The Anarchy: Causes
—Chrissie

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            After having taken over England in 1066, William the Conqueror did his best to have a secure succession. When he died in 1087, his sons’ roles had been defined: the eldest, Robert, succeeded him as Duke of Normandy; the second, William Rufus, succeeded him as king of England; and the third, Henry, was given money and was expected to take over his mother’s family lands. Over the next decade, they fought over their relative positions, until Robert was inspired to join the First Crusade in 1095. In order to do so, he borrowed money from William Rufus, using Normandy as security on the loan. When the childless William Rufus died in a hunting accident on 1 August 1100, there was a dispute over who should succeed him, Robert or Henry. Robert was the first choice, as the eldest, but he was still on Crusade. Henry was there, and had the support of many local barons. He was crowned four days after his brother’s death.

            Henry was not yet married when he came to the throne, but soon made a match with the daughter of King Malcolm III of Scotland, Matilda. She also added legitimacy to his reign and the claim of their children through her descent from Anglo-Saxon King Alfred the Great. The couple had two children who reached adulthood, Matilda and William. Henry also produced at least 22 illegitimate children, many of whom he acknowledged, though that recognition did not equal a claim to the throne.

            In 1120, William was killed on the English Channel when his vessel, the White Ship, was wrecked. This left the 62-year-old Henry without his chosen heir. He had two choices: legitimize one of his bastards and name him as heir or name his daughter as his intended successor. At first, he chose neither, remarrying in hopes of producing another son. After a few years, however, he came to the conclusion that even if his new wife produced a son for him, it was unlikely Henry would live to see the boy reach adulthood. This left the succession to his daughter.

            Matilda had been betrothed at the age of six to Heinrich V, son and heir to Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich IV. She was sent to Germany two years later, so she could grow up in the court which she was to rule. She was crowned Queen of Germany when the betrothal was made official, but the two were not married until four years later. In January of 1114, when Matilda was twelve and Heinrich 28, they married. She claimed the title of Empress, one which she gave priority over all other titles for the rest of her life. Heinrich died in 1125, leaving no children. With no heir for whom to act as regent, the Empress Matilda had no reason to stay in Germany and so returned to England and her father’s court. At Christmas the next year, the barons who owed allegiance to Henry and the English crown gathered at Westminster for holiday celebrations and to take an oath to support Henry’s chosen successor, Matilda.

            Despite her position as his heir, Henry still thought of his daughter in traditional terms, and so used her to make a politically advantageous marriage with the Duchy of Anjou. In a reversal of her previous circumstances, the 25-year-old Matilda found herself wed to the 14-year-old Geoffrey of Anjou in 1128. The marriage was not a happy one: she believed she had married below her rank, both as the former Empress of the Holy Roman Empire and as the heir to the English throne. There was already a difficult power dynamic between them due to the fact it was she who was the older spouse, and this was exacerbated by the fact that the issue of her new husband’s position in relation to hers as the heir to the English throne was never clarified: was he to be King, a Prince, or nothing at all? This omission would prove an obstacle to her succession in a few years’ time.