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Stephen of England

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: British History 1500 and
before (including Roman Britain)

                    Stephen
    King of the English, Duke of the Normans
               Image:Stephen.jpg
   Reign       22 December 1135 – 25 October 1154
   Coronation  26 December 1135
   Born        c. 1096
               Blois
   Died        25 October 1154
               Dover
   Buried      Faversham Abbey, Faversham, England
   Predecessor Henry I ( 1135)
               Empress Matilda ( 1141)
   Successor   Empress Matilda ( 1141)
               Henry II ( 1154)
   Consort     Matilda of Boulogne ( 1105– 1152)
   Issue       Eustace IV (c. 1130– 1153)
               William of Blois (c. 1137– 1159)
               Marie of Boulogne (d. 1182)
   Royal House Norman
   Father      Stephen, Count of Blois
               (c. 1045- 1102)
   Mother      Adela of Normandy (c. 1062– 1138)

   Stephen (c. 1096 – 25 October 1154), the only King of England from the
   House of Blois and also Count of Boulogne by marriage, reigned from
   1135 to 1154, when he was succeeded by his cousin Henry II, the first
   of the Angevin or Plantagenet Kings.

Early life

   Stephen was born at Blois in France, the son of Stephen, Count of
   Blois, and Adela (daughter of William the Conqueror). His brothers were
   Count Theobald II of Champagne and Henry of Blois, bishop of
   Winchester.

   Stephen was sent to be reared at the English court of his uncle, King
   Henry I, in 1106. He became Count of Mortain in about 1115, and married
   Matilda, daughter of the Count of Boulogne, in about 1125, who shortly
   after became Countess of Boulogne. Stephen became joint ruler in 1128.
   In 1150 he ceased to co-rule, and in 1151, the County was given to his
   son, Eustace IV. When Eustace died childless, Stephen's next living
   son, William inherited the territory.

Seizes throne of England

   Before the death of King Henry I of England in 1135, the majority of
   the barons of England swore to support Henry's daughter ( Empress
   Matilda, granddaughter of William the Conqueror), and her claim to the
   throne. However, Stephen (also a grandchild of The Conqueror through
   his mother and who had been raised at Henry's court) laid claim to the
   throne. He also claimed his uncle, King Henry, had changed his mind on
   his deathbed, and named Stephen as his heir. Once Stephen was crowned,
   he gained the support of the majority of the barons as well as Pope
   Innocent II. The first few years of his reign were peaceful, but by
   1139 he was seen as weak and indecisive, setting the country up for a
   civil war, commonly called The Anarchy.

   Stephen had many traits that made him seem superficially fit for
   kingship: his high birth, his descent from the Conqueror, his
   handsomeness, his bravery and his good nature. But he possessed none of
   the ruthlessness necessary for the ruthless times he lived in. An
   unfavourable thumbnail sketch of him is given by Walter Map (who wrote
   during the reign of Matilda's son Henry II): "A man of a certain age,
   remarkably hard-working but otherwise a nonentity [idiota] or perhaps
   rather inclined to evil."

   The reign of Stephen was indeed a turbulent period, to some degree an
   overflow of struggles for supremacy amongst barons in Normandy. But he
   retained the support of the majority of English barons throughout his
   reign and, importantly, the citizens of London. Contemporary records
   are slight, being mainly in the form of charters which are often
   difficult to date precisely, and, more significantly, chronicles whose
   authors were, in most cases, directly or indirectly at the behest of
   Robert of Gloucester, the principal rebel. It was these who presented
   Bishop Henry of Winchester as an opponent of his brother Stephen; but
   since the kingship of Stephen was supported by Innocent II, and Henry
   was Papal Legate, some scepticism is appropriate. A reassessment of the
   reign is due but far from easy.

War with Matilda

   Stephen faced the forces of Empress Matilda at several locations
   including the Battle of Lincoln and the Battle of Beverston Castle. Bad
   omens haunted him before the Battle of Lincoln ( 2 February 1141).
   Stephen was facing his rebellious barons Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester
   (the Empress' illegitimate half-brother) and Ranulph, the Earl of
   Chester. He fought so bravely in the battle that his battle-axe
   shattered. He drew a sword and continued fighting until it broke as
   well, as he was captured by a knight named William de Cahaignes (a
   relative of Ranulph, ancestor of the Keynes family including John
   Maynard Keynes, the well known economist). Stephen was defeated and he
   was brought before his cousin, the Empress Matilda.
            English Royalty
           House of Normandy
                Stephen
       Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne
       William, Count of Boulogne
       Marie, Countess of Boulogne

   Stephen was imprisoned at Bristol, but his wife, the Countess Matilda,
   kept faith, and the Empress was soon forced out of London. With the
   capture of her most able lieutenant, the Earl of Gloucester, Matilda
   was eventually obliged to release Stephen from captivity, and he was
   restored to the throne in November of the same year. In December 1142,
   the Empress was besieged at Oxford, but she managed to escape across
   the snow to Wallingford Castle, held by her supporter Brien FitzCount.

   In 1147, Empress Matilda's adolescent son, Henry (the eventual King
   Henry II), decided to assist in the war effort by raising a small army
   of mercenaries and invading England. Rumours of this army's size
   terrified Stephen's retainers, although in truth the force was very
   small. Having been defeated twice in battle, and with no money to pay
   his mercenaries, the young Henry appealed to his uncle Robert for aid
   but was turned away. Desperately, and in secret, the boy then asked
   Stephen for help. According to the Gesta Stephani, "On receiving the
   message, the king...hearkened to the young man..." and bestowed upon
   him money and other support.

Recognises Henry as his heir and dies

   Stephen maintained his precarious hold on the throne for the remainder
   of his lifetime. However, after a military standoff at Wallingford with
   Henry, and following the death of his son and heir, Eustace, in 1153,
   he was persuaded to reach a compromise with Empress Matilda (known as
   the Treaty of Wallingford or Winchester), whereby her son would succeed
   Stephen on the English throne as King Henry II.

   Stephen died in Dover, at Dover Priory, and was buried in Faversham
   Abbey, which he had founded with Countess Matilda in 1147.

   Besides Eustace, Stephen and Matilda had two other sons, Baldwin (d.
   before 1135), and William of Blois (Count of Mortain and Boulogne, and
   Earl of Surrey or Warenne). They also had two daughters, Matilda and
   Marie of Boulogne. In addition to these children, Stephen fathered at
   least three illegitimate children, one of whom, Gervase, became Abbot
   of Westminster.

   The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (the Peterborough Chronicle, second
   continuation) provides a moving and succinct appraisal of Stephen's
   reign:

          "In the days of this King there was nothing but strife, evil,
          and robbery, for quickly the great men who were traitors rose
          against him. When the traitors saw that Stephen was a
          good-humoured, kindly, and easy-going man who inflicted no
          punishment, then they committed all manner of horrible crimes .
          . . And so it lasted for nineteen years while Stephen was King,
          till the land was all undone and darkened with such deeds, and
          men said openly that Christ and his angels slept".

   The monastic author said, of The Anarchy, "this and more we suffered
   nineteen winters for our sins."
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