Assassination: The Royal Family's 1000-Year Curse (7 page)

It was not only Matilda who caused trouble, so did her husband. The Count of Anjou called for the delivery of several castles he claimed Henry had promised to him. Henry refused, so the Count destroyed one of the castles. True to form, Henry retaliated ruthlessly. Matilda was horrified by her father’s excessive cruelty, and she returned to her husband.

Henry was now 68 years old, in poor health and increasingly upset by his daughter’s conduct. At least food remained a pleasure. One evening at dinner, the agitated king sat alone awaiting his meal. A servant brought in a large dish piled high with lampreys. These fish were a notable delicacy of the time, and were known to be a favourite food of the King. However, Henry had been specifically forbidden from eating lampreys by his physician, and that prohibition was well known at court and no doubt just as well known in the King’s kitchen.

By the time the meal had been presented, Henry had already consumed sufficient alcohol to relax his judgment, and he ate all the lampreys. Who was responsible for serving the lampreys to Henry? Did he insist on them himself? Did someone instruct the kitchen to serve the King what was known to be a dangerous food for everyone and particularly for him? Or was it simply a mistake?

Lampreys are jawless fish that look like eels, and can be anything from five inches to three feet long. They have a scaleless skin covered in mucus. Shaped like a tube, the fish has a round mouth containing rows of dagger-like teeth, and it also has a tongue on which there are three teeth. Some species of lampreys are parasitic. They attach themselves to other fish with their sucking mouth, and then they use the toothed tongue to scrape away the flesh of their host, drinking its blood.

Not surprisingly, eating lampreys can lead to food poisoning. Henry awoke the following morning with a fever, accompanied by acute indigestion. He died several days later.

Was it the lampreys, or was it Henry’s fragile state following Matilda’s verbal assaults that really caused his death? No one can tell. We do not even know if he really died of food poisoning or whether he had a heart attack. If the latter, then Matilda’s conduct may have been the cause of Henry’s death.

Henry left one surviving child, Matilda, whom he had named as his heir. However, Matilda and her second husband, the Count of Anjou, were not wanted by the Norman barons. Worse for Matilda, she was immobilised by pregnancy and could not travel to England. Obviously Henry’s numerous illegitimate children, of whom only Earl Robert of Gloucester was a power in the country, could not be considered. So apart from Matilda, the only realistic contenders for the throne were Henry’s nephews, the sons of his sister, Adela. She had married the Count of Blois and they had eleven children, but by 1135 only four of her sons were still alive. The oldest, William Count of Sully, said to have been mentally deficient, remained in his wife’s lands in Sully. Henry, the youngest, was Bishop of Winchester. That left Theobald and Stephen.

The barons wasted no time; they declared their support for the older of the two, Theobald. Crucially, when Henry died, Theobald was in Blois in central France, Stephen was in Boulogne on the Channel coast. Stephen rushed to England, and with the backing of his brother, the Bishop of Winchester, Stephen claimed the throne. In addition, someone was found who was happy to swear that on his deathbed Henry had appointed Stephen as his heir. Fortunately for Stephen it was believable, as everyone knew that he had been King Henry’s favourite since the death of Prince William. Once again, the first man on the spot had the advantage;Stephenwascrownedking,andonreceivingfinancial compensation, Theobald agreed to remain in Blois.

Stephen was a powerful character, and at first he was popular. His weakness was the fact that he was not a great military commander, nor was he blessed with good judgment. With Matilda fuming in Anjou, trouble was inevitable.

Early in the reign, the Scots invaded. Peace was only obtained by ceding the northern cities of Doncaster and Carlisle and most of the northern counties of Cumberland and Westmorland. Stephen had shown weakness, now others took advantage. Several barons rebelled; they were overcome, but Stephen allowed them to go free to cause more trouble. Then, one after another, many of the barons declared their support for Matilda. Stephen did not react, but eventually Matilda did. In 1139 she landed in Sussex with an army commanded by her half-brother, Earl Robert of Gloucester.

