The 19 years of civil war between Henry I’s daughter, Matilda, and her cousin, Stephen of Blois, were so destructive they came to be known as the Anarchy. Sharon Bennett Connolly, author of a new book about the women of the Anarchy, explains how the conflict began and why it could be called a true […]
The Empress Matilda and the stolen crown
Carol McGrath’s novel The Stolen Crown retells the extraordinary story of the Empress Matilda and her fight to gain the throne of England during the 12th-century civil war known as the Anarchy. It’s a period, as she says, of “thrills, jeopardy and unforgettable characters”. When I began to write Empress Matilda’s story I wondered if […]