from the western Highlands. The king led the small reserve, made up of the men from Moray and the eastern Highlands.
The presence of the apostle and two Yorkshire saints in their force, arrayed against a foe containing a contingent of Picts, led to a sense among the English that they were on a noble crusade. According to Henry of Huntingdon, the Bishop of Durham then gave a stirring speech before the bishops and priests retreated from the field:
Memorial to the Battle of the Standard, Northallerton
… Rouse yourselves, then, gallant soldiers, and bear down on an accursed enemy with the courage of your race and in the presence of God. Let not their impetuosity shake you, since the many tokens of our valour do not deter them. They do not cover themselves with armour in war; you are in the constant practice of arms in time of peace, that you may be at no loss in the chances at the day of battle. Your head is covered with the helmet, your breast with a coat of mail, your legs with greaves and your whole body with shield. Where can the enemy strike you when he finds you sheathed in steel … It is not so much the multitude of a host, as the valour of a few which is decisive. Numbers, without discipline, are a hindrance to success in the attack and to retreat in defeat. Your ancestors were often victorious when they were but a few against many…6
As the English soldiers shouted out ‘Amen! Amen!’ in response to the bishop’s speech, the Scottish army advanced with their own battle cry of ‘Alban! Alban!’ on their lips. The men of Galloway launched the initial attack and ‘bore down on the English mailed knights with a cloud of darts and their long spears’.7 The unclothed Galwegians had no protection against the hail of arrows and English swords, though their sheer ferocity saw them temporarily breach the English front rank. Even so, they could get no further: ‘The whole army of English and Normans stood fast around the Standard in one solid body.’8 It was a stalemate that Prince Henry attempted to break by leading a mounted charge against the English forces. Although he sustained heavy losses, the prince broke through the English ranks and continued towards the enemy’s rear, reaching the horse lines. The English closed ranks before the Scots foot soldiers could take advantage of the gap created by the prince’s charge.
Henry of Huntingdon reserves praise for the prince: ‘[David’s] brave son, heedless of what his countrymen were doing, and inspired only by his ardour for the fight and for glory, made a fierce attack, with the remnant of the fugitives on the enemy’s ranks … But this body of cavalry could by no means make any impression against men sheathed in armour, and fighting on foot in a close column; so that they were compelled to retire with wounded horses and shattered lances, after a brilliant but unsuccessful attack.’9 Finding himself marooned behind enemy lines, the prince ordered his men to discard any identifying badges and mingle with the English forces until they could escape. The ruse worked and the prince was able to make his way back to Carlisle.
According to Huntingdon, the men of Galloway were put to flight when their chief fell, pierced by an arrow. Fighting along the line, and having seen what befell the Galwegians, the remainder of the Scots army began to falter. Seeing that the battle was lost, men began to flee. It began as a trickle, but soon the greater part of the army was in retreat. King David had chosen the greatest of the Scottish knights as his personal guard, and they remained steadfast almost to the last. Once they saw the battle was lost, they persuaded the king to call for his horse and retreat rather than risk death or capture. Henry of Huntingdon reports 11,000 Scottish dead against few English casualties, with Gilbert de Lacy’s brother the only English knight to fall on the field of battle.
The English, however, failed to pursue the fleeing Scots. David was therefore able to march his surviving army north to join the forces that had been besieging Wark Castle since June. Satisfied that they had seen off the Scottish threat, the English had withdrawn, leaving only a small contingent in the field to reduce Eustace fitz John’s castle at Malton. Negotiations for peace could then begin:
Durham Cathedral
After the war between the two kings had lasted for a long time, created terrible disorder, and brought widespread calamity, a peace mission was sent out by God’s will; travelling to and fro between the two kings, who were exhausted by the slaughter, destruction, ceaseless anxieties, and hardships, the envoys succeeded in restoring harmony between them.10
A truce was arranged at Carlisle at the end of September 1138 and negotiations for a lasting peace began in earnest. On 9 April 1139, the Treaty of Durham was concluded between King Stephen and David of Scotland. As part of the treaty, Henry of Scotland would marry Ada de Warenne, daughter of William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Warenne and Surrey. Not that peace would prevent King David from continuing to aid his niece, Empress Matilda, in her struggles against King Stephen, but that is another story.
Notes:
1. K. R. Potter (trans.), Gesta Stephani; 2. ibid; 3. William of Malmesbury quoted in Matthew Lewis, Stephen and Matilda’s Civil War: Cousins of Anarchy; 4. John of Worcester quoted in Patricia A. Dark, The Career of Matilda of Boulogne as Countess and Queen in England, 1135-1152; 5. Matthew Lewis, Stephen and Matilda’s Civil War; 6. Thomas Forester (trans. and ed.), The Chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon. Comprising the history of England, from the invasion of Julius Caesar to the accession of Henry II. Also,the Acts of Stephen, King of England and Duke of Normandy; 7. ibid; 8. ibid; 9. ibid; 10. Ordericus Vitalis, The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, 1075-1143, book XIII.
