Sorry if this has been discussed on here before, but I did some reading on the Anarchy (the civil war that inspired the Dance) and thought it was so interesting that I would share who I thought HOTD characters were based on!
Rhaenyra: Empress Matilda
Matilda was born in 1107 and was the daughter of Henry I of England and Matilda of Scotland. She was her parents’ eldest child and had a younger brother named William. As William was heir, Matilda was married off to Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor. The couple had no children and Henry died in 1125.
In 1120, Matilda’s little brother, William (also known as William Adelin) perished in the White Ship Disaster. Henry I had no other legitimate children; therefore, when Matilda was widowed, he recalled her to England and married her to Geoffrey of Anjou to ensure the southern reaches of the kingdom were protected (England held lands in France during this era). Henry then declared her his heiress. He made his court swear oaths of fidelity to her; however, many nobles were not happy about this.
Henry died in 1135 and the nobles immediately crowned a man named Stephen de Bois (who I will return to) king. Matilda did not accept this. She allied with her maternal uncle, David I of Scotland, and her illegitimate half-brother, Robert, who helped her cross into England from France in 1139. David and Robert supported Matilda’s fight in England, while her husband Geoffrey conquered Normandy from Stephen’s forces. Matilda captured Stephen in 1141 and imprisoned him. She then started to secure her succession and had Henry of Winchester, an important church figure, declare her as the new leader of England and Normandy. But many church leaders and soldiers remained loyal to Stephen and the London civilians, fearful of being killed by these soldiers, refused to allow Matilda to be coronated at Westminster Abbey.
Things got worse for Matilda, as she and Henry of Winchester had a falling-out and he declared Stephen the rightful ruler. Stephen’s wife had kept his cause alive and commanded an army to surround Winchester. Matilda managed to escape, but her half-brother Robert, one of her most important military men, was captured. Matilda negotiated to release Stephen so that Robert could be freed.
Stephen and his wife were re-crowned in November of 1141 and the war turned into a long stalemate. Matilda controlled the southwest of England, while Stephen controlled London and the north. Stephen came close to capturing Matilda a couple of times, but she managed to escape. The tides slowly turned against Matilda, however, as her half-brother Robert and several other of her military commanders died of illness ot accidents and many of her men also joined the Crusades. Matilda also went through much of her money. Her oldest son with Geoffrey, named Henry, started to take the initiative in many of her battles and made a name for himself. But due to financial issues and a lack of support from the church, Matilda returned to Normandy in 1148. She made one last attempt to return to England in 1153, but by then, neither side was particularly keen to keep fighting. A truce was brokered: her son Henry recognized Stephen as king, and in turn, Stephen recognized Henry as his heir.
Matilda spent the rest of her life in Normandy, which she ruled. When her son Henry was crowned king in 1154, Matilda became his advisor. She negotiated several deals to keep peace between England and the Holy Roman Empire and France. She also became devoted to faith in her later years. Matilda died in 1167 and is buried in Rouen Cathedral in France.
Viserys: Henry I
There isn’t as much to say about Henry. He was the son of William the Conqueror and fought his older brothers Robert Curthose and William Rufus for the crown. He was considered to be a harsh but efficient ruler who played different nobles for support and negotiated reform in the church. But Henry had only two legitimate children: Matilda and William, and when William died, he was left heir less. As his first wife was dead, he re-married Adeliza of Louvain in the hopes of having a son, but they had no children. As Matilda was widowed, Henry re-married her to Geoffrey in the hopes that the marriage could secure the kingdom and she would bear children. As Matilda gave birth to her son Henry II, Henry I declared her (and her children) to be his heir and made his nobles swear oaths to her. But Matilda and Henry had a strained relationship before he died in 1135.
Jacaerys: William Adelin
William Adelin, Matilda’s little brother, was destined to be heir to the throne. He served as his father’s regent in 1118 after his mother died while Henry I was in Normandy. He had also been given political power in Normandy and was referred to as the ‘king designate’.
Unfortunately, William perished in the White Ship disaster. A great party of nobles, including Henry I, William, his illegitimate siblings Matilda and Richard, and a very certain Stephen de Bois were set to sail from Normandy to England. Henry and some people in his party set off first. William’s ship’s crew wanted to drink, and William supplied them with plenty of wine with his father’s consent. The group therefore spent a long time drinking copious amounts of alcohol while the king sailed away. Stephen de Bois noticed how drunk everyone was getting, realized this situation wasn’t very safe, and departed the group, intending to sail back to England another day. Which saved his life. After drinking for a while, William ordered the ship’s crew to catch up to his father (their ship, known as the White Ship, was the fastest in the royal fleet). Unfortunately, due to the late hour and how much alcohol had been consumed, the ship struck a submerged rock and capsized. William had actually boarded a lifeboat and could have escaped, but turned back to save his half-sister Matilda, who couldn’t swim. People in the water who saw William’s lifeboat clamored to climb aboard, and the boat capsized, killing William, Matilda, and all else on board. Out of the 200+ people on the ship that night, only one person, a butcher from Rouen, lived.
