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"This little-known power struggle between competing claimants to the throne had consequences that reverberated through history. We visit eight places associated with the dispute."

"Introduction: A visitor to the Empress Matilda's tomb at Rouen might be mistaken in believing that its occupant had never sought the English throne in her own right. Yet in the long struggle which engulfed the kingdom after her father's death in 1135 this is exactly what she did. Matilda may indeed have been the greatest English heiress of the twelfth century to fail to secure her inheritance. Charles Beem remarks that Matilda's epitaph 'described the summit of earthly achievement to which a twelfth-century aristocratic woman could aspire, according to the dictate of a male-dominated feudal society'. Matilda's rule lasted less than seven months before she was unceremoniously driven out of London in the spring of 1141. Even so, her lordship bore many of the typical characteristics of royal administration, and with King Stephen imprisoned by her supporters Matilda for a time was recognised as the sole source of royal authority in the kingdom."

The Battle of Hastings: sources and interpretations By Stephen Morillo

Medievalist Dr Stephen Baxter takes a fresh look at the Middle Ages through the eyes of children. At a time when half the population was under eighteen he argues that, although they had to grow up quickly and take on adult responsibility early, the experience of childhood could also be richly rewarding.

"Story of medieval England 15/36 The Anarchy of Stephen's Reign" VIDEO

"Richard Cross, Rev. John A. O'Brien Chair in Philosophy (UND), and Stephen Gersh, Professor of Medieval Studies (UND), present on "The Medieval Understandings of Participation" at a Templeton Colloquium at the NDIAS on "Participation in God: Reassessing an Ancient Philosophical Idea and Its Contemporary Relevance." This colloquium took place March 18-20, 2014 at the University of Notre Dame and was conceived by Douglas Hedley, Templeton Fellow at the NDIAS and Reader in Hermeneutics and Metaphysics at the University of Cambridge."