Hey everyone.
I just finished Sharon Penman's historical novel 'When Christ and His Saints Slept'. It's about a war in England in the 12th Century, when Henry I's nephew, Stephen, steals the crown from the rightful heir, Henry's daughter Matilda (or Maude, depending on your point of view, but Matilda seems more common). They fought a bitter civil war from the beginning of Stephen's reign till about 1148, when Matilda finally backed out of the campaign. She had captured Stephen and triumphed at Lincoln in 1141, and was proclaimed 'Lady of the English'. Alas, few people have played such a strong hand as badly as Matilda did. Within 8 months, she had been driven from London, and her bastard half-brother and strongest support Robert Fitzroy had been captured, so she had to exchange him for Stephen.
Stephen had previously had Matilda under sige at Arundel Castle, but let her join Robert in Bristol, in a move inexplicable to this day (Penman speculated that any lingering guilt Stephen felt over usurping the throne was erased after this because he had saved Matilda's life).
But when he lay Oxford Castle under siege, she knew that there would be no reprieve this time. It was very snowy weather, and, amazingly, Matilda escaped from the castle by donning a white robe and simply slinking by Stephen's army. This actual happened, it's not artistic licence.
Stephen and Matilda fought repeatedly for the next few years, Stephen based in London while Matilda's headquarters were at Devizes Castle. The war brought horror to the people of England, with towns like Winchester and Lincoln worst hit, as victorious soldier indulged in looting and rape. Before long, the common people didn't care who was on the throne, as long as the war stopped.
Finally, Robert Fitzroy died in 1147. He had been Matilda's ablest commander, and she could not continue without him. She returned to France, and her estranged husband Geoffrey Plantagenet, seeminlgy accepting that she would never be queen, but continuing the fight from France on behalf of her son Henry.
Eventually, Matilda had the last laugh. Henry invaded England and forced Stephen to sign the Treaty of Wallingford in 1153, which acknowleged Henry as heir to the throne of England, but Stephen would be allowed to continue as king for his lifetime. The fact that Stephen's eldest son Eustace had died not long before the treaty made things easier. It was said that Stephen's surviving son William would be recognised with all the title's Stephen had held before coming king, and confirmed in the honours Stephen had conferred on him.
Stephen died in 1154, and Henry became Henry II. Matilda was a loyal and good councillor to her son, and died in 1167. Whatever her detractors say about her, I think was incredibly brave to even challenge Stephen's right to the throne in the first place. I have the greatest respect for Elizabeth I, but this woman was, IMO, the original queen with 'the heart and stomach of a king'.
