Editing Stephen, King of England (section)

=== Final phases of the war (1147–1152) ===
[[File:Jindra Eleonora.jpg|thumb|upright|14th-century depiction of [[Henry FitzEmpress]] and his wife, [[Eleanor of Aquitaine]]]]

England had suffered extensively from the war by 1147, leading later Victorian historians to call the period of conflict "[[the Anarchy]]".{{#tag:ref|As described below, the name "the Anarchy" for this conflict originates with the Victorian scholar [[John Horace Round|John Round]].<ref>Round (1888), cited ''[http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1038 Review of King Stephen, (review no. 1038)]'', David Crouch, ''Reviews in History''. Retrieved 12 May 2011.</ref>|group="nb"}} The contemporary ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' recorded how "there was nothing but disturbance and wickedness and robbery".<ref>Huscroft, p. 76.</ref> Certainly in many parts of the country, such as [[Wiltshire]], Berkshire, the [[Thames Valley]] and [[East Anglia]], the fighting and raiding had caused serious devastation.<ref name="BarlowP181">Barlow, p. 181.</ref> Numerous "[[Adulterine castle|adulterine]]", or unauthorised, castles had been built as bases for local lords — the chronicler [[Robert of Torigny]] complained that as many as 1,115 such castles had been built during the conflict, although this was probably an exaggeration as elsewhere he suggested an alternative figure of 126.<ref>Coulson, p. 69; Bradbury, p. 191.</ref> The previously centralised royal coinage system was fragmented, with Stephen, the Empress and local lords all minting their own coins.<ref name=BarlowP181/> The royal [[Royal forest#Forest law|forest law]] had collapsed in large parts of the country.<ref>Carpenter, p. 197.</ref> Some parts of the country, though, were barely touched by the conflict—for example, Stephen's lands in the south-east and the Angevin heartlands around Gloucester and Bristol were largely unaffected, and David I ruled his territories in the north of England effectively.<ref name=BarlowP181/> Stephen's overall income from his estates, however, declined seriously during the conflict, particularly after 1141, and royal control over the [[Mint (facility)|minting]] of new coins remained limited outside of the south-east and East Anglia.<ref>White (1998), p. 43; Blackburn, p. 199.</ref> With Stephen often based in the south-east, increasingly [[Westminster]], rather than the older site of [[Winchester]], was used as the centre of royal government.<ref>Green, pp. 110–111, cited White, p. 132.</ref>

The character of the conflict in England gradually began to shift; as historian Frank Barlow suggests, by the late 1140s "the civil war was over", barring the occasional outbreak of fighting.<ref name="BarlowP180">Barlow, p. 180.</ref> In 1147 Robert of Gloucester died peacefully, and the next year the Empress Matilda left south-west England for Normandy, both of which contributed to reducing the tempo of the war.<ref name=BarlowP180/> The [[Second Crusade]] was announced, and many Angevin supporters, including Waleran of Beaumont, joined it, leaving the region for several years.<ref name=BarlowP180/>{{#tag:ref|Stephen did not participate in the Second Crusade himself due to internal conflicts in his kingdom.<ref>Schmieder & O'Doherty (2015), pp. 121–138.</ref>|group="nb"}} Many of the barons were making individual peace agreements with each other to secure their lands and war gains.<ref>Davis, pp. 111–112.</ref> [[Henry FitzEmpress]], the eldest son of the Empress Matilda, mounted a small mercenary invasion of England in 1147 but the expedition failed, not least because Henry lacked the funds to pay his men.<ref name=BarlowP180/> Surprisingly, Stephen himself ended up paying their costs, allowing Henry to return home safely; his reasons for doing so are unclear. One potential explanation is his general courtesy to a member of his extended family; another is that he was starting to consider how to end the war peacefully, and saw this as a way of building a relationship with Henry.<ref>King (2010), p. 243; Barlow, p. 180.</ref>

Henry FitzEmpress returned to England again in 1149, this time planning to form a northern alliance with Ranulf of Chester.<ref>King (2010), p. 253.</ref> The Angevin plan involved Ranulf agreeing to give up his claim to [[Carlisle]], held by the Scots, in return for being given the rights to the whole of the Honour of Lancaster; Ranulf would give homage to both David and Henry, with Henry having seniority.<ref>King (2010), p. 254.</ref> Following this peace agreement, Henry and Ranulf agreed to attack [[York]], probably with help from the Scots.<ref>King (2010), p. 255.</ref> Stephen marched rapidly north to York and the planned attack disintegrated, leaving Henry to return to Normandy, where he was declared duke by his father.<ref name="DavidKingP255">Davis, p. 107; King (2010), p. 255.</ref>{{#tag:ref|Edmund King believes the attack never got close to York; R. Davis believes that it did and was deterred by the presence of Stephen's forces.<ref name=DavidKingP255/>|group="nb"}}

Although still young, Henry was increasingly gaining a reputation as an energetic and capable leader. His prestige and power increased further when he unexpectedly married the attractive  [[Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine]], the recently divorced wife of Louis VII, in 1152. The marriage made Henry the future ruler of a huge swathe of territory across France.<ref>Carpenter, p. 188.</ref>

In the final years of the war, Stephen began to focus on the issue of his family and the succession.<ref>King (2010), p. 237.</ref> He wanted to confirm his eldest son, [[Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne|Eustace]], as his successor, although chroniclers recorded that Eustace was infamous for levying heavy taxes and extorting money from those on his lands.<ref>King (2010), pp. 237–238.</ref> Stephen's second son, [[William I, Count of Boulogne|William]], was married to the extremely wealthy heiress [[Isabel de Warenne, Countess of Surrey]].<ref>King (2010), pp. 238–239.</ref> In 1148, Stephen built the [[Cluniac]] [[Faversham Abbey]] as a resting place for his family. Both Stephen's wife, Matilda, and his brother Theobald died in 1152.<ref>Bradbury, p. 206; Crouch (2002), p. 275.</ref>