"Cultural depictions of Stephen, King of England King Stephen of England (c. 1092/6 – 25 October 1154) was a grandson of William the Conqueror, and has been depicted in various cultural works. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne ""jure uxoris"". His reign was marked by civil war with his cousin and rival the Empress Matilda, in a period called the Anarchy which has been dramatized by Beth Flintoff in her play ""Matilda the Empress"", first performed in November 2017 at St James's Church, Reading. Stephen was succeeded by Matilda's son,"
"king's power was linked to his control of the rich province of Île-de-France, just to the east of Stephen's home county of Blois. In the west lay the three counties of Maine, Anjou and Touraine, and to the north of Blois was the Duchy of Normandy, from which William the Conqueror had conquered England in 1066. William's children were still fighting over the collective Anglo-Norman inheritance. The rulers across this region spoke a similar language, albeit with regional dialects, followed the same religion, and were closely interrelated; they were also highly competitive and frequently in conflict with one another for"
"brought up by his mother, Adela, daughter of William the Conqueror. Placed into the court of his uncle, Henry I of England, Stephen rose in prominence and was granted extensive lands. He married Matilda of Boulogne, inheriting additional estates in Kent and Boulogne that made the couple one of the wealthiest in England. Stephen narrowly escaped drowning with Henry I's son, William Adelin, in the sinking of the ""White Ship"" in 1120; William's death left the succession of the English throne open to challenge. When Henry I died in 1135, Stephen quickly crossed the English Channel and with the help"
"succession. Stephen's new Anglo-Norman kingdom had been shaped by the Norman conquest of England in 1066, followed by the Norman expansion into south Wales over the coming years. Both the kingdom and duchy were dominated by a small number of major barons who owned lands on both sides of the English Channel, with the lesser barons beneath them usually having more localised holdings. The extent to which lands and positions should be passed down through hereditary right or by the gift of the king was still uncertain, and tensions concerning this issue had grown during the reign of Henry I."
"of King Stephen and Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester, and that she was an illegitimate daughter of Stephen II, Count of Blois, Stephen's father. New research, however, suggests that Emma might have been a daughter of Hunger fitzOdin, who held lands in Dorset in the Domesday survey. William was born sometime before the 1090s, but the date of birth is unknown. William held the prebendary of Weighton in the diocese of Yorkshire between 27 June 1109 and 24 February 1114. Sometime between 1109 and 1114 he was appointed Treasurer of York. He was also appointed archdeacon of the East"
"William the Conqueror after the Norman Conquest. Odo was stripped of his English lands after being implicated in a plot to put his own son Stephen of Aumale upon the throne of England in place of his first cousin, William II. However, the title was restored to Stephen in 1089. The first official creation, in 1621, along with the subsidiary title Baron Kingston upon Thames, of Kingston upon Thames in the County of Surrey, was in favour of John Ramsay, 1st Viscount of Haddington. As well as the Barony created with the Earldom, this Earl held the subsidiary titles Viscount"
"to Stephen. Through his role as Constable of the Tower, Mandeville became ""the richest and most powerful man in England"". When he tried the same ploy again, this time holding secret talks with Matilda, Stephen had him arrested, forced him to cede control of his castles, and replaced him with one of his most loyal supporters. Until then the position had been hereditary, originally held by Geoffrey de Mandeville (a friend of William the Conqueror's and ancestor of the Geoffrey that Stephen and Matilda dealt with), but the position's authority was such that from then on it remained in the"
"Stephen, King of England Stephen ( – 25 October 1154), often referred to as Stephen of Blois, was King of England from 1135 to his death, as well as Count of Boulogne from 1125 until 1147 and Duke of Normandy from 1135 until 1144. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda. He was succeeded by Matilda's son, Henry II, the first of the Angevin kings. Stephen was born in the County of Blois in central France; his father, Count Stephen-Henry, died while Stephen was still young, and he was"
