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The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign - Google Books
<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><title>The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign - Google Books</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/books/css/_a33f2a89320471e58c940b9287b9d4eb/kl_about_this_book_kennedy_full_bundle.css" type="text/css" /><link rel="stylesheet"href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Product+Sans:wght@400"><script src="/books/javascript/atb_a33f2a89320471e58c940b9287b9d4eb__en.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Anarchy_of_King_Stephen_s_Reign.html?id=ychyAQ1JTVAC"/><meta property="og:url" content="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Anarchy_of_King_Stephen_s_Reign.html?id=ychyAQ1JTVAC"/><meta name="title" content="The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign"/><meta name="description" content="The reign of King Stephen (1135-54) is famous as a period of weak government, as Stephen and his rival the Empress Matilda contended for power. This is a study of medieval kingship at its most vulnerable. It also shows how individuals and institutions enabled the monarchy to survive. A contemporary chronicler described the reign as "nineteen long winters in which Christ and his saints were asleep". Historians today refer to it simply as 'the Anarchy'. The weakness of government was the result of a disputed succession. Stephen lost control over Normandy, the Welsh marches, and much of the North. Contemporaries noted as signs of weakness the tyranny of the lords of castles, and the break-down of coinage. Stephen remained king for his lifetime, but leading churchmen and laymen negotiated a settlement whereby the crown passed to the Empress's son the future Henry II. This volume by leading scholars gives an original and up-to-date analysis of these major themes, and explains how the English monarchy was able to survive the Anarchy of King Stephen's reign."/><meta property="og:title" content="The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign"/><meta property="og:type" content="book"/><meta property="og:site_name" content="Google Books"/><meta property="og:image" content="https://books.google.com.sg/books/content?id=ychyAQ1JTVAC&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&imgtk=AFLRE73ug5SeddoNIYtDx-cU5leF_tX04xBPocEBPfAaUGRWTNPIVCs_hkdSe_u1c74gnwJFvQWpv5ur7BoQqvWCEFBy09sqUn3mrh3fcj4ZhFrzV2cRCvuK5G8XKHgcMJNFE8kfC0qy"/><link rel="image_src" href="https://books.google.com.sg/books/content?id=ychyAQ1JTVAC&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&imgtk=AFLRE73ug5SeddoNIYtDx-cU5leF_tX04xBPocEBPfAaUGRWTNPIVCs_hkdSe_u1c74gnwJFvQWpv5ur7BoQqvWCEFBy09sqUn3mrh3fcj4ZhFrzV2cRCvuK5G8XKHgcMJNFE8kfC0qy"/><script></script><style>#gbar,#guser{font-size:13px;padding-top:1px !important;}#gbar{height:22px}#guser{padding-bottom:7px !important;text-align:right}.gbh,.gbd{border-top:1px solid #c9d7f1;font-size:1px}.gbh{height:0;position:absolute;top:24px;width:100%}@media all{.gb1{height:22px;margin-right:.5em;vertical-align:top}#gbar{float:left}}a.gb1,a.gb4{text-decoration:underline !important}a.gb1,a.gb4{color:#00c !important}.gbi .gb4{color:#dd8e27 !important}.gbf .gb4{color:#900 !important} #gbar { padding:.3em .6em !important;}</style></head><body class=""><div id=gbar><nobr><a target=_blank class=gb1 href="https://www.google.com.sg/search?tab=pw">Search</a> <a target=_blank class=gb1 href="https://www.google.com.sg/imghp?hl=en&tab=pi">Images</a> <a target=_blank class=gb1 href="https://maps.google.com.sg/maps?hl=en&tab=pl">Maps</a> <a target=_blank class=gb1 href="https://play.google.com/?hl=en&tab=p8">Play</a> <a target=_blank class=gb1 href="https://www.youtube.com/?tab=p1">YouTube</a> <a target=_blank class=gb1 href="https://news.google.com/?tab=pn">News</a> <a target=_blank class=gb1 href="https://mail.google.com/mail/?tab=pm">Gmail</a> <a target=_blank class=gb1 href="https://drive.google.com/?tab=po">Drive</a> <a target=_blank class=gb1 style="text-decoration:none" href="https://www.google.com.sg/intl/en/about/products?tab=ph"><u>More</u> »</a></nobr></div><div id=guser width=100%><nobr><span id=gbn class=gbi></span><span id=gbf class=gbf></span><span id=gbe></span><a target=_top id=gb_70 href="https://www.google.com/accounts/Login?service=print&continue=https://books.google.com.sg/books%3Fid%3DychyAQ1JTVAC%26sitesec%3Dbuy%26source%3Dgbs_atb%26hl%3Den&hl=en&ec=GAZACg" class=gb4>Sign in</a></nobr></div><div class=gbh style=left:0></div><div class=gbh style=right:0></div><div role="alert" style="position: absolute; left: 0; right: 0;"><a href="https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=ychyAQ1JTVAC&sitesec=buy&source=gbs_atb&hl=en&output=html_text" title="Screen reader users: click this link for accessible mode. 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