Kilkhampton Castle and the Period Known as “The Anarchy”

It is curious that although the first Civil War of 1139 to 1153, known as “The Anarchy, was so long ago, its roots, or cause, stems from a scenario that could so easily be of our own times. The principal protagonists were between the crowned English King Stephen and Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry 1st of England.

King Henry (1100 to 1135) had one legitimate son, William and a daughter, Empress Matilda, with his wife Matilda of Scotland. On 20th August 1119 Henry won a major battle against King Louise 1V of France at Bremule, Normandy. After nearly a year of rejoicing and consolidating territory, King Henry and his very large retinue decided to head back to England 25th November 1120. He was offered a lift by the master of the vessel “White Ship” but Henry chose to use one of his own ships but allowed his son and heir William, together with a very large proportion of English aristocracy, to make the passage on the White Ship.

Unfortunately, all the young people due to make passage on the White Ship were still in a celebratory mood and were drunk and so unruly that they were late in departing. Henry and his ships had already departed for England. Once on board the White Ship the partying continued and the young Prince William and his cohorts persuaded the ship’s master to catch up with the main flotilla; to encourage him in this they got him just a little drunk and, ultimately, the inevitable happened. The ship hit rocks and promptly sank with almost no survivors. Henry is said to have never recovered from his loss of his son and he now appointed his daughter Matilda as his sole legitimate successor.

This was the situation in late 1120. Matilda had been married off to the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V as a child, but her husband died in 1125; it was a childless marriage. Her father, Henry 1st, then married her to Georffrey of Anjou, but it seems that this caused family strains. As a result, Henry chose his nephew Stephen of Blois as his successor. Upon the death of Henry 1st December 1135, Stephen quickly seized the throne of England, and the scene was set for conflict.

Henry had many illegitimate children and, perhaps, the eldest of these was Robert Earl of Gloucester. Robert felt that his half-sister Matilda should have succeeded her father, and this eventually led to steady built-up of resentment, which ultimately led to the commencement of civil war, four years later in 1139.

It was a strange war, and like all civil wars, a great deal of horrors were attributable to both sides. However, it was essentially a family feud. King Stephen had initially allowed Matilda to come to England and gave her safe passage to Bristol, but while here she plotted his overthrow.

The war was peculiar also as, really no one really wanted to fight a pitch battle to the end, why take that risk? There was an added risk to both parties. The various magnates kept changing sides, depending on which way the wind was blowing. At the battle of Lincoln 2nd February 1141, for example, when battle commenced many of the supporters of King Stephen fled the field of battle and the King was captured and imprisoned.

Stephen was now effectively deposed, and Matilda slowly took control and progressed, hopefully, towards an eventual crowning in London. However, she wasn’t well advised, and her actions antagonised her subjects, particularly those of London, and she never quite made it to her coronation. She retreated to a castle on the outskirts of Winchester.

Supporters of Stephen then showed their heads and headed off to Winchester where Matilda’s army had blockaded the city and, effectively, cut off themselves from outside supplies!  Eventually, Matilda’s forces tried to escape but this was halted, and they were defeated. Unfortunately for Matilda, her principal commander, supporter and half-brother, Robert Earl of Gloucester was captured and imprisoned. So, as families do, they eventually agreed to free both King Stephen and Robert. Matilda had effectively lost her chance to take the throne of England. The war then continued in the form of constant taking or sieging of castles.

This brings the story to Kilkhampton. Matilda’s half-brother, Robert Earl of Gloucester had inherited control of the Kilkhampton estate through his family from the times of William the Conqueror. It was probably Robert who built the castle at Kilkhampton and maybe also at nearby Launcells, near Stratton as a backup should things go wrong further east. The castle at Kilkhampton, protecting the main track in from north Devon, that at Launcells protecting a route in from the east via the nearby Tamar crossing.

Robert Earl of Gloucester died October 1147 and Matilda’s cause was lost and she returned to France. Roberts family had connections with the Sir Richard Grenville of Neath in South Wales (d 1142), and it is possible that the Grenville family inherited the estates of Kilkhampton through that connection. Certainly, from here on the Grenvilles would hold these estates and eventually build their great mansion at Stowe Barton, near Coombe.

Note: The writing of this historical summary is indebted to the Jim Bradbury whose excellent book “Stephen and Matilda”, “The Civil War of 1139-53 was such a good source of information and clarity.