However, Stephen's ambition outstripped his abilities and over the next several years he alienated the Church and many of his subjects. Stephen was affable and chivalrous and the barons and the Church were happy to accept him as ruler instead of Matilda. However, as soon as Henry died, his nephew Count Stephen of Blois (who had been the first to pledge loyalty to his cousin Matilda, and who may once have been her lover) promptly coopted the crown and the treasury. Even so, the king had enough power to bully his barons into swearing that they would accept Matilda as Henry's successor. She was much loved in Germany, but was widowed in her early twenties and returned to England, where she was afterward generally called 'the empress.' Henry then married his daughter to Geoffrey, the fourteen-year-old heir to the Count of Anjou, a union distasteful not only to the principal parties but also to the entire Norman baronage, since Normandy and Anjou were ancient enemies. Henry was a ruthless and capable king, but while he had over twenty illegitimate children, his only legitimate heir was his daughter Matilda, who had been married to the German emperor at a young age. THE DEATH OF King Henry I in 1135 precipitated the period sometimes called the Anarchy. To my editor, Hilary Ross, who gets embarrassed when her authors say how lucky they are to have her First Printing, April, 1991 11 10 9 8 ISBN: 0-4514-0244-8Ĭopyright © Mary Jo Putney, 1991 All rights reserved REGISTERED TRADEMARK-MARCA REGISTRADA Printed in the United States of America Penguin Books Ltd, 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ, England Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2 Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England First published by Onyx, an imprint of Dutton NAL, a member of Penguin Putnam Inc.

Uncommon Vows Mary Jo Putney ONYX Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.

Uncommon Vows by Mary Jo Putney