Rebellions turned into civil war, with castles won and lost on both sides, and the country dissolved into anarchy.
In late 1140, there was a serious development when Earl Ranulf of Chester seized Lincoln’s royal castle and declared for Matilda. Stephen had to react. He marched his army north and besieged the castle. However, Stephen had been too slow; shortly before he arrived, Ranulf had slipped away to seek help from his wife’s father – Earl Robert of Gloucester. Surprising Stephen, Earl Robert appeared outside Lincoln with Matilda’s army. There was no choice; Stephen set out to meet the challenge.
Earl Robert’s army advanced and swept aside the guards posted by Stephen. Yet Stephen had the advantage as he held the higher ground. Then, over-eager for battle, Stephen rashly abandoned his strong position and marched down to the plain below the city. Earl Robert could not believe his luck. Even before Stephen’s army had formed its line, Earl Robert’s knights had begun their charge.
Stephen wanted to attack, not defend. He ordered his men forward, but when they saw that Earl Robert had the greater numbers, Stephen’s mounted barons deserted and fled. Then the wings of Stephen’s army were routed. All that remained was the centre, and that was soon surrounded. Here stood Stephen with his knights and soldiers as the enemy approached on horse and by foot. The royalist square was assaulted from all sides. Earl Robert’s men moved in, certain of victory.
This was the great opportunity to kill Stephen, end the civil war and elevate Matilda to queen. Although his judgment was poor, Stephen’s courage was not in doubt. Now he showed it, resisting bravely as those around him were felled. Stephen fought like a lion at bay, lashing out with his sword time and again until the blade broke. Then he attacked with his hand-axe, laying unmercifully into those who would kill him until the shaft of his axe shattered. Exhausted, defenceless and encircled, he was unable to fight and unable to flee.
At the very moment when Earl Robert’s men were moving in for the kill, a foot-soldier decided that he would be the one to slay the King. Taking careful aim, the soldier hurled a large stone at Stephen. It struck him on the head, spinning Stephen round and knocking him unconscious. All fighting stopped, with the King lying motionless on the ground, blood flowing down his face, apparently dead. The battle was over, and Earl Robert’s men prepared to carry Stephen’s body away so that it could be shown to the populace as proof of his death.
Suddenly, Stephen stirred; he opened his eyes and slowly he regained consciousness. The stone had not killed him, it had saved his life. With the fighting over, it was now too late to kill the King.
Stephen was taken to Bristol near Earl Robert’s south-western stronghold of Gloucester. Locked up and fettered in chains, Stephen’s future looked bleak as Matilda made her way to London. The majority of churchmen and barons quickly swore allegiance to Matilda. They had forgotten about her arrogance. Within days, and before any coronation, she cancelled grants of land and titles and then she increased taxation. Now people started to cause trouble in the streets. The mood of the Londoners became so hostile that Matilda was forced to leave the city.
As a result, those still supporting Stephen saw an increase in their numbers, and the civil war started once more. Not long after the renewal of hostilities, Stephen’s wife saw to it that the scales were balanced. While Earl Robert was besieging Stephen’s brother, Henry, an army raised by the Queen (also named Matilda) besieged the besiegers, and Earl Robert was captured. So the two Matildas (first cousins) exchanged King Stephen for Earl Robert.
Stephen immediately took the offensive, and the civil war became increasingly brutal, until in late 1147, Earl Robert died of a fever. With the loss of her military commander, Matilda despaired, and she left for Anjou, never to return to England.
King Stephen now felt secure, and he set his mind to ensuring the succession for his first son, Eustace. Unfortunately, there was a new problem. Stephen had fallen out with the Church, and the bishops refused to accept Eustace as heir to the throne.
Although the death of Matilda’s half-brother had improved Stephen’s position, the death of her husband would have quite the opposite effect. When Geoffrey of Anjou died in 1151, Matilda’s son Henry Plantagenet became Count of Anjou, and he found himself with a powerful army. Two years later he landed in England, and warfare recommenced. However, barons on both sides had lost their enthusiasm; they wanted an agreement rather than a battle. All of them feared death or ruin if they backed the wrong side. At almost the same time, young Eustace died. Stephen had had enough. He was now old and weary, and he had no interest in procuring the succession for his sole surviving son, William (the second son, Baldwin, having died in infancy).
So the civil war ended with a deal: Stephen would remain king until his death, then his son William would inherit all his father’s private estates; but Matilda’s son, Henry Plantagenet, would succeed to the throne.
A few months later, in October 1154, Stephen died. It was a sudden illness, said to have been a bowel disorder. Very convenient timing for Henry Plantagenet.
The attempted killer of the King at Lincoln is unknown. That stone-thrower was also the man who unintentionally saved the King’s life, so condemning England to another 13 years of civil war. But maybe someone had more success with poison.

On the death of King Stephen, Henry Plantagenet succeeded to the throne under the agreement that had settled the civil war. However, Stephen’s only surviving son, William, was not content to abandon his right to inherit his father’s crown. He engaged Flemish mercenaries to assassinate Henry when he was visiting Canterbury. The assassins travelled to Canterbury and lay in wait. But Henry had learned of the plot, and he fled to Normandy where he remained until the danger had passed. The plot was abandoned. Four years later William died, and as neither William nor his brothers left any children, the threat from the Blois family ended.