Potter, K. R. (trans.), Gesta Stephani; Matthew Lewis, Stephen and Matilda’s Civil War: Cousins of Anarchy; Patricia A. Dark, The Career of Matilda of Boulogne as Countess and Queen in England, 1135-1152; Thomas Forester (trans. and ed.), The Chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon. Comprising the history of England, from the invasion of Julius Caesar to the accession of Henry II. Also, the Acts of Stephen, King of England and Duke of Normandy; David Smurthwaite, The Complete Guide to the Battlefields of Britain; David Crouch, The Reign of King Stephen; Keith Stringer, ‘Henry, Earl of Northumberland (c. 1115-1152)’, Oxforddnb.com; G.W.S. Barrow, ‘David I (c. 1185-1153)’, Oxforddnb.com; Keith Stringer, ‘Ada [née Ada de Warenne], countess of Northumberland (c. 1123-1178)’, Oxforddnb.com; Victoria Chandler, ‘Ada de Warenne, Queen Mother of Scotland (c. 1123-1178)’, The Scottish Historical Review, Vol. 60, no. 170; Farrer, W. and C. T. Clay (eds), Early Yorkshire Charters, Volume 8: The Honour of Warenne; Henry of Huntingdon, The History of the English People 1000–1154; Catherine Hanley, Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior; Marjorie Chibnall, The Empress Matilda: Queen Consort, Queen Mother and Lady of the English; Edmund King, King Stephen.
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My Books
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online store.
Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens
Scotland’s history is dramatic, violent and bloody. Being England’s northern neighbour has never been easy. Scotland’s queens have had to deal with war, murder, imprisonment, political rivalries and open betrayal. They have loved and lost, raised kings and queens, ruled and died for Scotland. From St Margaret, who became one of the patron saints of Scotland, to Elizabeth de Burgh and the dramatic story of the Scottish Wars of Independence, to the love story and tragedy of Joan Beaufort, to Margaret of Denmark and the dawn of the Renaissance, Scotland’s Medieval Queens have seen it all. This is the story of Scotland through their eyes.
‘Scotland’s Medieval Queens gives a thorough grounding in the history of the women who ruled Scotland at the side of its kings, often in the shadows, but just as interesting in their lives beyond the spotlight. It’s not a subject that has been widely covered, and Sharon is a pioneer in bringing that information into accessible history.’ Elizabeth Chadwick (New York Times bestselling author)
Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK.Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how Empress Matilda and Matilda of Boulogne, unable to wield a sword themselves, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It shows how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other. Available from Bookshop.org, Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon.
Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.
Podcast:
Have a listen to theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved. There are now over 70 episodes to listen to!
Few periods in history have brought women to the fore, to the centre of events, as the Anarchy did in England. From 1135 to 1154, conflict raged when Stephen of Blois usurped the throne that rightfully belonged to his cousin Empress Matilda. During the lifetime of Henry I – Matilda’s father and Stephen’s uncle – Stephen had twice sworn oaths to guarantee the succession for Matilda. But when the time came, when Henry died on 1 December 1135, Stephen broke those oaths, and had himself crowned king in Westminster Abbey just 3 weeks after his uncle’s death.
If he thought Matilda would just accept losing her crown and stay at home with the children, Stephen was sorely mistaken. Pregnant with her third child at the time of her father’s death, Matilda had to bide her time, for a little while. And, as her husband Geoffrey of Anjou campaigned on her behalf in Normandy, Matilda landed in England on 30 September 1139 and her own campaign to claim the crown began.
And she nearly won.
The First Battle of Lincoln
Lincoln Castle
Early in 1141, news reached King Stephen that Ranulf de Gernons, the disgruntled Earl of Chester, had captured Lincoln Castle. Disappointed in his aspirations to Carlisle and Cumberland after they were given to Prince Henry of Scotland, Ranulf had turned his sights on Lincoln Castle, which had once been held by his mother, Lucy of Bolingbroke, Countess of Chester. Countess Lucy had died around 1138, leaving her Lincolnshire lands to her son by her second marriage, William de Roumare, Ranulf’s half-brother. Her lands elsewhere had been left to Ranulf de Gernons, who was the son of her third marriage, to Ranulf le Meschin, Earl of Chester.
It seems that in late 1140 Ranulf and his brother had contrived to gain possession of Lincoln Castle by subterfuge. As the story goes, the two brothers waited until the castle garrison had gone hunting before sending their wives to visit the castellan’s wife. A short while after, Earl Ranulf appeared at the castle gates, wearing no armour and with only three attendants, supposedly to collect his wife and sister-in-law. Once allowed inside, he and his men overpowered the small number of men-at-arms left to guard the castle and opened the gates to his brother. The half-brothers took control of the castle and, with it, the city of Lincoln.
The citizens of Lincoln appealed to the king, who had promptly arrived outside the castle walls by 6 January 1141 and began his siege. Earl Ranulf somehow escaped from the castle and returned to his lands in Chester in order to raise more troops. He also took the opportunity to appeal to his father-in-law for aid. Ranulf’s father-in-law was, Robert, Earl of Gloucester, the illegitimate son of Henry I and brother of Empress Matilda. A very capable soldier, Earl Robert commanded Matilda’s military forces and his daughter, Maud of Gloucester – Ranulf’s wife – was still trapped inside Lincoln Castle. If the need to rescue his daughter was not enough motivation to persuade Robert to intercede at Lincoln, Ranulf also promised to switch his allegiance, and his considerable resources, to Empress Matilda. Robert marched to Lincoln, meeting up with his son-in-law along the way. The earls’ forces arrived on the outskirts of Lincoln on 1 February, crossed the Fossdyke and the River Witham and arrayed for battle. Their rapid approach caught Stephen unawares. Outnumbered, Stephen was advised to withdraw his forces, until he could muster enough men to make an even fight of it.
