Stephen, King of England

King of England from 1135 to 1154

  • Fame60.5
  • Momentum2.2
  • Wikipedia63.2K
Source-basedStable
Lived 1095–1154, aged 59France
  • Wikipedia
    65 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Era
    1095–1154
    Aged 59
Summary
Updated 2026-06-09

He seized the English throne in 1135 by breaking an oath to his cousin, then spent nineteen years fighting her for it. The civil war they waged — called the Anarchy — dragged England through a generation of baronial chaos, ending only when Stephen agreed to let her son inherit after all.

Biography

About

Born in Blois between 1092 and 1096, Stephen was the fourth son of a crusader count and a granddaughter of William the Conqueror. Raised at the court of his uncle Henry I after his father's death, he survived the White Ship disaster in 1120 that drowned the king's heir and opened the succession to dispute. When Henry died in 1135, Stephen raced across the Channel and took the crown, setting aside his earlier vow to support the Empress Matilda's claim. The early years held, but in 1139 Matilda and her half-brother Robert of Gloucester invaded, and the kingdom fractured. Captured at Lincoln in 1…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Stephen, King of England

Stephen, King of England
said
Stephen (by the grace of God), king of the English, to the justices, sheriffs, barons, and all his servants and liegemen, both French and English, greeting.
Charter (probably 1135), quoted in English Historical Documents, Vol. II. 1042–1189, eds. David C. Douglas and George W. Greenaway (1953),
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Era & geography

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Deep cuts

Legacy

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By the numbers

Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Stable
60.5
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Momentum2.2
Historical26.3
Now attention12.1
Source confidence60.0
Completeness70.0
Global rank
Country rank
Category rank
Receipts

Sources

  • Wikidata
    wikidata · wikidata.org
    High confidence
  • Wikipedia
    wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
    High confidence
  • Pantheon 2.0
    database · pantheon.world
    High confidence