monarchs in England… You know… throughout history. The conquerors and the ones that
inherited all of their wealth and glory. I guess I plan to do both! –Siggie
Link to the Youtube video and the rest of the series!
Sixth Episode of Siggie presenting her take on the history of the monarchs of England in the context of her favorite topic….herself. Here she discusses “The Anarchy” in England after the White Ship Disaster and the death of Henry I, and continues through the reign of Henry II.
Henry the First tragically lost his son at sea. I believe that this traces back
to some serious drunkenness and people not getting behind the wheel sober and
then and crashing into something, or some something horrible happened. Anyway, his
son was the only legitimate heir to the throne. Henry named his daughter Matilda.
She was one of the she-wolves of England. He named his daughter Matilda the heir to
the throne and this didn’t go over too well. Not exactly a crowd pleaser by any
stretch of the imagination. So, Empress Matilda, the House of Norman. She ruled or
reigned or whatever, or tried to reign from April 1141 to November of 1141.
Another, another several month-er there. But her cousin Stephen ended up stealing the
throne from her. This was all part of what was called the Anarchy. A brutal
civil war. If your head isn’t spinning yet it will in just a moment because… get
this… okay let’s listen to this. So, King Stephen, I believe he looks a little bit
cross-eyed. Either he was seriously cross-eyed or pictures of him just depict someone who
looks totally insane.
I’m not sure, but anyway, he reigned from 1135 to 1154 after
stealing the throne from Matilda. He depleted the treasury to buy loyalties
and was deposed, but later he was reinstated by the church. Here’s where
your head can really spin. Okay, you understand that he
he just wreaked havoc as far as Matilda went. There was some kind of a banquet that she
that she couldn’t finish. They were going to celebrate her coronation and it never
happened because of Stephen and just all these people who just were like “no, no, no,
no, no! We don’t want a woman as the heir to the throne! No, no, no!” But yeah, after after
all of this and the Anarchy, the civil war, and Stephen’s saying “No! You’re
not going to have this one! I’m going to have this one! You get away from that!
Just go! Shoo!” Then he actually took Matilda’s son, Henry, as his adopted son
and heir! Crazy. This was absolute lunacy. But anyway, that’s what happened. So, King
Henry II of the House of Plantagenet, reigned from 1154 to 1189. He was married to one of
the famous she-wolves. Another famous she-wolf of England, Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Here’s where we get into the inspiration for Robin Hood with Henry and Eleanor’s
sons, John and Richard.
(Stay tuned for Episode 7: Richard the Lionheart and King John)