Read Anywhere and on Any Device!

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!

Create Free Account

Stephen: The Reign of Anarchy (Penguin Monarchs)

Carl Watkins

3.69/5 (98 ratings)

Read Now Download Now

Remembered as time in which 'Christ and his saints slept', Stephen's troubled rule plunged England into Civil War. Without clear rules of succession in the Norman monarchy, conflict between members of William the Conqueror's family was inevitable. But there was another problem, too: Stephen himself.

Stephen styled himself a political panacea, promising strength without oppression. Yet as external threats and internal resistance to his rule accumulated, it was a promise he was unable to keep. Unable to transcend his flawed claim to the throne, and to make the transition from nobleman to king, Stephen's royal voice never quite rang true.

The resulting violence that spread throughout England was not, or not only, the work of bloodthirsty men on the make. As Watkins shows in this resonant new portrait, it arose because great men struggled to navigate a new and turbulent kind of politics that arose when the king was in eclipse.

Format:

Pages:: 110 pages

Publication:: 2015

Publisher:: Allen Lane

Edition:: UK ed.

Language:: eng

ISBN10:: 0141977140

ISBN13:: 9780141977140

kindle Asin:: B00XKHAA4Q

Stephen: The Reign of Anarchy (Penguin Monarchs)

Carl Watkins

3.69/5 (98 ratings)

Read Download

Remembered as time in which 'Christ and his saints slept', Stephen's troubled rule plunged England into Civil War. Without clear rules of succession in the Norman monarchy, conflict between members of William the Conqueror's family was inevitable. But there was another problem, too: Stephen himself.

Stephen styled himself a political panacea, promising strength without oppression. Yet as external threats and internal resistance to his rule accumulated, it was a promise he was unable to keep. Unable to transcend his flawed claim to the throne, and to make the transition from nobleman to king, Stephen's royal voice never quite rang true.

The resulting violence that spread throughout England was not, or not only, the work of bloodthirsty men on the make. As Watkins shows in this resonant new portrait, it arose because great men struggled to navigate a new and turbulent kind of politics that arose when the king was in eclipse.

Format:

Pages:: 110 pages

Publication:: 2015

Publisher:: Allen Lane

Edition:: UK ed.

Language:: eng

ISBN10:: 0141977140

ISBN13:: 9780141977140

kindle Asin:: B00XKHAA4Q

More Books

Henry II: A Prince Among Princes

Richard Barber

Henry I: The Father of His People

Edmund King

Richard I: The Crusader King

Thomas Asbridge

John: An Evil King?

Nicholas Vincent

William II: The Red King (Penguin Monarchs)

John Gillingham

Henry III: A Simple and God-Fearing King (Penguin Monarchs)

Stephen Church

Edward I: A New King Arthur?

Andy King

William I: England's Conqueror

Marc Morris

Richard II: A Brittle Glory (Penguin Monarchs)

Laura Ashe

Edward II: The Terrors of Kingship (Penguin Monarchs)

Christopher Given-Wilson

Edward III: A Heroic Failure (Penguin Monarchs)

Jonathan Sumption

Henry V: Playboy Prince to Warrior King

Anne Curry