WHAT IF... EMPRESS MATILDA HAD DEFEATED KING STEPHEN?
King Henry I was, in many historians’ estimation, an accomplished ruler. He cemented his father, William I’s, conquest of the kingdom of England, successfully fought off a series of rebellions across the Channel in Normandy, and burnished England’s reputation among the kingdoms of Europe.
Yet, for all his undoubted qualities, Henry made a complete mess of the succession to his throne. And so, when the ageing king died in 1135, England was pitched into civil war.
That conflict is now better known as the Anarchy, a word that conjures images of turbulence and chaos. And so it
