⚔ Battlefields of Britain

Siege of Oxford 1142

Siege of Oxford: Ancient plan of Oxford Castle
Image: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Marker: recorded battle location (no official boundary).

Key facts

Date (year)1142Wikidata P585 point in time
Century12th centuryderived
PeriodNorman & medievalderived
CountryEnglandderived
War / conflictThe AnarchyWikidata

About the battle

The siege of Oxford took place during the Anarchy, a period of civil war following the death of Henry I of England without a male heir, in 1142. Fought between his nephew, Stephen of Blois, and his daughter, the Empress Matilda (or Maud), who had recently been expelled from her base in Westminster and chosen the City of Oxford as her new headquarters. Oxford by now was effectively a regional capital and important in its own right. It was a well-defended city with both rivers and walls protecting it, and was also strategically important as it was at a crossroads between the north, south-east and west of England, and also not far from London.

By now the civil war was at its height, yet neither party was able to get an edge on the other: both had suffered swings of fate in the last few years which had alternately put them ahead, and then behind, their rival. Stephen, for instance, had been captured by Matilda's army in 1141, but later in the year, Matilda's half-brother and chief military commander, Robert, Earl of Gloucester was captured by Stephen's army. Likewise, Matilda had been recognised as "Lady of the English" but had not long afterwards been run out of London.

Stephen believed that all it would take to win the war decisively would be to capture Matilda herself; her escape to Oxford seemed to present him with such an opportunity.

Visiting the battlefield

Location

  • Recorded location (Wikidata; may be approximate): 51.7519, -1.2578

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Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Oxford (1142) (revision 1366176817), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations removed. No text added.

Battle location from Wikidata (CC0).

Nearby battlefields

Other battles of the The Anarchy

All battles of the The Anarchy →

Browse more: battles in Oxfordshire · battles in England · Norman & medieval · 12th century battles

Further reading