The Anarchy Trivia Quiz

Answer: Henry I

William Adelin died in the wreck of the White Ship in 1120. His father was Henry I, King of England, and although Henry had many children, William was his only legitimate son. Without a legitimate heir, the future of England was uncertain.

Answer: Designated her as heir

King Henry had his barons swear to support his daughter, Matilda, as heir. Matilda was the widow of Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, and after her husband's death she returned to her father and became his heir.

Answer: First cousin

Stephen of Blois was Henry's nephew, the son of his sister Adela, and therefore Matilda's first cousin. After Henry's death, with Matilda pregnant and stuck in her husband's Continental territories, Stephen sailed to England and had himself crowned King. He was crowned in Winchester Cathedral, and his brother was, not so coincidentally, the Bishop of Winchester.

Answer: "Christ slept, and his saints"

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Peterborough Chronicle) states, "they said openly, that Christ slept, and his saints", often translated today as "When Christ and His Saints Slept". Warfare in the 12th century often involved destroying whole towns and villages as well as ruining fields, so the common people lost their homes and harvests. There was much devastation and loss of life.

Moreover, barons built unauthorized castles (about 200 in all), forced their serfs to work on the building and tortured many owners of smallholdings until they signed away their land. The Peterborough Chronicle shows immense sympathy for the sufferings of the poor during this period.

Answer: Robert of Gloucester

Robert of Gloucester was one of Henry I's illegitimate sons. He was captured after the Rout of Winchester, and Matilda valued him so highly that in order to get him back she freed Stephen, whom her forces had captured at the Battle of Lincoln a few months earlier.

Answer: Stephen

Matilda's son Henry showed signs of leadership early on with this adventure, although it seems it could have been better planned. When he couldn't pay his mercenaries and didn't receive help from his parents, Matilda and Geoffrey, he turned to his mother's enemy Stephen who gave him the funds to pay off his troops but Henry had to go back to Anjou.

Answer: As a dead body

During Matilda's years in England, she had many close calls. In one of her more famous escapes, she pretended to be a dead body and then was carried out of the castle for "burial". In another bold escape, she dressed entirely in white and escaped by walking miles in the snow.

Answer: Lady of the English

Matilda assumed the title Lady of the English. She supposedly planned on calling herself Queen of England after her coronation, but her fortunes changed and she was never crowned.

Answer: Have Eustace crowned in Stephen's lifetime

Stephen wanted Eustace crowned in his own lifetime, which was similar to what the French kings would do with their heirs. Pope Celestine II banned this, and in any case Eustace died before his father.

Answer: The Treaty of Wallingford

The Treaty of Wallingford (1153) essentially ended the Anarchy. Stephen was allowed to continue as King, but after his death Matilda's son Henry would rule as Henry II. (Wallingford is in the Upper Thames Valley and historically in Berkshire).

Answer: Stomach illness

Stephen's death in 1154 came after he suffered from a stomach illness. He was buried at Faversham Abbey (Kent) next to his wife and eldest son Eustace.

Answer: Earl of Surrey

Henry confirmed Stephen's son William as Earl of Surrey, held in right of William's wife Isabel. Rumors remain that this did not win the new King any loyalty and that William was behind a supposed plot to assassinate Henry.

Answer: Yes

Stephen died in 1154, and Henry was crowned soon after. Matilda lived until 1167, spending much of her later years settling disputes between her warring children and holding her own court at Rouen in Normandy.

Answer: Great by Birth, Greater by Marriage, Greatest in her Offspring

The full text reads: "Great by Birth, Greater by Marriage, Greatest in her Offspring. Here lies Matilda, the daughter, wife, and mother of Henry". Notice how this ignores her unhappy second marriage to Henry's father Geoffrey, and also ignores her other children completely.

Answer: Plantagenet

The Plantagenet dynasty was named for Henry's father, Geoffrey of Anjou, who likely used a planta genista (a type of shrub) as his emblem. The Plantagenet dynasty continued to rule England through its subsidiary branches of York and Lancaster until 1485.