Stephen of England

In the upper keep, you might remember there was once a scale model of old Carlisle, It's no longer there sadly and hasn't been for many years which shows how old this account is.

But according to online sources it is claimed that King Stephen has been frequently cited standing next to the model of the very fortress he lost.

King Stephen reigned from 1135 to 1154 claiming the crown before the anointed heir Empress Matilda had a chance to act.

Although his predecessor, Henry I, had started the construction of Carlisle Castle in stone to replace the wooden fort that Henry's brother William Rufus had established some 25 to 30 years earlier, Carlisle was taken by King David of Scotland in 1135 after Stephen's hurried ascent to the throne.

The struggle between Stephen and Matilda for the English crown kicked off a period of civil war known as the Anarchy.

And with a new pope, Henry's most trying year yet as king arguably commenced.

Henry, Theobald, Conan of Brittany, and all of his new men, including his son and heir, William Adeline, his illegitimate sons, Robert Fitzroy, Richard of Lincoln, and Henry Fitzroy, along with the likes of young Stephen of Blois.

Well, as they all fought various raids and skirmishes around eastern and southern Normandy, many of them defensive, word arrived that Count William of Evreux also died.

This was on April 18th.

Over eight days, his stronghold of Le Mot Gautier was hammered, but Henry was able to escape.

He fled south to Alençon to regroup.

Alençon had been a gift from Henry to his very loyal and capable nephew, Stephen of Blois, who welcomed the king.

In the meantime, though, Henry's other men were able to capture two of the turncoat Norman barons, those of Count Henry of Ewe and Hugh de Gurney.

The three historical accounts vary slightly, but only in their details.

During the reign of King Stephen, two children, apparently brother and sister, appeared mysteriously in the English village of Woolpit.

Woolpit gets its name from wolf pits dug in the Middle Ages to protect the town from wild beasts.

One autumn during the harvest, villagers found the two strange children climbing out from one of those pits.

been on the same side, yeah.

Henry Grant's nephew, Stephen of Blois, so obviously also a nephew, but that's by his sister, Adela.

So Stephen, William Clito, William Adeline are all cousins.

Okay, but the two we're talking about at the moment are from the male side.

So that leaves them looking quite vulnerable.

Some do leave, like Stephen of Blois, who goes to get relief from Alexius and meets him at Philomelia in Central Asia Minor and tells him that the Crusade Army is on the brink of annihilation.

And Alexis then has to do a calculation, which is, is it worth throwing good money, good men after bad? Should he march to the aid of a lost cause or should he stick still? Just because the Crusaders at Antioch, it doesn't mean his other problems have gone away.

But that decision not to advance becomes the kind of the grievance around which Berman in particular is able to capitalise.

That was a very big deal that further legitimized William Adeline's future, at least there in Normandy.

Now, by 1116, he was back in Normandy as one of his new men, the son of the crusader leader, Count Stephen of Blois, named Theobald of Blois, was currently taking on King Louis himself, who was taking his frustrations with Henry out on the county of Blois.

Now, see, Louis was not very happy that one of his own counties, somewhat like a county not even within Normandy, was siding with Normandy.

So Louis was taking it out on Blois.