The Anarchy: The History and Legacy of the Civil War in England and Normandy during the 12th Century

*Includes pictures
*Includes a bibliography for further reading
“We, conquered by William, have liberated the Conqueror’s land.” So reads the memorial to the British war dead at Bayeaux, Normandy. Commemorating those who gave their lives to free France in 1944, it also serves to remind us of an earlier conflict. For the English, the Norman conquest remains deeply embedded in the national psyche. As the last contested military invasion to have succeeded in conquering this proud island nation, the date of 1066 is the one every citizen can remember. For them, William will forever be the “Conqueror”, the last invader to beat them in an open fight. For others, notably the French, he is the “Bastard”, a reference not only to his lineage.
William’s conquest of the island arguably made him the most important figure in shaping the course of English history, but modern caricatures of this vitally important medieval figure are largely based on ignorance. William is a fascinating and complex figure, in many ways the quintessential warrior king of this period. Inheriting the Duchy of Normandy while still an infant and forced to fight for his domain almost ceaselessly during his early years, William went on to conquer and rule England, five times larger and three times wealthier. In doing so, he demonstrated sophisticated political and diplomatic skill, military prowess and administrative acumen. Although he lived by the sword, he was a devout man who had only one wife, to whom he remained faithful.
William is one of history’s most famous conquerors, but the efforts to consolidate his rule in England were complicated from the start, both due to external enemies and those jockeying for his position while he was still alive. William ultimately decided to split Normandy and England. His son Robert, still in open revolt, would nonetheless inherit Normandy, while the next in line, his second son William, would rule England. The two states that William left behind were hardly united or at peace. Soon after his death, Odo conspired with Robert to oust his brother from the English throne and re-establish a united state, but the revolt failed, and King William “Rufus” II would rule England until his suspicious death in 1100. His younger brother Henry inherited the throne, and in 1106 he imprisoned Robert after their sibling battle at Tinchebray had achieved unity once more, but any political unity would not last long.
Today, “The Anarchy” is used to describe the period in English history from the death of Henry I in 1135 to the Treaty of Winchester signed by King Stephen and his successor Henry II in 1153. Despite the name, it was an episode of civil war rather than of lawlessness and is interesting for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it was the first time in English history that a woman claimed the throne of England in her own right. It occurred after the death of the last Norman king of England and laid the grounds for a distinctively English monarchy as opposed to a Norman colony.
This bloody era provides a fascinating glimpse into the lives, characters, and power struggles of the Norman-French nobility who had conquered England less than 100 years prior. Even as unrest and violence followed William the Conqueror’s campaign, the two cultures slowly merged with each other, from modes of dress to language and political outlook. England, first under the Normans and then the Plantagenets, began to emerge as a powerful nation in its own right, rather than a divided and somewhat barbarous island off the coast of Europe, and it had an unmistakably French shading to its culture. Thus, whereas at the beginning of the struggle, England was little more than a territory of mediocre importance, by the end of the 12th century it was reunified and had the makings of a major European power.