Review: Women of the Anarchy by Sharon Bennett Connolly

 I'll be honest - even though I studied history right through school and then at University, I never learned about the period in English history known as The Anarchy until I read the novel by the late and much lamented Sharon Penman, When Christ and all his Saints Slept.

Well now there's a lovely new nonfiction book which covers this period, but does so by focusing on the women who played pivotal roles. And there's none better to write such a book than Sharon Bennett Connolly, who has made it a bit of a stock-in-trade to bring medieval women out of the shadows and plonk them firmly in the limelight.

The Anarchy was a strange time - the first time that a woman fought for the throne of England and it's fair to say this novel idea was not popular with all. When Henry I lost his only legitimate male heir when the White Ship sank off Barfleur in 1120, Henry had his barons swear to uphold his wish that his daughter, Matilda, would become queen when he died.

Stephen of Blois, Matilda's cousin, thought he was the better person for the job, claiming the crown in 1135, and so began a period of civil war which lasted until 1154. 

This new book, from Amberley Publishing, examines the period in great detail, but keeps the focus firmly on the women. Of course, there is Matilda, or the Empress Matilda as she is referred to throughout the book, but there is also a chapter on Saint/Queen Margaret, a descendant of the Anglo-Saxon house of Wessex, who married a Scottish king and was Empress Matilda's grandmother. The book also gives a detailed portrayal of a woman usually largely sidelined from any summary of this period: Matilda of Boulogne. She was Stephen's wife, and it might give some indication of how little attention has been paid to her that she doesn't have her own Wikipedia page. Bennett Connolly redresses this imbalance by giving this Matilda her own time under the spotlight and it soon becomes clear that she was 'in charge of the day-to-day management of the country.'

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It gives an in depth account of The Anarchy, with background - the sinking of the White Ship is described in the prologue - and chapters on the next generation and the founding of the Angevin dynasty, so all in all this is a rounded study of the period, but always the emphasis is on the women and the parts they played. Couple this with the author's readable style, and it's a book which informs and entertains.

Available from: Amberley Publishing 

Amazon UK and all good bookshops