The Aristocracy

Abstract

This chapter examines historian John Horace Round's characterization of the reign of King Stephen of England as anarchic. It traces the history of aristocracy under King Stephen back to the immediate aftermath of the Norman Conquest. It agrees with Round's claim that the reign was indeed anarchic but it suggests that the civil strife was not the deliberate product of an incorrigibly turbulent aristocracy. It also contends that the risks and uncertainties of anarchy ran counter to most of King Stephen's magnates.

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