Stephen and Matilda's Civil War: Cousins of Anarchy

The story of the twelfth-century rivalry for the throne between the daughter and the nephew of Henry I—a battle that tore England apart for over a decade.

The Anarchy was the first civil war in post-Conquest England, enduring throughout the reign of King Stephen between 1135 and 1154. It ultimately brought about the end of the Norman dynasty and the birth of the mighty Plantagenet kings.

When Henry I died having lost his only legitimate son in a shipwreck, his barons had sworn to recogniz...