num_pages: 320
description: The reign of King Stephen (1135-54) has usually been seen as uniquely disastrous in the history of the medieval England -- a county riven by a civil war between Stephen and his first cousin, the Empress Matilda, and by an anarchy during which over mighty barons laid waste the country and 'Christ and his saints slept'. Donald Matthew challenges this picture. By questioning such melodramatic assumptions, and by looking clearly at what can and cannot be known about Stephen, he brings new light to both the king and his reign. He shows that much of what has been written about Stephen has been based on the selective use of the testimony of hostile witnesses, and has been shot through by wishful thinking or by the political or historical prejudices of the day. King Stephen is an important, well-written and timely reinterpretation of the crisis of Norman government.
language: English
title: King Stephen
titlecomplete: King Stephen
characters: Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk, Henry I of England, Henry II of England, Stephen, King of England, Empress Matilda
genres: Nonfiction, Medieval History, History, Medieval
ratings_count: 16
publisher: Bloomsbury Academic