Stephen, perhaps remembering the destruction of his father’s reputation after his flight from Antioch, refused to withdraw. He would stand and fight. The next morning, 2 February 1141, before battle was joined, King Stephen attended a solemn mass in the cathedral; according to Henry of Huntingdon, who claimed Bishop Alexander of Lincoln as his patron and may well have been present, the service was replete with ill omens:
‘But when, following custom, he offered a candle fit for a king and was putting it into Bishop Alexander’s hands, it broke into pieces. This was a warning to the king that he would be crushed. In the bishop’s presence, too, the pyx above the altar, which contained the Lord’s Body, fell, its chain having snapped off. This was a sign of the king’s downfall.’
Henry of Huntingdon, The History of the English People 1000-1154
After mass, the king led his forces through Lincoln’s West Gate, deploying them either on the slope leading down to the Fossdyke or possibly at the bottom of the slope, on Carrholme. King Stephen formed his army into three divisions, with mounted troops on each flank and the infantry in the centre. On the right flank were the forces of Waleran de Meulan, William de Warenne, Simon de Senlis, Gilbert of Hertford, Alan of Richmond and Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk. The left was commanded by William of Aumale and William of Ypres, Stephen’s trusted mercenary captain, who led a force of Flemish and Breton troops. The centre comprised the shire levy, which included citizens of Lincoln, and Stephen’s own men-at-arms, fighting on foot around the royal standard.
1141 Battle of Lincoln from Historia Anglorum
The opposing army also deployed in three divisions, with ‘the disinherited’, those deprived of their lands by King Stephen, on the left. The infantry, comprising of Earl Ranulf’s Cheshire tenants and other levies, and dismounted knights were in the centre under Earl Ranulf himself. The cavalry, under the command of Earl Robert of Gloucester formed the right flank. The Welsh mercenaries, ‘ill armed but full of spirits’ were arrayed on the wings of the army. Before the battle, Henry of Huntingdon reports, speeches were heard from both sides, exhorting the men to battle and insulting the opposing commanders.
Baldwin fitz Gilbert spoke for King Stephen, whose voice did not carry well. According to Henry of Huntingdon, the armies were mobilising before his speech ended. The rebels were the first to advance, ‘the shouts of the advancing enemy were heard, mingled with the blasts of their trumpets, and the trampling of the horses, making the ground to quake.’ The ranks of the ‘disinherited’ moved forward with swords drawn, rather than lowered lances, intent on close quarter combat. This left flank of the rebel army fell upon Stephen’s right flank, ‘in which were Earl Alan, the Earl of Mellent [Meulan], with Hugh, the Earl of East Anglia [Norfolk], and Earl Symon, and the Earl of Warenne, with so much impetuosity that it was routed in the twinkling of an eye, one part being slain, another taken prisoner and the third put to flight.’ Faced with the ferocity of the assault and the very real prospect of death, rather than being taken prisoner and held for ransom, the earls fled the field with the remnants of their men. It was every man for himself as Stephen’s right wing disintegrated in panic.2
The left wing of the royal army appeared to have greater success, at least initially. The men of William of Aumale, Earl of York and Stephen’s mercenary captain, William of Ypres, rode down the Earl of Chester’s Welsh mercenaries and sent them running, but ‘the followers of the Earl of Chester attacked this body of horse, and it was scattered in a moment like the rest.’3 Other sources suggest that William of Ypres and William of Aumale fled before coming to close quarters with the enemy.4 Either way, William of Ypres’ men were routed and he was in no position to support the king and so fled the field, no doubt aware that he would not be well-treated were he to be captured.
Stephen’s centre, the infantry, including the Lincolnshire levies and the king’s own men-at-arms, were left isolated and surrounded, but continued to fight. Stephen himself was prominent in the vicious hand-to-hand fighting that followed. Henry of Huntingdon vividly describes the desperate scene as ‘the battle raged terribly round this circle; helmets and swords gleamed as they clashed, and the fearful screams and shouts re-echoed from the neighbouring hill and city walls.’5 The rebel cavalry charged into the royal forces killing many, trampling others and capturing some. King Stephen was deep in the midst of the fighting:
‘No respite, no breathing time was allowed, except in the quarter in which the king himself had taken his stand, where the assailants recoiled from the unmatched force of his terrible arm. The Earl of Chester seeing this, and envious of the glory the king was gaining, threw himself upon him with the whole weight of his men-at-arms. Even then the king’s courage did not fail, but his heavy battle-axe gleamed like lightning, striking down some, bearing back others. At length it was shattered by repeated blows, then he drew his well-tried sword, with which he wrought wonders until that, too, was broken.’
Henry of Huntingdon, The History of the English People 1000-1154;
According to Orderic Vitalis and the Gesta Stephani, it was the king’s sword that broke first, before he was passed a battle-axe by one of the fighting citizens of Lincoln, in order to continue the fight. Whatever the order, the king’s weapons were now useless and the king ‘fell to the ground by a blow from a stone.’6 Stephen was stunned and a soldier named William de Cahaignes then rushed at him, seized him by his helmet and shouted, ‘Here! Here! I have taken the king!’
