Or, suddenly we care about Game of Thrones again
First off, I have to apologize. I meant to get this article out two years ago when Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon first aired. I did not do that. Today is, however, the 883rd anniversary of Empress Matilda laying claim to the English throne, so it sort of all works out.
George R. R. Martin is almost as big a nerd as me. He based his main series, A Song of Ice and Fire, on the Wars of the Roses. This is pretty well known. What isn’t as well known is that his Targaryen history, as filled out in Fire &Blood (if he ever finishes it) is based on wider Plantagenet history. The chunk of story that takes place during House of the Dragon (called The Dance of Dragons) is specifically based on a period in English history called The Anarchy. I’ve talked about this period before, though not at a deeper level or within the context of House of the Dragon.
The Anarchy was a period of English history spanning the early 12th century that consisted of a civil war between descendants of William the Bastard. Norman inheritance consisted of the Duke of Normandy (technically a vassal of the French king) parceling out his land amongst all of his sons. In William’s case, his plan was to leave Normandy to his oldest son, Robert, and England to one of his younger sons, William. However, shortly after William II became king, William I’s youngest son, Henry, more than likely arranged the accidental arrow that struck William II during a hunt in the forest. Henry immediately had himself crowned King of England, and spent the rest of his reign consolidating his power and taking Normandy from his older brother.
It was expected that his son, another William (called Adelin, which was the Norman word of “heir) would inherit after him. Unfortunately, William Adelin died in a freak accident when the White Ship sank. The crew of the White Ship were shitfaced and wanted to race another ship out of port. But the ship hit a rock right out of the harbor and immediately sank (you can still see the rock off Barfleur, in France).
In an ironic twist, William Adelin’s cousin, Stephen, survived because he came down with a nasty case of the runs and decided to skip out on the White Ship. Stephen’s wife, Matilda of Boulogne, was also a first cousin of William Adelin. Their mothers were daughters of Malcolm III of Scotland.
This accident left Henry with only a legitimate daughter, another Matilda. He did remarry, to Adeliza of Louvain, in an attempt to have more children, but never managed to get her pregnant.
Henry’s daughter Matilda had been wed to the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry V, and had grown up at his court. She gained the name “The Good Empress” but was widowed relatively young. With no male heir, Henry recalled Empress Matilda to England and made an unprecedented move. He named her heir.
Throughout the entire history of the Anglo-Saxon kings and Dukes of Normandy, a woman had never been named heir or came to inherit the throne. Such a thing was unthinkable. A woman simply couldn’t reign.
That didn’t stop Henry. He forced his nobles to acknowledge his daughter, and married her to a powerful French count in the hopes that her husband could help bolster her power. Though they hated each other, Empress Matilda dutifully married Geoffrey of Anjou. They took up court in Normandy, where she bore him several children.
Upon Henry’s death, however, those nobles turned around and threw their support to Stephen, a grandson of William I through his daughter Adela. Stephen was married to Matilda of Boulogne, a woman whose ambition drove her husband to claim the throne. With Empress Matilda stuck in Normandy, heavily pregnant, Stephen had no problem getting to London and sticking a crown on his head. He did have an older brother who had a better claim, but as I’ve said before, he whose ass sits the throne, makes the rules.
Empress Matilda was, understandably, furious. She launched a war against Stephen to take back the throne. I’m not going to get into the gritty details, but there’s a reason this period came to known as The Anarchy.
At one point Empress Matilda even had Stephen imprisoned and entered London with the purpose of having herself crowned queen. But the people of London drove her out, and when Matilda of Boulogne kidnapped Empress Matilda’s half-brother, Robert, Empress Matilda was forced to swap prisoners.
In the end, Empress Matilda and Stephen came to the agreement that her eldest son, another Henry, would succeed Stephen. Upon Stephen’s death, the newly minted Henry II came to the throne. Peace reigned until Henry II’s wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine (who also happened to be the ex-wife of the French king) incited her sons to rebel against his father. But that’s a tale for another day.
So who won, Stephen or Empress Matilda? I’d call it a tie. The Empress wasn’t able to become queen but her son did, while Stephen’s family lost the immediate throne. Empress Matilda was able to become a close advisor of her son, while Stephen died more or less broken and alone.
All English kings from that point forward descended from Henry II, and therefore, from Empress Matilda. However, Stephen’s descendants eventually reunited with the British royal family in the person of Philippa of Hainaut, wife of Edward III. By the Grand Unified Family theory, all European monarchs descend from this pairing. Marie Louise of Hesse-Kassel, wife of John William Friso, was descended from Joanna of Castile, herself a descendant of John of Gaunt, a son of Philippa and Edward III.
So what does this have to do with House of the Dragon?
Well, if you’ve seen the first season or read the book, it should be pretty obvious. We have a descendant (Viserys I) of a conqueror (Aegon the Conqueror) who finds himself without a male heir. He names his daughter (Rhaenyra) his heir, a princess who earned a beloved moniker in her youth (The Realm’s Delight). The king remarries (Alicent Hightower) in an attempt to have more children. The princess marries twice (Laenor Velaryon and Daemon Targaryen). When the king dies, a male relative of the princess (Aegon II) steals the throne, urged on by the most prominent woman in his life (Alicent Hightower). This triggers a civil war between the two. The princess/queen is unable to take the throne but her son(s) (Aegon III and eventually Viserys II) does/do. Rhaenyra was even pregnant when her father died, mirroring Empress Matilda further.
Obviously there are slight differences. King Viserys I has children with his second wife and thus the man who steals the throne from Rhaenyra is her brother, not her cousin. And he’s spurred on by his mother, not his wife. Rhaenyra also has children with both of her husbands (on paper – the illegitimacy of her first three children adds another difference), though it’s the children with her second husband that come to the throne.
In the end, Rhaenyra gets eaten by a dragon and Alicent dies from a fever, locked in her chambers under house arrest. Alicent’s line dies out within two generations, while Rhaenyra’s descendants become kings and queens of Westeros.
So who wins here? I’m going to say it’s another tie. One gets eaten by a dragon, the other dies sad and alone. Maybe Rhaenyra gets a slight edge since it’s her kids who inherit the throne, while Alicent’s line dies out. Either way, it’s not a happy ending.
If GRRM ever finishes Fire and Blood, we’ll see how much more is closely based on English history. Until then, we can only speculate. And watch Matt Smith do a disturbingly good job playing everyone’s favorite bad boy, Daemon Targaryen. He sure is pretty.
Rhydnara the Viking 