What if there was no Anarchy?

johnreiter

Banned
In 1135, Matilda succeeds her father, Henry I as ruler of England. Possibly Stephen chooses not to rebel, possibly Matilda is in a stronger position when her father drops. In any case, she becomes Queen of the English, and rules until her death in 1167

What would her reign be like? And how would the history of the 12 and 13th centuries be different ITTL?
 

Deleted member 186022

Wouldn’t preventing the White Ship Disaster and the death of William Adelin be a better POD to achieve this?
 
FalconHonour

FalconHonour

I was once pondering this with @VVD0D95. We decided that Matilda would likely be a very imperious Queen, shaped more by the pomp and circumstance of the Imperial Court than her father's, and that men like Chester would likely rebel in the hope of replacing her with a puppet child King in her son Henry, but that Robert of Gloucester and Brian FitzCount would probably be great helps in holding the country together for her as long as her children are still minors.

Relations with France would likely still be fraught, but relationships with Scotland would likely be easier, given David of Scotland is Matilda's uncle. The Scots might even manage to hang on to the Honour of Lancaster for a while longer than they did OTL.

And given how fraught Matilda's relationship with the Londoners was OTL, it's possible that the de facto capital of England is moved to Winchester or Bristol, at least temporarily, even if the finance/trade stays centred around London.

Although, admittedly, my favourite POD for this is Stephen dying at the Battle of Lincoln in 1141...
 
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