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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>That conflict is now better known as the Anarchy, a word that conjures images of turbulence and chaos. And so it proved, as the two contenders for Henry\u2019s crown \u2013 his daughter and nominated heir, Matilda<\/a>; and Stephen of Blois, a grandson of William the Conqueror<\/a> \u2013 embarked on a bitter battle for power.<\/p>\n In a conflict of seemingly endless twists and turns, it was Stephen who struck first, having himself crowned a matter of weeks after Henry\u2019s death. Yet, by 1141, Matilda had turned the tables on her enemy completely. Having defeated Stephen at the battle of Lincoln and thrown him into prison, she entered London in triumph, seemingly on the brink of securing the throne. Yet Londoners wouldn\u2019t accept her, and after being freed from his incarceration, Stephen was soon back in the ascendant.<\/p>\n Even then the war rumbled on, as Matilda\u2019s supporters \u2013 her son Henry to the fore \u2013 strained every sinew to unseat Stephen. It was only in 1154, on Stephen\u2019s death and Henry\u2019s long nightmare came to an end.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But what if Matilda hadn\u2019t allowed victory to slip through her grasp in 1141? What if she had placed the crown on her head, sat on the throne \u2013 and had herself declared England\u2019s first queen-regnant?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Superficially, it wouldn\u2019t have been very different at all. That\u2019s the verdict of Matt Lewis, medieval historian and author of Stephen and Matilda\u2019s Civil War<\/em> (Pen & Sword, 2019). \u201cThe Anarchy ended with Henry II in possession of the English throne \u2013 and it\u2019s hard to imagine a scenario in which a victorious Matilda wouldn\u2019t have passed the crown to her son on her death. So in that respect, nothing changed,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat\u2019s more, as the son of Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou \u2013 with all the territories that his inheritance brought \u2013 Henry would have presided over a sizeable empire that encompassed England, Maine, Anjou and Normandy, whether Matilda secured a rapid victory in the civil war or not.\u201d<\/p>\n So far, so similar. Yet scratch beneath the surface, says Lewis, and perhaps Henry\u2019s reign would have been different \u2013 and far less successful \u2013 had Matilda secured a quick victory. After all, the Henry who became king in 1154 was very much the product of his youth \u2013 and that was a youth shaped by crisis and war.<\/p>\n Empress Matilda was not the only woman bearing that name to play a vital role during the Anarchy. King Stephen\u2019s wife, Matilda of Boulonge, supported her husband by raising an army and marching on London after his imprisonment in 1141.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> \u201cIf there\u2019s one thing you can say about Henry II it\u2019s that he was a superb warrior \u2013 whether going on the attack, fighting off rebellions or defending the borders of his empire,\u201d explains Lewis. \u201cIt\u2019s hard not to conclude that some of those skills were forged during the Anarchy \u2013 a conflict that saw him embroiled in intense fighting in both England and Normandy.\u201d<\/p>\n So much for Henry. But what about the woman who would have passed him the crown had she defeated Stephen? Would Matilda have made an accomplished ruler? \u201cThere\u2019s every reason to suspect that the answer to that question is \u2018yes\u2019,\u201d says Lewis.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As a young woman, Matilda spent a lot of time in what is now Germany, and was married to the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V until his death. Henry saw her very much as someone who would work alongside him \u2013 \u201cshe wasn\u2019t there to sit in the corner and sew,\u201d says Lewis. She had a gold-plated education, spoke numerous languages and \u2013 judging by the efficiency with which she governed Normandy on behalf of her son Henry when he was king of England \u2013 was an astute political operator.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Yet, according to Lewis, there\u2019s a rather large elephant in the room when discussing the prospect of Matilda\u2019s reign \u2013 and that\u2019s her gender.<\/p>\n \u201cAs queen-regnant, Matilda would have faced significant misogyny,\u201d he says. \u201cHer victory in 1141 might have brought an end to the succession crisis, but the fighting may well have rumbled on \u2013 much of it driven by the fact that lots of Englishmen hated the prospect of being ruled by a woman.<\/p>\n \u201cHer accession would have thrown up so many questions. How does a queen lead an army on to the battlefield? How does she dispense justice? What do you call her husband, if he\u2019s not a king? These are all questions that would have needed to be answered in a country that had never before experienced female rule \u2013 and, to a large extent, didn\u2019t want it.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> And the answers, says Lewis, would have had ramifications stretching far beyond the 12th century. \u201cIf Matilda had overcome the doubters and proven that a woman could be a capable ruler, then England\u2019s history may have taken an alternate path. It may even have changed the course of the Wars of the Roses<\/a>, which were, to a large extent, driven by the nation\u2019s aversion to giving Margaret of Anjou<\/a> regency powers when her husband, Henry VI, was incapacitated.\u201d<\/p>\n So would another long and bloody civil war three centuries later had been avoided had Matilda\u2019s reign proven a success? We will never know. But it\u2019s an intriguing possibility.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Matt Lewis is an author and historian of the medieval period, with a particular interest in the Wars of the Roses and Richard III. You can read his most recent publication, Rebellion in the Middle Ages: Fight Against the Crown, <\/span><\/em>or visit his Twitter page<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nUnchanged succession\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
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An alternate path<\/h3>\n