The king’s forces being completely surrounded, flight was impossible. All were killed or taken prisoner, including Baldwin fitz Gilbert, the man who had given the rousing pre-battle speech to the men. In the immediate aftermath of the fighting, Lincoln was sacked, buildings set alight, valuables pillaged, and its citizens slaughtered by the victorious rebels.
Lady of the English
Empress Matilda depicted in an image from the Gospels of Henry the Lion.
Defeated, Stephen was first taken to Empress Matilda and then to imprisonment at Bristol Castle. A victorious Matilda was recognised as sovereign by the English people.
As for Matilda, ‘the lady empress-queen, Henry’s daughter, who was staying at Gloucester, was overjoyed at this event, having now, as it appeared to her, got possession of the kingdom for which fealty had been sworn to her’. As the Gesta Stephani, always insistent on naming Matilda countess rather than empress,relates, ‘the greater part of the kingdom at once submitted to the countess and her adherents and some of the king’s men, involved in sudden disasters, were being either captured or forcibly expelled from their possessions; others, very quickly foreswearing the faith they owed to the king, were voluntarily surrendering themselves and what was theirs to the countess’.
A victorious Matilda was recognised as sovereign by the English people, being named Lady of the English as Winchester in March.
Queen Matilda
Matilda of Boulogne, Queen of England
And Stephen’s greatest asset now showed her mettle.
In April, Stephen’s wife, Queen Matilda, sent a letter that was read out at the Legatine Council in Winchester, presided over by Henry of Blois, papal legate and Bishop of Winchester – and brother of King Stephen. The queen pleaded with the clergy to release the king from his imprisonment and restore him to the throne. As may have been expected, Bishop Henry refused to give in to the queen’s request, but her pleas may have affected a delegation of Londoners, also present, who were still openly loyal to Stephen and would see Queen Matilda’s letter as encouragement for them to maintain their position in the face of the bishop’s persuasion. Clearly the empress had a long way to go before the Londoners would admit her into the capital for her coronation at Westminster Abbey.
However, by mid-June, the empress was at Westminster, outside the city walls of London.
Empress Matilda was now at the height of her success. Her rival was in her custody, the church was on her side, she had the keys to the royal treasury and was about to make a ceremonial entry into London, her capital: ‘The empress, as we have already said, having treated with the Londoners, lost no time in entering the city with a great attendance of bishops and nobles: and being received at Westminster with a magnificent procession, took up her abode there for some days to set in order the affairs of the kingdom.’ Her uncle David, King of Scots and her half-brothers Robert of Gloucester and Reginald de Dunstanville, now Earl of Cornwall, were by her side.
Empress versus Queen
Oxford Castle
With her husband held in chains in Bristol castle, Matilda of Boulogne, Queen of England, wife of King Stephen and cousin of Empress Matilda, stepped into the fight. She first tried to negotiate, offering to take Stephen into exile if Matilda would at least guarantee their son’s inheritance of their ancestral lands. The empress refused, perhaps remembering that no such guarantee was ever made to her son, Henry, dispossessed of his inheritance by Stephen’s usurpation of the crown. Undeterred, Queen Matilda established a secure base in Kent, from where she raised an army to march on London, burning and ravaging the countryside surrounding the capital. It was becoming apparent that the struggle was far from over. A final masterstroke was when she moved up William of Ypres and his Flemish mercenaries, to threaten London, thus inducing the Londoners to turn against the empress.
Henry, Bishop of Winchester, deserted the empress and joined the queen, promising to expend his efforts on obtaining the release of the king, his brother.
The empress’s success was turning sour.
On the eve of the empress’s ceremonial entrance into the capital, the city’s church bells rang out, a prearranged signal for the citizens to rise against the empress and open the gates to the queen’s approaching army. Empress Matilda was still at Westminster, ‘reclining at a well-cooked feast’. Westminster was an unfortified palace that was not easily defensible and ‘being, however, forewarned by some of them, she fled shamefully with her retinue, leaving all her own and their apparel behind’.
The empress had no choice. She and her supporters rode for Oxford. Although things appeared precarious, all was not lost. Queen Matilda now held London, but the empress still had Stephen in her custody and room for manoeuvre. By the end of July, the empress and her army were riding south. As she approached Winchester, the empress sent a request to Bishop Henry to meet her outside the city, at which point he promptly fled to join Queen Matilda at Guildford.
The Rout of Winchester
Robert of Gloucester and his wife, Mabel
Winchester had two castles: the royal castle, which held for the empress, and Wolvesey, a palatial castle in the south-eastern corner of the city that was the residence of Bishop Henry of Winchester, though he was not at home at the time. Empress Matilda arrived at the royal castle of Winchester on 31 July and began the siege of Wolvesey on 1 August 1141.
In defiance, the garrison of the bishop’s castle threw burning material from the ramparts which, in the summer heat, quickly set the whole city ablaze. The stone cathedral survived, but much of the town, built in wood with thatched roofs, was lost. The devastation meant the city’s population had lost their homes and livelihoods, and the empress’s army were deprived of shelter and provisions. Worse, Queen Matilda was now approaching with an army of her own and, in turn, besieged the empress.
