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Passionate Enemies
Henry I has outlived his legitimate son, leaving the English succession dangerously uncertain. His second marriage fails to produce the male heir he wants, and the king is forced to make his barons swear that they will accept his daughter Matilda as ruler after his death. The oath does not survive him. Stephen of Blois seizes the crown, and England descends into the civil war later known as the Anarchy.
Jean Plaidy follows Matilda, Stephen and the royal families around them as dynastic ambition becomes prolonged conflict. Neither claimant can secure an uncontested victory, and shifting loyalties among the nobility repeatedly prolong the war. The eventual settlement depends on the next generation, when Matilda’s son Henry emerges as the figure capable of ending the dispute and establishing a new royal dynasty.
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