William conquered England in 1066, and consolidated his rule by dividing the land so that he retained vast portions placed to keep his lieutenants under control. This he did because he did not want the disintegration of his land with his death, as France was disintegrating in civil war. He also licensed all castle building, so that only people who were trusted by him were allowed to build castles. He divided his empire between his two oldest sons, Robert getting Normandy, William [Rufus] getting England. His third son, Henry got little. Robert lost Normandy by selling title of it to his brother Rufus, and went on a crusade in 1096-98 or thereabouts. Note: This must have been the crusade that Cadfael went out to the east with.   [If Cadfael was born in 1080, then 1098 made him 18, the age book 3 tells us he went on crusade.]

Wm. Rufus died, or was killed in 1100, and his brother,  Henry took the throne.  At this time it was not really the custom for the eldest son to inherit.  Rufus [called the Red] did not have any sons anyway, so Henry did not really usurp the throne, but he did act with dispatch.   Henry's queen was named Matilda, called Edith [to differentiate her from Wm the Conqueror's wife Matilda, and her daughter Matilda/called Maude; as well as Stephens wife Matilda].  Edith/Matilda was the daughter of Malcolm, king of Scotland, and a direct descendant of the old English royal line.   Henry consolidated his kingdom[s] with great strength, and prepared both his children to rule. His daughter, Matilda, was married as a child to the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry V, who was also German [in fact only the Germans really liked her], but the marriage was childless. When the emperor died, Matilda/Maude was married to Geoffrey of Anjou, who was 10 years younger than she. They did not have a felicitous marriage, but they did have one son, Henry. Henry I's son was named William, but died in 1120 his ship went down in the channel on his way back from Normandy, and he was drowned. This is mentioned in "A Rare Benedictine" the first story, when Cadfael comes home from the Crusade, and the man he worked for at the time had his litigation against Shrewsbury Abbey postponed for the mourning period of the son. Henry I then had his lords swear fealty to his daughter, a strong willed woman very capable of ruling, by modern standards. Unfortunately, medieval Europe did not really agree. Many of the landed gentry were uncomfortable with the idea of a queen regnant. This idea was not again tested until the death of Henry VIII in 1547, with the ascension of Queen Mary Tudor.

William the Conqueror had more than just the three sons, he had a few daughters too, one of whom was married to the king of Scotland, and one [Adela] who married Stephen, Count of Blois. Their son was also called Stephen, Count of Blois, and was first cousin to Maude/Matilda, both being grandchildren of  the Conqueror.   When Henry I died, Stephen hurried to England and was declared king [defacto] much in the same way  that Henry I took the throne. Most of the barons  declared for Stephen, partly because they had been fighting against Matilda and her claims for Normandy, partly because her son was still an infant, and partly because Stephen was on the spot [possession being 90% of the claim].

In 1135 when Stephen hurried to England, some of the towns in Eastern England, Colchester and Ramsey, refused to allow him entrance. This is considered to be the true beginning of the civil war. In 1135 Stephen is elected and crowned king in Westminster. In 1136 he puts down rebellions in Scotland, Wales, Norfolk and Devon.  As yet Matilda has not begun to contest for the throne. Our stories on the civil war open in 1138, with book 2.   "One Corpse Too Many" shows Stephen taking the castle of Shrewsbury, and the proponents of Matilda holding out against Stephen, and losing. The area is then held for Stephen throughout the rest of the books. Matilda still has not come to contest for her throne. By 1141, the Earl of Chester rebels, not for Matilda but for his own kingdom, and defeats and captures Stephen, who is imprisoned in Winchester.  Winchester is the place where the treasury was held, and was counted as important as London as a capital of England at that time. By now Matilda is in England, and in April 1141, Matilda is declared "Mother of England" [Domina Anglorum], but is not yet crowned in Westminster. Stephens wife, Matilda begins to gather troops to free her husband, but is unexpectedly assisted by Matilda/Maude when she angers the burgesses of London and is literally forced to flee for her life. She ends up in Oxford. By this time Stephen has been traded for her illegitimate brother Robert of Gloucester, and pins her down in Oxford, but she daringly escapes to Wallingford, and on to fight again. The fighting goes on back and forth, and in 1143 Stephen is defeated by Robert of Gloucester, and in 1145 Robert is cut off by Stephen and flees to France where he dies in 1148. Much of western England, from Chester to Devon and Cornwall is held by Robert for Matilda, [in our books Shrewsbury is excepted]. Lincoln is held by Matilda, and the fens in Eastern England is held by Geoffrey deMandville for himself, and is defeated by an accident [book 11]. Little fighting goes on after 1148, when Robert dies, but Stephen is really defeated by the death of his son Eustace in 1153, and accepts Matilda's son Henry as his successor in the treaty of Winchester [Stephen had a second son, William who died in 1159]. So the war is ended by compromise and the inability of either side to win a definitive victory, Stephen because of his inconsistency, Matilda because of her temper. Meantime, Geoffrey of Anjou has consolidated his hold on much of France by taking Normandy, so that when Henry II comes to the throne, he hold Anjou and Normandy and marries Aquitaine and Poitou, holding about three quarters of modern France.   Stephen died in 1154, nine months after the treaty was signed and Henry II becomes king of England in 1154. In the terms of the treaty of Winchester, the barons kept their titles and lands, regardless whose side they fought on.

In Europe, Stephen is counted as king of England, and is depicted in engravings of the first 4 kings of England, with a sword in his hand to show his problems consolidating his rule.   Ellis Peters gives a good picture of the trials a land has when its leadership is unable to keep the peace.  Henry II inherited a land of strife and little law.  He consolidated his rule, strengthened the laws, and made "the kings peace" very strong.  The highways were safe to travel again, outlawry was almost snuffed out [mankind being what it is, it was never totally eradicated], and courts strengthened.