The empress’s army was trapped.
Surrounded, with the city in flames and supplies running short, the empress was forced to flee for her life. In the retreat, her half-brother and leading general, Robert, Earl of Gloucester, was captured.
Queen Matilda now had her own bargaining chip. As much as she needed her husband returned to her, the empress needed her brother.
Prisoner Exchange
Henry II
The practical arrangements for the exchange were rather complicated, with neither side trusting the other to hold to the bargain. On 1 November 1141, Queen Matilda surrendered at Bristol Castle, with one of her sons and two unidentified magnates, so that Stephen could be set at liberty. The king then rode to Winchester, where Earl Robert had been taken under guard, and on his arrival on 3 November the earl was freed, leaving his eldest son and heir, William of Gloucester, as surety. When the earl reached Bristol, the queen, her son and the two unnamed magnates were set at liberty and returned to Winchester. At that point, William of Gloucester was freed as well. After nine months of harsh imprisonment, Stephen was free at last.
By Christmas 1141, having endured nine months of incarceration, Stephen was back on his throne and celebrating the festive season at Canterbury, where he was symbolically re-crowned by the archbishop of Canterbury, with his queen by his side.
The empress was faced with the realisation of how close she had come to winning it all.
But lost.
At least she had her brother back and the fight was far from over.
The war would drag on until Stephen’s death in 1154, but the empress never came as close again to winning the crown. She eventually passed the baton to her son, Henry FitzEmpress, who would reign as Henry II. It was a kind of victory: it was her son who succeeded King Stephen rather than his own. Empress Matilda could ultimately claim victory as the crown returned to her line and that of her father, Henry I.
Gesta Stephani, translated by K. R. Potter; Henry of Huntingdon, The History of the English People 1000-1154; Marjorie Chibnall, The Empress Matilda: Queen Consort, Queen Mother and Lady of the English; Teresa Cole, The Anarchy: The Darkest Days of Medieval England; Catherine Hanley, Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior; Helen Castor, She-Wolves: The Women who Ruled England before Elizabeth; Robert Bartlett, England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings; J. Sharpe (trans.), The History of the Kings of England and of his Own Times by William Malmesbury; Orderici Vitalis, Historiae ecclesiasticae libri tredecem, translated by Auguste Le Prévost; Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II and Richard I; Edmund King, King Stephen; Donald Matthew, King Stephen; Matthew Lewis, Stephen and Matilda’s Civil War: Cousins of Anarchy.
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Out Now!Women of the Anarchy
Two cousins. On the one side is Empress Matilda, or Maud. The sole surviving legitimate child of Henry I, she is fighting for her birthright and that of her children. On the other side is her cousin, Queen Matilda, supporting her husband, King Stephen, and fighting to see her own son inherit the English crown. Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how these women, unable to wield a sword, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It show how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other.
Coming on 15 June 2024: Heroines of the Tudor World
Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. These are the women who made a difference, who influenced countries, kings and the Reformation. In the era dominated by the Renaissance and Reformation, Heroines of the Tudor World examines the threats and challenges faced by the women of the era, and how they overcame them. From writers to regents, from nuns to queens, Heroines of the Tudor World shines the spotlight on the women helped to shape Early Modern Europe.
King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops or direct from Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon. Defenders of the Norman Crown: The Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey tells the fascinating story of the Warenne dynasty, from its origins in Normandy, through the Conquest, Magna Carta, the wars and marriages that led to its ultimate demise in the reign of Edward III. Available from Pen & Sword Books, Amazon in the UK and US, and Bookshop.org.
Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.
Podcast:
Have a listen to theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Elizabeth Chadwick, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.
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King Stephen’s wife, Matilda of Boulogne, was a stalwart supporter of her husband. She was arguably more capable than Stephen and often took the initiative in diplomatic negotiations. Acting as Stephen’s wife, she offered a stark contrast to the independence and authority of Empress Matilda that so infuriated the barons. Matilda of Boulogne was a little more subtle than her imperious counterpart, only ever acting in her husband’s name, not her own. Even later, when she held the command of Stephen’s forces during his captivity in 1141, she claimed to act only on behalf of her husband and sons.
Matilda of Boulogne was an example of how a woman was expected to act and comport herself: strong and confident, but subject to her husband’s will. On this last, Empress Matilda failed in the eyes of the barons; she was acting for herself. In the event, the barons of England and Normandy despised her second husband, Geoffrey of Anjou, so they would have been even less receptive to Matilda had her husband tried to assert his authority. It was a conundrum that Matilda was never able to resolve, though she would not give up trying.
According to the Gesta Stephani (The Deeds of Stephen), Stephen of Blois was ‘by far the dearest of all his nephews to King Henry the peacemaker, not only because of the close family relationship, but also because he was peculiarly eminent for many conspicuous virtues’. Born at Blois in or around 1096, Stephen was the third son of Adela and her husband, Stephen, Count of Blois and Chartres. His father was one of the leaders of the First Crusade and may well have departed for the Holy Land before – or shortly after – the younger Stephen’s birth. It is likely that young Stephen had little contact with his father; the count returned from crusade in 1198, only to depart again in 1201.