"William the Conqueror, William the Bastard, or William I), though this is unlikely given that accession to the Anglo-Saxon kingship was by election, not heredity – a fact which Edward would surely have known, having been elected himself by the Witenagemot. The Godwins, having previously fled, threatened to invade England. Edward is said to have wanted to fight, but at a Great Council meeting in Westminster, Earl Godwin laid down all his weapons and asked the king to allow him to purge himself of all crimes. The king and Godwin were reconciled, and the Godwins thus became the most powerful"
"the Conqueror, which provoked an invasion. In May 1463, Mehmed marched into Bosnia, meeting little effective resistance, and captured Stephen, who was then beheaded. The execution marks the fall of the Kingdom of Bosnia to the Ottoman Empire. Stephen was born into the House of Kotromanić as one of the two known sons of the Bosnian prince Thomas by a commoner named Vojača. The other son died as an adolescent. Stephen's father was an adulterine son of King Ostoja and a younger brother of Radivoj, who contested the rule of their cousin King Tvrtko II. Thomas was politically inactive and"
"of King Stephen, and a commander in the Battle of the Standard. He was captured at The Battle of Lincoln. King Henry II dispossessed William of the Honour in 1153, for conspiring to poison the Earl of Chester - though historians speculate that the King wished to punish him for his 'wickedness and treason' in supporting King Stephen. The Earl died before he took possession of the Honour, and it stayed in the Crown for about a half century. William Peverel the Younger William ""the Younger"" Peverel (c. 1080–1155) was the son of William Peverel. He lived in Nottingham, England."
"far from secure. Although Stephen's son William was young and unprepared to challenge Henry for the throne in 1153, the situation could well have shifted in subsequent years—there were widespread rumours during 1154 that William planned to assassinate Henry, for example. Historian Graham White describes the treaty of Winchester as a ""precarious peace"", capturing the judgement of most modern historians that the situation in late 1153 was still uncertain and unpredictable. Nonetheless, Stephen burst into activity in early 1154, travelling around the kingdom extensively. He began issuing royal writs for the south-west of England once again and travelled to York"
"the Normans, now well established in England, responded by pushing west into Wales. This time, both the Welsh and the Normans were more interested in making peace than fighting bloody battles, and a relatively stable situation developed, although the Normans fared worse in southeast Wales than in the west of the country. The standoff continued from 1135 to 1154 under Stephen, King of the English, nephew of Henry and a maternal grandson of William, who became locked in a power struggle and civil war with Empress Matilda, Henry's daughter and only surviving legitimate child. By the 1150s, Matilda's son King"
"Because he was an Earl, and also known as the Marshal, the term ""Earl Marshal"" was commonly used and this later became an established hereditary title in the English Peerage. William's father, John Marshal, supported King Stephen when he took the throne in 1135, but in about 1139 he changed sides to support the Empress Matilda in the civil war of succession between her and Stephen which led to the collapse of England into ""the Anarchy"". When King Stephen besieged Newbury Castle in 1152, according to William's biographer, he used the young William as a hostage to ensure that John"
"and Stephen encouraged the new order of Cistercians to form abbeys on his estates, winning him additional allies within the church. Rumours about his father's cowardice during the First Crusade, however, continued to circulate, and a desire to avoid the same reputation may have influenced some of Stephen's rasher military actions. His wife, Matilda, played a major role in running their vast English estates, which contributed to the couple being the second-richest lay household in the country after the King. The landless Flemish nobleman William of Ypres had joined Stephen's household in 1133. Stephen's younger brother, Henry of Blois, had"
"of the creators of England's greatness or as inflicting one of the greatest defeats in English history. Others have viewed William as an enemy of the English constitution, or alternatively as its creator. William and his wife Matilda of Flanders had at least nine children. The birth order of the sons is clear, but no source gives the relative order of birth of the daughters. There is no evidence of any illegitimate children born to William. William the Conqueror William I (c. 1028 – 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the"
