William Paynel in Yorkshire. Other lands held by Ralph and William were Hooton Pagnell also in Yorkshire. The lands at Drax, combined with those at Hooton Pagnell, are considered a barony under the name of Hooton Pagnell, and passed to William from his father. In September 1136, Paynel's castle at Les Moutiers-Hubert was attacked by Count Geoffrey of Anjou, husband of Empress Matilda. Matilda was the only surviving legitimate child of King Henry I of England, but at Henry's death in 1135, her cousin Stephen of Blois had seized the throne of England and secured Normandy as well. In 1136 Matilda and
Henry I of England December. The Empress Matilda did not give up her claim to England and Normandy, leading to the prolonged civil war known as the Anarchy between 1135 and 1153. Historians have drawn on a range of sources on Henry, including the accounts of chroniclers; other documentary evidence, including early pipe rolls; and surviving buildings and architecture. The three main chroniclers to describe the events of Henry's life were William of Malmesbury, Orderic Vitalis, and Henry of Huntingdon, but each incorporated extensive social and moral commentary into their accounts and borrowed a range of literary devices and stereotypical events from other popular