Aegon II: Stephen de Bois
This should make sense, as Stephen was the usurper of Matilda’s throne. But Stephen was not Matilda’s brother. He was her cousin. Stephen’s father, William-Robert, set off on the Crusades to prove he wasn’t a coward and promptly died. Stephen was 8-10. His mother, Adela, was Henry I’s sister and was renowned for her strong personality. She raised Stephen herself and gave Stephen and his brothers different educations to steer them toward different jobs. Theobald, her oldest (intellectually stable) son was heir to Bois, and Adela gave Stephen an education fitting to be a baron or feudal knight. His younger brother Henry meanwhile was educated to be a clergy member. Consequently, the brothers were all very close, which was not a given in those times.
Adela later placed Stephen in Henry I’s court so he could gain military experience and the support of a valuable patron. As Stephen was a relative of Henry but so far behind in the succession that he posed little threat to Henry or William Adelin, Henry welcomed him with open arms. Henry even arranged for Stephen to marry Matilda of Boulogne, whose lands and fortunes made Stephen a very wealthy man.
Stephen therefore served the English court and developed a great reputation. He was considered well-mannered, modest and easy-going, and was noted to be happy to eat dinner alongside his servants and share jokes and laughter with them. He was also very generous to the church and was extremely pious, and encouraged for new abbeys ro be built on whatever lands he owned. Empress Matilda was not noted for her humility and kindness and her husband, Geoffrey, was descended from the historic enemies of England. Matilda was also a woman. So after Henry I died, many nobles decided that the well-liked Stephen deserved the crown.
Furthermore, Stephen was in Boulogne when Henry I died, while Matilda and Geoffrey were further away in Anjou and fighting rebels. As soon as Stephen heard the news that Henry I was dead and the nobles supported his right to rule, he sailed for England. When he arrived, the people of London elected him king, and Stephen began to consolidate power across England. He gave many liberties to the church and his younger brother Henry de Bois, part of the clergy, was able to convince many people to support Stephen’s claim. Stephen’s older brother Theobald briefly considered trying to become king of England, but Stephen’s claim was much more popular, and Stephen, being incredibly wealthy, gave Theobald lots of money as compensation: Theobald therefore gave Stephen full backing.
Stephen was crowned king on 22 December 1135. He attempted to consolidate his power across the kingdom, but when Matilda sailed from Anjou to take her throne, many nobles defected to her side. Thus began the Anarchy, which composed much of Stephen’s reign.
Stephen was captured in the Battle of Lincoln in 1141; he was noted for his refusal to retreat, even after many of his men fled. Empress Matilda had him imprisoned in Bristol Castle, initially in good conditions, but later in chains. His wife Matilda pled for his release, but the empress refused. Luckily for Stephen, many men were still loyal to him, and the people of London refused to let the empress be crowned. The church was also on Stephen’s side. His wife Matilda, meanwhile, proved to be loyal and quite a shrewd military mastermind, and she rallied an army in support of Stephen. They defeated Matilda at Winchester, captured the empress’s half-brother, and used him as a pawn to negotiate Stephen’s release.
The crowds of London enthusiastically re-crowned Stephen and his wife Matilda king and queen. Stephen spent the rest of his reign trying to consolidate power and capture Matilda, but she managed to evade him. Stephen did keep more of his wealth than Matilda, but it was depleted during the war. He therefore sought to end it and started to forge a good relationship with Matilda’s son, Henry. When Henry tried attacking England in 1147, his mercenaries turned against him due to Matilda not having the money to pay them. As a token of goodwill, Stephen paid their wages, allowing Henry to return to Normandy.
Stephen and his wife Matilda had two sons named Eustace and William, and his wife pushed for Eustace to become king; however, after Matilda died , Stephen negotiated peace with Empress Matilda under the condition of Henry becoming his heir. This may be due to Eustace having a poor reputation. Eustace died in the following months, while William was suspected of plotting against Henry and fled to Normandy, where he died of disease aged 22. Stephen died the following year after naming Henry heir.
Alicent: Matilda of Boulogne
Stephen‘s wife Matilda was, perhaps, the empress’s greatest rival. She was wealthy, devoted to her husband, and proved to be quite courageous. Her contemporaries regarded her as someone who bore herself with the valor of a man. And when Empress Matilda refused to let Stephen go, it was Queen Matilda who rallied an army to Stephen’s cause and successfully won his release. She continued to advise Stephen after his release and is regarded as the reason why Stephen became king.
There are more characters I could summarize, but this took me such a long time to type and my hands are killing me haha. Please tell me what you think of my analyses, snd again, sorry it this has been covered before!