"English crown in these years is usually interpreted in two ways. Firstly, his actions are understood in relation to his connections with the King of England. No historian is likely to deny that David's early career was largely manufactured by King Henry I of England. David was the latter's brother-in-law and ""greatest protégé"", one of Henry's ""new men"". His hostility to Stephen can be interpreted as an effort to uphold the intended inheritance of Henry I, the succession of his daughter and David's niece, Matilda, the former Empress of the Holy Roman Empire. David carried out his wars in her"
"as part of Henry's frontier policy, which included marriage of two daughters to the kings of Scotland and Galloway, consolidation of royal control in the north-west coast of England and the quelling of the Montgomeries, marcher lords on the Welsh borders who had been allied to Muirchertach Ua Briain, High King of Ireland (1101–19). The world of peace which David had enjoyed in England ended after the death of Henry I, just as it did for most other English magnates. His hostility to Stephen can be interpreted as an effort to uphold the intended inheritance of Henry I, the succession"
"wages and thereby allowed Henry to retire gracefully. Stephen's reasons for doing so are unclear. One potential explanation is his general courtesy to a member of his extended family; another is that he was starting to consider how to end the war peacefully, and saw this as a way of building a relationship with Henry. Henry intervened once again in 1149, commencing what is often termed the Henrician phase of the civil war. This time, Henry planned to form a northern alliance with King David I of Scotland, Henry's great-uncle, and Ranulf of Chester, a powerful regional leader who controlled"
"1125. They had children: King Stephen's illegitimate children by his mistress Damette included: Stephen, King of England Stephen ( – 25 October 1154), often referred to as Stephen of Blois, was King of England from 1135 to his death, as well as Count of Boulogne from 1125 until 1147 and Duke of Normandy from 1135 until 1144. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda. He was succeeded by Matilda's son, Henry II, the first of the Angevin kings. Stephen was born in the County of Blois in central France;"
"who was in the north of England in 1174, wrote an account of the wars between Henry II., his sons, William the Lion of Scotland and Louis VII., in 1173 and 1174 (""Chronicle of the reigns of Stephen"" ... III., ed. by Joseph Stevenson and Fr. Michel, London, 1886, pp. 202–307). Not one of these histories, however, is to be compared in value with ""The History of William the Marshal, Count of Striguil and Pembroke,"" regent of England from 1216–1219, which was found and subsequently edited by Paul Meyer (""Société de l'histoire de France,"" 3 vols., 1891–1901). This masterpiece of"
"apparent relatives, the Norman, Ivo de Taillebois, and William's uncle, the Anglo-Saxon Ketel (or Chetell) son of Eldred of Workington. William de Lancaster I was in any case the first administrator of the region after England recovered the area from King David I of Scotland. William is thought to be related to Ivo de Taillebois, who helped administer the Cumbrian region and formed Kendal into what would become the barony, under the first two Norman kings, William the Conqueror and William Rufus. Ketel fitz Eldred is known to have been lord over similar areas after the death of Ivo, and"
"loyalty of Stephen to the earl of Pembroke. Against the king's wishes, William Marshal and Devereux traveled in early 1207 to Ireland to secure the earl's lands and title to Leinster. In late summer John summoned the earl to return to England. The Marshal held council with his wife and leading men, including Stephen, and all believed the summons to be a trick to allow the Justiciar of Ireland, Meiler FitzHenry, to seize key fortresses and drive Marshal from Ireland. The Marshal decided to comply with the summons, but only bring with him 2 knights of his retinue: John Marshal"
"hanging Ernulf and 93 others immediately, frightening the local people and magnates into transferring their allegiance to him. William was deprived of his lands and titles and spent the next fifteen years in exile, until the accession of Henry II to power in place of Stephen in 1153-4. He was a close supporter of the Angevin cause, accompanying the Empress or her son on numerous occasions. He was present with Empress Matilda at Oxford in the summer of 1141, and shortly after at the siege of Winchester Castle. He remained in attendance on her at Devizes, witnessing the charter addressed"
"of 1135 had resulted in a significantly expanded kingdom. David, moreover, was no longer in practice a sub-king. So if King Henry's life and reign had brought David all his fortune, Henry's death had brought David even more. The settlement with Stephen was not set to last long. The arrival in England of the Empress Matilda, claimant to the English throne, gave David an opportunity to renew the conflict with Stephen. When Stephen was captured by the Matilda's forces on 2 February 1141, David finally decided to disregard his agreement with Stephen and seek the support of Matilda. In either"
