David Crouch - The Reign of King Stephen, 1135-1154

David Crouch

First published 2000 by Pearson Education Limited

Published 2013 by Routledge
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ISBN 13: 978-0-582-22657-9 (pbk)

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There are many debts to remember in writing a book like this. Firstly I must acknowledge the help of those academics with whom I have discussed aspects of Stephen's reign over the years, among them Marion Archibald, David Bates, Jim Bradbury, Paul Brand, Marjorie Chibnall, Charles Coulson, David Cox, Richard Dace, John France, John Gillingham, Judith Green, John Hudson, Edmund King, Chris Lewis, Graham Loud, Patrick McGurk, John Meddings, Heather Tanner, Kathleen Thompson, Claire de Trafford, John Walker and Graeme White. In mentioning Edmund King, I have to record my regrets that time constraints meant that I was unable to incorporate his revised edition of the Historia Novella into this work, much to its loss. A considerable debt is owed to Nicholas Vincent of Christ Church College, Canterbury, for his great generosity in sharing the fruits of his archive work. There have been others who have helped down the years, and I hope those I have not mentioned in person will accept that it is memory and not gratitude which is at fault. There have been others too who can only be thanked in piety, as they have died. I must particularly mention John Brand, Ralph Davis, C. Warren Hollister and Tom Keefe. It is to the memory of the last two scholars, altero magistro altero alumno, that I dedicate this book.

There are other people and institutions who have helped this project on its way. I have to mention here especially the staff, students and library of University College, Scarborough; the Brotherton Library of Leeds University and the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. Some of the preliminary work done on this book was made possible by the generosity of the Leverhulme Trust, the Twenty-Seven Foundation and the British Academy. Lastly I must thank my wife and children for their support and their tolerance of my abstraction while working. Lately too I have had to trespass upon the good nature of the clergy and people of the parish of St Martin-on-the-Hill, Scarborough, while adding the duties of assistant curate to those of husband, father and teacher.

David Crouch
June 1999

England is a lucky nation. It has experienced only two long-term civil wars in the past nine hundred years. The first of these was the series of wars of succession during the reign of King Stephen (1135-54). The wars have been commonly called (since the late nineteenth century) 'the Anarchy'; a bad choice of name. This introductory chapter is going to dispute strongly its suitability as a label for the civil wars of Stephen's reign. Wars are terrible events and horrific for those who live and fight through them, but they are only rarely anarchic. When wars are begun in order to pursue political rather than social ends, they generally have a clear objective, and those objectives inform strategies. Wars involve reason and logic, and are not devoid of a sort of morality. Stephen's civil wars were no exception. There were two parties contesting the succession to the kingdom of England and the duchy of Normandy, and each knew precisely what its objectives ought to be. Having those ends in view, they manoeuvred, fought, argued and disputed to achieve them.