In 1125, it was King Henry who arranged for Stephen’s marriage to the daughter and sole heiress of the Count of Boulogne, Matilda. Matilda’s mother was Mary of Scotland, sister of Henry I’s first wife, Matilda of Scotland; the younger Matilda was therefore first cousin to Henry I’s daughter, Empress Matilda. The daughter of King Malcolm III Canmore and his queen Margaret of Wessex, Mary of Scotland could trace her illustrious heritage all the way back to Alfred the Great; she had been educated in England alongside her sister. Mary was married to Eustace III, Count of Boulogne, and their only child, Matilda, was probably born the following year, in 1105. The baby’s maternal aunt, Matilda of Scotland, stood as godmother. It is possible that, like her mother and aunt, young Matilda was educated at the convents of Wilton and Romsey. She was certainly a well-educated and capable woman. As we shall see, as an adult, she seems as erudite and well versed in politics as her husband, perhaps with an even better capacity for diplomacy.
Henry I, King of England
Mary of Scotland died when her daughter was around ten or eleven years old, on 31 May 1116. She was buried in the wealthy Cluniac house of Bermondsey Abbey in England.
The county of Boulogne lay within the greater county of Flanders. Nominally owing fealty to France, it was largely autonomous and held extensive interests in England, particularly in Essex and the south-east. The county also controlled one of the most important Channel crossings to England at Wissant. Keeping the county onside by marrying a reliable magnate to the heir to Boulogne was of great interest to Henry. As its heiress, Matilda of Boulogne was a figure of major political significance, her marriage deserving of careful consideration. Given that she was still unmarried at the age of twenty, with such a rich inheritance, it is possible that previous but unrecorded marital arrangements had fallen through, or that her father and uncle had taken extra care in ensuring that Matilda’s hand in marriage went to the right person.
By 1125, King Henry had been married to Adeliza of Louvain for four years, but no children had been born of the union. Likewise, Henry’s daughter, Empress Matilda, had yet to produce a living child and was at this stage more likely to be envisioning a future within the empire rather than as her father’s successor. King Henry may have been looking elsewhere for an heir to his throne; his Blois nephews, Theobald and Stephen, were the obvious candidates. As a bride to Stephen, Matilda of Boulogne would strengthen his claim to the throne, both by her Saxon royal blood and by the financial backing of the county of Boulogne.
Matilda of Boulogne and Stephen were married early in 1125, though the exact date is not recorded. Shortly after the marriage, Matilda’s father, Eustace, a former crusader, abdicated in favour of his son-in-law. Eustace retired to the Cluniac priory at Romilly, taking leave of his daughter and son-in-law in a public ceremony, probably followed by a private farewell, at the priory where he died a short time later, aged about seventy-five. As Count of Boulogne and Mortain, Stephen was now a man to be reckoned with, with considerable resources on both sides of the English Channel; he was the greatest landowner in Suffolk, Essex and the north-west of England.
Rule over the strategically important county of Boulogne would be a suitable training ground for Stephen to get used to exercising significant power in his own right. Through certain charters in the latter half of the 1120s, we can see Stephen administering his cross-Channel lordship. In 1127 he founded Furness Abbey in his lordship of Lancaster. The abbey’s mother house was located at Savigny, in Stephen’s county of Mortain. In the same year, Stephen granted the monks of Canterbury Cathedral priory an exemption from tolls at Wissant, the port through which they shipped their wine.
Empress Matilda depicted at the coronation of her granddaughter, Matilda of England, as Duchess of Saxony, in an image from the Gospels of Henry the Lion.
In marrying into the county of Boulogne, Stephen had joined a family well versed in commerce. He was heavily involved in the county’s business proceedings, usually mentioned alongside his wife, Matilda of Boulogne, who appears to have been the one in charge of the day-to-day management of the county. The Essex town of Colchester was the centre of administration for Boulogne’s interests in England. In the early years of Henry I’s reign the lands in Colchester had been identified as ‘the lands of Count Eustace,’ and were built up with the addition of lands that had belonged to Eudo Dapifer, also known as Iwun al Capel, brother-in-law of William the Conqueror and a member of the de la Haye family, until his death in 1120.
Stephen and Matilda were at Canterbury in person to confirm a charter to the monks of Christ Church, which gave the monks freedom from customs duties for the port of Wissant, granted by Count Eustace. The count and countess placed their sealed charter on the high altar of the abbey church; it is still held in the abbey archives. The ceremony was presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury himself, William Corbeil. In 1131, the couple wrote to the archbishop and the Bishop of Ely to notify them that they had transferred the secular rights of the church at Gamlingay in Cambridgeshire to the Augustinian canons of Colchester, ‘for the remission of our sins and those of our ancestors and for the safe preservation of our son, Eustace, and our other offspring and for our temporal well-being.’ This is the first mention of Eustace and dates his birth to no later than August 1131, when Hervey, Bishop of Ely, died.
The fact these charters were jointly granted by both Stephen and Matilda serve to demonstrate how closely involved Matilda was in the management of the county, and how closely Stephen and Matilda worked together as a couple. The trust they developed in each other would stand them in good stead in the years to come.