"William the Conqueror William I (c. 1028 – 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman King of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087. A descendant of Rollo, he was Duke of Normandy from 1035 onward. After a long struggle to establish his power, by 1060 his hold on Normandy was secure, and he launched the Norman conquest of England six years later. The rest of his life was marked by struggles to consolidate his hold over England and his continental lands and by difficulties with his"
"campaign in Normandy, from 1111 onwards, where rebels led by Robert of Bellême were opposing his rule. Stephen was probably with Henry during the military campaign of 1112, when he was knighted by the King, and was definitely present at court during the King's visit to the Abbey of Saint-Evroul in 1113. Stephen probably first visited England in either 1113 or 1115, almost certainly as part of Henry's court. Henry became a powerful patron of Stephen's; Henry probably chose to support him because Stephen was part of his extended family and a regional ally, yet not sufficiently wealthy or powerful"
"burning of Wherwell Abbey and Andover, and threatening to burn St Albans. Stephen rewarded William with the County of Kent and its revenues at Christmas 1141. Though no proof exists of his creation as Earl of Kent by King Stephen, chroniclers describe him as ""possessing the county"" and ""having Kent in his custody"". He exercised the same powers over this county as other earls over theirs, though he never adopted the comital style. William lost his sight in the late 1140s, which ended his military career and may have contributed to Stephen's compulsion to designate Empress Matilda's son, Henry Plantagenet,"
"rising ground between Whitehaven and Hensingham, known locally as Swartha Brow"". The appears to have come from his father Gilbert. His brother Roger apparently held land at Walton, just outside modern Hensingham, and had a son named Robert. Roger and William also named a brother called Robert. Ulverston. Farrer argued that this may have been held by William and perhaps his father Gilbert, before it was granted by Stephen, Count of Boulogne and Mortain, to Furness Abbey in 1127. The possible connection of William's father Gilbert to Furness will be discussed further below. King Stephen's reign in England lasted from"
"King Stephen of England. Throughout the civil war, he was a loyal supporter of his half-sister Empress Matilda who would make him the chief commander of her army. He had originally sworn fealty to King Stephen, but after quarrelling with him in 1137, his English and Welsh possessions were forfeited, and thus he joined forces with Matilda. Mabel brought to her husband the honours of Gloucester in England, Glamorgan in Wales, Sainte-Scholasse-sur-Sarthe, Evrecy and Creully in Normandy. By right of his wife, he became the 2nd Lord of Glamorgan, and gained possession of her father's castle of Cardiff in Wales."
"William the Conqueror was also a bastard. Gervais of Blois, a bastard of King Stephen, was abbot of Westminster. Henry I had 21 to 25 bastards, including Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester, Sybilla of Normandy (wife of King Alexander I of Scotland) Maud FitzRoy (wife of Conan III, Duke of Brittany), Constance or Maud FitzRoy, Mabel FitzRoy, Alice FitzRoy, Gilbert FitzRoy, and Emma. ""It might be permissible to wonder how it was that Henry I managed to keep track of all his illegitimate children, but there is no doubt that he did so,"" wrote historian Given-Wilson. Henry II had several"
"great-grandson of the famed William the Conqueror. In October 1141, William looked after the Baronial estates, when his father fell into the hands of partisans at Winchester. His father was exchanged for King Stephen, and during his father's absence in Normandy in 1144 he served as Governor of Wareham. In 1147, he overthrew Henry de Tracy at Castle Cary. In 1154 he made an alliance with Roger de Clare, 3rd Earl of Hertford, by which they agreed to aid each other against all men except Henry II of England. FitzRobert granted Neath, a town in Glamorgan, a charter. He was"
"to himself by which she grants Aston to Shrewsbury Abbey. In June 1153 he was present with Henry FitzEmpress, then Duke of Normandy, at Leicester. It was during this period that his younger brother, Walter, used the family's royal connections to make a new career in Scotland under David I of Scotland, an uncle of the Empress. William's active support did not end with Henry's accession to the throne. In July 1155, when the king marched against Hugh de Mortimer, a turbulent Marcher lord who had been a key supporter of Stephen, and recaptured the castles at Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth,"