The Usurpation of Matilda (1135)

It's early December 1135 and King Henry I of England is dead.

Before his fateful run in with a portion too many of lampreys he had thought the issue of the succession solved by having his leading barons swear to uphold his only legitimate child Matilda as heir to his throne and the duchy of Normandy; however, his nephew Stephen has other plans...

Did Stephen have a legitimate claim to his uncle's throne or was he merely an opportunist, at the right place and right time, poised and willing to seize the throne, much like his immediate Norman predecessors?

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