In the early 1130s Matilda of Boulogne, like her counterpart Empress Matilda in Anjou, would have been occupied with a number of pregnancies. The couple’s first child, a son named Eustace, was born no later than 1131 and at least two further children, Baldwin and Matilda, were born before Stephen became king in 1135. Little Baldwin died before his father even came to the throne; he was buried beside the altar at Holy Trinity, Aldgate, the abbey founded by the countess’s aunt Matilda of Scotland, Henry I’s first queen. That Baldwin was buried in London suggests that Matilda spent time in England as well as Boulogne during this period. Two more children, William and Mary (or Marie), were probably born after Stephen seized the crown. The three older children were given names that called to mind the county of Boulogne, with both Eustace and Baldwin being the names of several former counts. William, on the other hand, was a reference to Stephen’s grandfather, William the Conqueror, King of England.
Arms of the county of Boulogne
Despite henry I having his barons swear – twice – to uphold the claims of his daughter to the throne of England, Henry I left no written instruction as to the disposition of his throne and lands, which led to the chroniclers disputing exactly what the king had intended. What is certain is that in his final days, Henry did not name his heir. Unfortunately, the lack of this definitive designation at the last meant that there was enough ambiguity for Stephen to seize the initiative.
What the chronicles do agree on is that Henry’s death caused a great deal of unrest on both sides of the Channel. According to Orderic Vitalis, ‘on the very same day that the Normans heard that their firm ruler had died in the first week of Advent they rushed out hungrily like ravening wolves to plunder and ravage mercilessly’. On the other side of the Channel, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle made a similar report: ‘Then his land immediately grew dark because every man who could immediately robbed another.’
At Henry I’s death in December 1135, the major players in the drama that was about to unfold were scattered throughout the Anglo-Norman realm. Robert, Earl of Gloucester was at his father’s side; Queen Adeliza was in England; Empress Matilda was in Anjou with her husband, Geoffrey, and in the early stages of her third pregnancy; and Stephen of Blois was in Boulogne with his wife, Matilda. In the days after the king’s death, the lack of a designated heir was evident, and the barons moved to maintain peace in Normandy.
Stephen, King of England
Stephen had decided his own priorities, possibly well in advance of the king’s death and perhaps in collusion with his brother, Theobald. Whether Empress Matilda had an inkling of what Stephen was planning we do not know, though it seems unlikely given her own move into Normandy and no further. Stephen was not with the king when he died. Although he had been with Henry at Rouen earlier in the year, by late November 1135 he was in his county of Boulogne and it was there that the news of the king’s demise reached him, probably two or three days later. The speed of Stephen’s response, and its organisation, shows that he had been contemplating his plan of action for some time.
It is not hard to imagine him sitting in Boulogne, surrounded by his wife and family, watching and waiting for the arrival of the news that would set his plans in motion. According to the Gesta Stephani, ‘as soon as he heard by report that King Henry had breathed his last, forming a mighty design like the famous Saul, [Stephen] made for the coast, since he was the other side of the Channel, and happening to gain a favourable wind turned his mind and his ship towards England’.
Leaving his wife and children in the relative safety of Boulogne, Stephen took what must have been the biggest gamble of his life.
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Further reading:
Donald Matthew, King Stephen; Robert Bartlett, England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings; David Williamson, Brewer’s British Royalty; the History Today Companion to British History; Dan Jones, the Plantagenets; englishmonarchs.co.uk; The Oxford Companion to British History; Mike Ashley, The Mammoth Book of British kings & Queens; Alison Weir, Britain’s Royal Families, the Complete Genealogy; Farrer, William and Charles Travis Clay, editors, Early Yorkshire Charters, Volume 8: The Honour of Warenne; Gesta Stephani; Henry of Huntingdon, The History of the English People 1000-1154; J. Sharpe (trans.), The History of the Kings of England and of his Own Times by William Malmesbury; Catherine Hanley, Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior; Orderici Vitalis, Historiae ecclesiasticae libri tredecem, translated by Auguste Le Prévost; Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II and Richard I; Edmund King, King Stephen; Donald Matthew, King Stephen; Teresa Cole, the Anarchy: The Darkest Days of Medieval England; Matthew Lewis, Stephen and Matilda’s Civil War: Cousins of Anarchy.
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My Books:
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop.
Out Now!Women of the Anarchy
Two cousins. On the one side is Empress Matilda, or Maud. The sole surviving legitimate child of Henry I, she is fighting for her birthright and that of her children. On the other side is her cousin, Queen Matilda, supporting her husband, King Stephen, and fighting to see her own son inherit the English crown. Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how these women, unable to wield a sword, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It show how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other.
Coming on 15 June 2024: Heroines of the Tudor World
Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. These are the women who made a difference, who influenced countries, kings and the Reformation. In the era dominated by the Renaissance and Reformation, Heroines of the Tudor World examines the threats and challenges faced by the women of the era, and how they overcame them. From writers to regents, from nuns to queens, Heroines of the Tudor World shines the spotlight on the women helped to shape Early Modern Europe.
King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops or direct from Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon. Defenders of the Norman Crown: The Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey tells the fascinating story of the Warenne dynasty, from its origins in Normandy, through the Conquest, Magna Carta, the wars and marriages that led to its ultimate demise in the reign of Edward III. Available from Pen & Sword Books, Amazon in the UK and US, and Bookshop.org.
Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.
Podcast:
Have a listen to theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Elizabeth Chadwick, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.
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Don’t forget!Signed and dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop.
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I am so happy and proud to announce that Women of the Anarchy is finally out in the world – well, in the UK, anyway. It will be released in the US, Canada and Australia in April. It has been quite a journey. Thanks to the pandemic and a backlog at the publishers, Women of the Anarchy has taken a little longer to see daylight than my other books.
I hope it was worth the wait.
About Women of the Anarchy:
In 1135, Stephen of Blois usurped the throne, stealing it from his cousin Empress Matilda and sparking a nineteen-year civil war that would become known as the Anarchy, one of the bloodiest periods in English history.
On the one side is Empress Matilda. The sole surviving legitimate child of Henry I, she is fighting for her birthright and that of her children.
On the other side is her cousin, Queen Matilda, supporting her husband, Stephen, and fighting to see her own son inherit the English crown.
Both women are granddaughters of St Margaret, Queen of Scotland, and descendants of Alfred the Great of Wessex. Empress Matilda was the first woman to claim the throne of England in her own right, but did not gain the support of the barons. When Queen Matilda’s husband King Stephen was captured by the Empress’s forces, it was down to her to keep the fight going, and to negotiate for her husband’s release.
Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how these women, unable to wield a sword, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It shows how their strengths, weaknesses and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other.
Reviews:
Early reviews have been amazing:
In Women of the Anarchy, Sharon Bennett Connolly tells the parallel stories of two cousins named Matilda, The first, Empress Matilda, saw her throne usurped by Stephen of Blois in 1135, an act that launched a bloody 19-year civil war known the history as the Anarchy. As she fought for the crown that was her birthright, she found herself pitted against another Matilda: this one the wife of King Stephen.
As granddaughters of a queen and descendants of Alfred the Great, the two women at the centre of this story both believed that it was the right of their own blood to rule, and both were determined to prevail. With Stephen of Blois captured by the forces of Empress Matilda, it was up to his queen to carry on the war and, she hoped, secure his eventual release. Neither of the women would ever see battle, but they made their mark in other ways. From strategy to negotiation to making the sorts of decisions that the powerful barons believed were the province of men alone, the two women altered the course of the war and also the path of history itself.
Women of the Anarchy is particularly notable for the story of Matilda of Boulogne, the queen who has often been a supporting player in her husband’s story. It’s also a reminder of the challenges unique to royal women, both at home and in the wider world. This is a fascinating story that will appeal to anyone with an interest in the power plays of the medieval world.
All About History magazine issue 138
And from Annie Whitehead, a fellow historian of medieval women:
Well now there’s a lovely new nonfiction book which covers this period, but does do by focusing on the women who played pivotal roles. And there’s none better to write such a book than Sharon Bennett Connolly, who has made it a bit of a stock-in-trade to bring medieval women out of the shadows and plonk them firmly in the limelight….
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It gives an in depth account of The Anarchy…
all in all this is a rounded study of the period, but always the emphasis is on the women and the parts they played. Couple this with the author’s readable style, and it’s a book which informs and entertains.
And one more amazing review, from the Lincolnshire Family History Society:
The author examines this period in minute detail, whilst she leads the reader through this fascinating, but convoluted series of events, through the experiences of relatively unknown women. She describes fully each participant. Her pen pictures make them more than mere names, giving them character and life, illuminated by quotations and extracts from chronicles of the time.
Like an exciting detective story, each chapter leads the reader further into the turmoil, explaining the situation from a different viewpoint. The anticipation builds as the reader follows the chapters. The deeper I got into the book, the less I wanted to put it down as it moved towards the final chapters.
Historical Books can be difficult reading by their very intensity. However, once again, Sharon Bennett Connolly excels in her presentation, choosing carefully from a maelstrom of sources, to give her reader an unusual and illuminating path through those times
Lincolnshire Family History Society
More reviews:
Women of the Anarchy is therefore a compelling read that sheds light on the overlooked yet influential women of 12th century England. It provides a fresh and gripping perspective on the part these women played in dictating the course of the Anarchy and is highly recommended.
Sharon Bennett Connolly avoids portraying these women as pawns or victims, but reveals complex characters, driven by ambition, love, faith, and an inspiring determination to take control of their own destinies. We see their vulnerabilities and triumphs, their moments of weakness and resilience, creating a deeply human and relatable portrait of these women’s lives.
What makes Women of the Anarchy stand out is its focus on the broader spectrum of royal women impacted by the conflict. Connolly weaves a rich tapestry of characters, including grandmothers and mothers such as Matilda of Flanders, Saint Margaret of Scotland, Matilda of Scotland, and Adeliza of Louvain. These influential women served as role models, imparting invaluable lessons to the two Matildas on how to balance their roles as queens while preserving their individual identities.
Have a listen to the Anarchy episode ofA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks, in which we discuss the empress, the queen and the wider war.
King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. It is is available from Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon. Defenders of the Norman Crown: The Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey tells the fascinating story of the Warenne dynasty, from its origins in Normandy, through the Conquest, Magna Carta, the wars and marriages that led to its ultimate demise in the reign of Edward III. Available from Pen & Sword Books, Amazon in the UK and US, and Bookshop.org.
Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.
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Don’t forget!Signed and dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop.
For forthcoming online and in-person talks, please check out my Events Page.
*You can be the first to read new articles by clicking the ‘Follow’ button, liking our Facebook page or joining me on Twitterand Instagram.
History... the interesting bits! 